On Monday 24^th October Kingston University will be concluding their host of free events centred on Matt Haig’s The Humans, in the form of a Balloon Debate with a twist.

This is a format that they utilised to great success during last year’s inaugural KU Big Read and whether you go as a student, a university colleague or member of the wider community, you will be very welcome.

The format brings together a range of colleagues from all across Kingston University to discuss how the book relates to their research, teaching, professional or personal role within the university – as well as their thoughts on how they responded personally to the experience of sharing a book with so many others. The twist is that they don’t throw anyone out of the balloon – rather listen to each other and learn.

This year’s speakers are

• Catering Manager, Elior, Alain Bastel
• Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Carmel Blackie
• Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, Mark Carew
• Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, Reem Kayyali
• Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Karen Lipsedge
• Senior Information Advisor, Learning and Research Support, Wendy Morris
• Associate Professor, School of Education, Victoria Perselli
• Lecturer in Politics, and UCU representative, Dave Tinham

Some perspectives they will be discussing include

• Humanising the Librarians: big reading in KU LRCs
• Every now and then, it’s OK to step back and think of yourself as a machine
• To be human is to read. To be human is to talk about reading: The KU Reading Group

More about the KU Big Read

This September, Matt joined the KU Big Read in welcoming new students to Kingston University through An Audience with Matt Haig after each new student was sent a free special edition copy of his book, The Humans, as part of their pre-arrival welcome. Launched last year as a way to welcome new students and help bring the entire cohort together through a shared experience, Kingston University is the first higher education institution in the UK to establish the scheme on such a scale. Bringing together the whole university and wider community through these events has already proven a success and one we are eager to expand upon.

The Balloon Debate will take place at the Clattern Theatre, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road campus on Monday 24^th October from 6pm-8pm. The event is open to all but do please reserve your seat through Eventbrite at; http://bit.ly/Balloon2016