In her compelling and highly acclaimed new book We are free to Change the World - Hannah Arendt's Lessons in Love and Obedience, award-winning writer and broadcaster Lyndsey Stonebridge brings Hannah Arendt and her work into an urgent dialogue with today's world.

The war in the Middle East has once again highlighted the underlying tension in the climate of free expression in Europe, particularly in Germany. Since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, there has been a shift towards what many artists now perceive as outright censorship. The struggle for free speech and artistic expression has intensified, and in Germany, major influential media outlets and so-called cultural newspapers have been accused of serving the government's agenda while simultaneously compromising their own societal mission.

In her book, Lyndsey Stonebridge brings us closer to the Hannah Arendt we need for the 21st century. She explains how the charismatic philosopher thought - and how we should think when our politics get out of hand. With passion and brilliant expertise, the English literary scholar illuminates Arendt's life and work and brings them into an urgent dialogue with our troubled present.

Once upon a time, in another century, I sat in a Norwich pub & talked about Améry & Arendt with Max Sebald. We were both, as usual, smoking.

I taught at UEA for nearly 25 years, so I'm thrilled to be returning to talk about 'We are Free’ with Rachel Potter. There will no smoking, but lots of fun.

Lyndsey Stonebridge and Samantha Rose Hill will talk about Hannah Arendt, biography, loneliness and more

In 1971, in America, rocked by an unpopular war, political scandal, and civil unrest, the political theorist, Hannah Arendt, wrote: ‘We are free to change the world and put something new in it.’ What did she mean, and what in her life and thought had led her to this startling statement?

Lyndsey Stonebridge’s new book “We are Free to Change the World” illuminates Hannah Arendt’s life and work while putting it in dialogue with our troubled present. Born in the fist decade of the 20th century, Arendt was all too familiar with violent political unease. Register now to hear what Arendt had to say about loving and living through tense times.

Lyndsey Stonebridge illuminates Arendt's life and work, brings her into dialogue with our troubled present - and challenges us to think like Hannah Arendt: steadfast, loving and defiant. The professor of humanities and human rights talks about this with the writer and philosopher Wolfram Eilenberger . Lena Stolze reads the German passages

In this lecture, Lyndsey Stonebridge returns to the work of the most famous theorist of totalitarianism, the political-philosopher, Hannah Arendt. Woman, Jew, refugee, and pariah – and interdisciplinary thinker par excellence - Arendt looked at the world from outside of conventional academic and political categories. What can we learn from her anti-totalitarian thinking today?

Lyndsey Stonebridge will be addressing issues from her new book on Hannah Arendt titled ‘We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience’ and joining the discussion will be Neda Mohamadi, Catherine Rottenberg and Angela McRobbie, followed by a Q&A and chaired by Mandy Merck.

(Image Credit - Cigarette vending machine outside Hannah Arendt’s old student house in Marburg (c) Lyndsey Stonebridge)

This event brings together two of the world’s leading Arendt scholars, Lyndsey Stonebridge and Samantha Rose Hill, to discuss Arendt’s life and work and its urgent dialogue with our troubled present. Stonebridge and Hill will call on us to think our way, as Hannah Arendt did – unflinchingly, lovingly and defiantly – through our own unpredictable times.

As the author of We Are Free to Change the World and contributor to On Hannah Arendt, Lyndsey Stonebridge will be in conversation with Dr. Hannah Dawson, Professor at King's College London to discuss the books and Arendt's enduring cultural legacy.