Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

On the Calculation of Volume I

by Solvej Balle

Culture | Thurs 6th Nov | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

In the first part of Solvej Balle’s epic septology, Tara Selter has slipped out of time. Every morning, she wakes up to the 18th of November. She no longer expects to wake up to the 19th of November, and she no longer remembers the 17th of November as if it were yesterday. She comes to know the shape of the day like the back of her hand – the grey morning light in her Paris hotel; the moment a blackbird breaks into song; her husband’s surprise at seeing her return home unannounced. But for everyone around her, this day is lived for the first and only time. As Tara approaches her 365th 18th of November, she can’t shake the feeling that somewhere underneath the surface of this day, there’s a way to escape.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Small (~10)	Available on request

MAKING PEACE IN THE CULTURE WARS

A.C. GRAYLING

Salon / Ideas | Fri 20th Nov | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

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The ‘war on wokeness’ may feel like a new phenomenon, but in fact, it’s been around for centuries. People have been ‘cancelled’, in one way or another, since the beginning of time – it’s human nature to form tribes, create an Us vs Them, and serve as judge, jury and so on. And yet, it feels like today we can’t talk about anything. How did we end up here?

Nuanced and historically grounded, philosopher Anthony Grayling searches for middle ground in an otherwise incendiary debate. Looking at the history of cancellation, from Ancient Greek ostracism through hemlock cups, witch trials and the House of Un-American Activities, his is a timely examination of the state of our public culture and the chilling effect it's having on intellectual discourse.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER

A.C. Grayling is an outstanding British philosopher and public intellectual, as well as a prolific author (over 30 books) and frequent writer, columnist, broadcaster and commentator on all of the main national media in the United Kingdom. He contributes to the ongoing reflection on how we should live and about possibilities for good lives in good societies. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. He was previously Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. He has been a judge on the Booker Prize twice, in 2015 serving as the Chair of the judging panel. He is a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 

GOOD READS

Discriminations, Making peace in the culture wars (2025); Who owns the moon, In defence of humanity's common interests in Space (2024); Philosophy and Life, Exploring the great questions of how to live (2023); For the Good of the World, Why our planet's crises need global agreement now (2022); The Frontiers of Knowledge: What We Know about Science, History and the Mind (2021); The Good State, On the Principles of Democracy (2020); Democracy and Its Crises (2017); War: An Enquiry (Vices and Virtues) (2017); The Challenge of Things: Thinking through troubled times (2015); Ideas That Matter: The Concepts That Shape the 21st Century (2010); Liberty In The Age Of Terror (2009); The Mystery Of Things (2004); Meditations for the Humanist: Ethics for a Secular Age (2002); and more...

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (40-70)	Available on request

PIANO TRIOS

Brussels Muzieque

Music / Sun 21st Nov / 7.30pm
Doors open 7pm

*Dinner available after the concert, please book in advance

Brussels Muzieque continues its season on November 21st at Full Circle Theater with a programme of piano trios performed by Meruert Karmenova (violin), Eduardo Tonietto (cello), and Nadia Weintraub (piano).

The evening opens with Haydn’s Piano Trio in G major, Hob. XV:25, the famous “Gypsy” trio, whose fiery Hungarian-style finale remains one of the composer’s most popular chamber works. The programme also features Edvard Grieg’s Piano Trio, EG 116, an early work left unpublished during the composer’s lifetime and only discovered in 1978, offering a fascinating glimpse into his youthful voice. Closing the concert, Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101 presents music of intensity and compact power, reflecting the composer’s mature style.

Together, these three works span from classical elegance to Romantic passion, offering a rich journey through the piano trio repertoire.

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ADDITIONAL INFO 

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCES
Bar & snacks & light food	60-80 people	Available

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2025

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Fri 28th - Sun 30th Nov

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Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

The Rest of Our Lives
by Ben Markovits

Culture | Thurs 11th Dec | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ben Markovits is a British-American author and grew up in Texas, London and Berlin. He left an unpromising career as a professional basketball player to study the Romantics and write novels. He has taught high school English, worked at a left-wing cultural magazine, and written essays, stories and reviews for The New York Times, Esquire, Granta, The Guardian, The London Review of Books and The Paris Review and others. He has published several novels meanwhile winning prizes and accolades such as the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction, a Pushcart Prize for short story. He lives in London and teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

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ADDITIONAL INFO 

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small (~10)	Available on request