How does literature nourish science? When does physics become poetry? Join us for an event of cosmic proportions, as two masterful storytellers- Neil Gaiman and Carlo Rovelli - discuss life, the universe and everything.

Carlo Rovelli is one of our most beloved scientists and a fearless free spirit. This collection of essays, There are Places in the World Where Rules are Less Important than Kindness, explores his strong belief that all culture is one – with literature and philosophy, poetry, political thinking and science in continuous dialogue. Encompassing reflections on everything from Newton’s alchemy to Einstein’s mistakes, Nabokov’s lepidoptery to Dante’s cosmology, on the origins of war and the politics of inequality, as well as on the dreams of youth and realities of life, it is a gateway to the mind of one of the most influential thinkers of our age.

And for one evening only, Carlo will be joined in conversation by legendary author Neil Gaiman to weave a thread between science and stories. Touching on everything from the unconfined power of the imagination to the meaning of atheism, the consciousness of an octopus to fiction's limitless possibilities, from Darwin and Marie Curie to Stephen Hawking, this is a conversation not to be missed.

Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Neverwhere, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Sandman series of graphic novels. Neil Gaiman is credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama.

Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to the physics of space and time. His books Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems, and The Order of Time are international bestsellers which have been translated into 43 languages, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics has sold more than 2m copies worldwide. Rovelli has worked in Italy and the US and is currently working in Canada and also directing the quantum gravity research group of the Centre de Physique Théorique in Marseille, France.

'Modern physics has found its poet…’ John Banville, Irish Times

The event will be chaired by Erica Wagner. Erica was born in New York City and is a widely-acclaimed author and critic. She is the author of Gravity: Stories, Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters and Seizure, a novel; she is the editor of First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner. Twice a judge of the Man Booker Prize, she was literary editor of The Times for 17 years and is now contributing literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar, a contributing writer for the New Statesman, as well as writing for the Financial Times, the Economist and the New York Times. She was the recipient of the Eccles British Library Writer’s Award in 2014, and Chief Engineer, her biography of Washington Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, was published by Bloomsbury in 2017.