5x15: Five Leading Thinkers on the Unique Magic of Venice

Venice Background
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1 Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AR
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Five cultural figures each deliver a fifteen-minute talk exploring Venice through art, literature, history and design. In support of Venice in Peril Fund’s Acqua Granda Appeal.
Francesco da Mosto
Francesco da Mosto
on his Venetian family history

Francesco da Mosto is a writer, architect, historian, film-maker and Venetian citizen. Apart from short spells in Rome, Paris and sailing in the Mediterranean, he has lived in Venice all his life. Francesco presented the BBC TV series Francesco's Venice, Francesco's Italy, Francesco’s Mediterranean Voyage and Shakespeare in Italy, and wrote the accompanying bestselling books as well as Francesco’s Kitchen – an intimate guide to the authentic flavours of Venice.

Geoff Dyer Headshot
Geoff Dyer
on Venice in literature and its surprising similarities with Varanasi

Geoff Dyer is an award-winning author of four novels and numerous non-fiction books, including The Last Days of Roger Federer, Homework: A Memoir and Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

Wheeler Sara credit Jurgen Kehn 1
Sara Wheeler
on travel writer Jan Morris and her lifelong fascination with Venice

Sara Wheeler is an award-winning and internationally bestselling travel writer and biographer, and a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio; like Jan Morris, she has spent half her working life on the road. Her eleven books include Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica and Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard . She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a contributing editor of the Literary Review. Her latest book is Jan Morris: A Life.

Martin Gayford by Josephine Gayford
Martin Gayford
on Venice, the City of Pictures

Martin Gayford is an art critic, writer and curator. He is the author of Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud, A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney, How Painting Happens (and why it matters), Venice: City of Pictures and Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud, 1939 –1954, and acclaimed books on Van Gogh, Constable and Michaelangelo. His latest book, with Tracey Emin, is My Heart is This: Tracey Emin on Painting.

Stephen Bayley
Stephen Bayley
on architect and designer Carlo Scarpa

Stephen Bayley created London’s influential Design Museum (with Terence Conran.) Over nearly fifty years his books, journalism and exhibitions have changed the popular understanding of 'design.' His next book is a memoir, Analogue Epilogue: In Search of Lost Things. He is Chairman of The Royal Fine Art Commission Trust.

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