Raworths Salon North: September - The Crown Hotel

Get ready for a night of curiosity, creativity, and unexpected connections. Raworths Salon North brings the world’s most fascinating ideas in arts, science, and psychology into an intimate cabaret style setting right here in Harrogate.

We’re delighted to welcome Deborah Hyde, who explores the supernatural and why people believe, drawing on psychology, folklore, history, and anthropology to uncover why ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and the unexplained continue to captivate us.

Joining her is author James Bailey, who turned a personal search for meaning into a remarkable project. After a difficult period following university, he wrote to one hundred people asking a simple question: what gives life meaning. His book The Meaning of Life brings together those responses into a thoughtful exploration of purpose, resilience, and what matters most when life does not go to plan, featuring contributions from figures including Sir David Attenborough, Sir Richard Branson, and Dame Judi Dench.

Completing the line up is neuroscientist Professor Adam Zeman, who opens up the strange and brilliant world of imagination, from daydreams and memory to hallucinations and the mind’s eye, revealing how much of our lives are shaped by a brain that is constantly creating its own reality.

Each speaker takes the stage for 30 minutes including Q and A, with intervals to grab a drink, browse books from local bookseller Imagined Things, and dive into conversation with fellow curious minds.

With a drink in hand and ideas in the air, this is a night to explore something unexpected, meet interesting people, and leave with your head buzzing long after the lights go down.

Hosted by producer and presenter Natasha Knight, Raworths Salon North is a celebration of bold thinking, brilliant storytelling, and the joy of discovering ideas that stick with you.

Voted one of GQ magazine’s “Top 100 Things to Do in the World.”