Join us for a quick cup of coffee and a pastry, afternoon tea, or a light meal with a glass of wine.

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Café

Gallery tour

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Daily Guided Tours and Discussions

Come and browse a selection of our quirky gifts and books.

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Shop

Watch novelist and activist Elif Shafak in conversation with nurse and novelist Christie Watson.

They will talk about the power of stories and explore how listening to each other can nurture democracy, empathy, and optimism about the future. 

Elif and Christie will talk for 30 minutes, and then there will be 30 minutes of questions. The event will be live streamed on YouTube and you’ll be able to contribute questions using Slido. Your microphone and camera will not be on.

After booking a ticket, you will receive a confirmation email with joining instructions. 

Please note that the audio description won’t be an additional track; instead the host and speaker will describe themselves and any key visual elements they refer to. The event will be live captioned by StageText.

Elif Shafak’s new book ‘How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division’ is out now in paperback and as an audio book.  

Christie Watson is an award-winning, bestselling writer. She has been a nurse for over 20 years. ‘The Language of Kindness’ was published in 2018 and was a number-one Sunday Times bestseller, and her latest book ‘The Courage to Care’ was published in September 2020. Her first novel, ‘Tiny Sunbirds Far Away’, won the Costa First Novel Award and Waverton Good Read Award, and her second novel, ‘Where Women Are Kings’, also achieved international critical acclaim. Christie holds an honorary Doctor of Letters for her contribution to nursing and the arts, and is Patron of the Royal College of Nursing Foundation. She is Professor of Medical and Health Humanities at the University of East Anglia.

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Cheryl George

Christie Watson

christiewatsonauthor.co.uk

@tinysunbird on Twitter

Host

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish writer, storyteller, essayist, academic, public speaker and activist. She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published 17 books, 11 of which are novels. Her work has been translated into 50 languages. Her latest novel, ‘10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World’, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize, and chosen as Blackwell’s Book of the Year. An advocate for women’s rights, LGBT rights and freedom of speech, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker, each time receiving a standing ovation. In 2017 she was chosen by Politico as one of the 12 people “who will give you a much-needed lift of the heart”.

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Elif Shafak

elifsafak.com.tr

Speaker

<p>Login and join the event online with others.</p>

Online event

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This event is audio described, which may be useful for people who are blind or partially sighted. For any assistance, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Audio described (online)

This event will have live speech-to-text transcription, which may be useful for people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing. For any assistance, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Speech-to-text (online)

Booking a ticket guarantees you entry to the online event. You will be given joining instructions in your confirmation email. If you have any access requests or requirements, for example a transcript of the event, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Guaranteed (online)

Watch novelist and activist Elif Shafak talk about the power of stories with nurse and novelist Christie Watson, and contribute to the conversation via a Q&A.

Empathy in an Age of Division

Join Sonia Wigh as she examines a series of Braj Bhasha and Persian manuscripts on erotology (the study of sexual love and behaviour) and sexual diseases. She will explore the relationship between sexual desire, intercourse and pleasure. 

In this talk Sonia will focus on the ilm al-bāh (knowledge of sex) genre from the 17th and 18th centuries, to understand the nature of:

There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of this talk.

Sonia Wigh is a doctoral candidate at the Department of History, University of Exeter. She has been awarded the College of Humanities international studentship for pursuing her project titled ‘The Body of Words: A Social history of Sex and the Body in Early Modern India’. Her current interest includes issues of multilingualism, body in art, and the art of translation. 

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Sonia Wigh

Sonia Wigh's profile at University of Exeter

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Join Sonia Wigh as she shares her research on 17th and 18th century medico-sexual Persian manuscripts.

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Researcher talk in the Viewing Room

Hear about some of the latest projects that explore materials from our collections, ask questions and take inspiration for your own research.

Exploring Research

Sexual Diseases and Medicine in Early Modern South Asia

At every turn the visitor will find something to fascinate.

This permanent gallery explores trust, identity and health in a changing world.

Being Human explores what it means to be human in the 21st century. It reflects our hopes and fears about new forms of medical knowledge, and our changing relationships with ourselves, each other and the world.

Featuring 50 artworks and objects, the gallery is divided into four sections: Genetics, Minds & Bodies, Infection, and Environmental Breakdown. Discover a refugee astronaut carrying their belongings to an unknown destination, sniff a perfumed bronze sculpture that smells of breast milk, listen to an epidemic jukebox, and watch a fast-food outlet slowly flood.

Exhibition highlights

We have recorded audio descriptions of every exhibit, plus a highlights tour of 11 stops with optional directions in between. These audio tracks are available on the VocalEyes website.

This visual story will explain how to get to Being Human, and what to expect when you're here.

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Being Human gallery

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Permanent

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We’ll be in the ‘Being Human’ gallery, which you can find by taking the stairs or the lift to level 1.

Being Human

Our new permanent gallery explores trust, identity and health in a changing world.

Drop in to find inspiration and indulge your curiosity. It’s a gallery, a social space, and a place to unwind.

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2020-10

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