The programme includes: special opening and closing events, public talks, conversations, film, drama & spoken word, prayer & meditation, exhibitions, concerts, workshops and 'for your wellbeing' a number of tai-chi classes, spiritual healers and a complementary health chill out zone.

CONVERSATIONS and TALKS:

Abie Philbin Bowman – Comedian and Actor
Alistair McIntosh - Scottish writer, academic and activist
Andy Pope - Business Crime Partnership Manager for Co-op
Angus Farquhar – Pioneer in environmental art and Creative Director of NVA
Arun Gandhi - Founder MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence,Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi Bishop Brian Smith - Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh
Bishop Gene Robinson - Bishop of New Hampshire
Brendan Dick – Director of BT Scotland
Carter Phipps – Executive Editor of What is Enlightenment magazine
Charles Handy – Social philosopher and best-selling author
David Arnold – Director of Scottish Power and Chair of NVA
David Lorimer – Programme Director and Editor The Scientific and Medical Network
David Pratt, Foreign Editor of the Sunday Herald
Duncan McLaren – Scottish Director, Friends of the Earth
Fr. Gerry Hughes SJ – Spiritual writer and theologian
Glen Bennett – Managing Director of EAE Distribution
Iain McWhirter – Scotland’s foremost political commentator
Idris Tawfiq – Former Catholic Priest and convert to Islam – commentator and writer
Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland
Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International
Kevin Locke – Native American, Sioux tradition and a Baha’i
Lord McCluskey - Former Solicitor-General for Scotland
Mairead Corrigan Maguire - Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Martin Bell, the former BBC correspondent and the “accidental MP”
Oliver James – Bestselling author
Osama Saeed – Scottish Islamic Foundation
Peter Tatchell - Activist
Richard Holloway - Chair of the Scottish Arts Council, broadcaster and author
Ruth Waterman - International violinist
Salil Shetty - Director of the UN Millennium Campaign
Tina Beattie – A leading British feminist theologian, broadcaster and author
Trevor Royle - Historian and diplomatic correspondent of the Sunday Herald.
Valerie Hemingway - (Ernest Hemingway’s daughter) engaged in Barak Obama campaign
Ziauddin Sardar – Muslim intellectual, broadcaster, columnist and blogger






CONCERTS:

Chana Sophia Yaffe and Tirtza Singer

Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble

Phamie Gow In Concert

Ragamala Music and Dance Theatre -

Ruth Waterman - International violinist performs and in conversation

Sabela Music Projects present Siyaya Arts from Bulawayo Zimbabwe

www.theworldfestival.com at St George's West