Talks of the week: Cambridge Wordfest, various venues, Cambridge

Gillian Beer will be celebrating the work of Lewis Carroll (EPA)

Kate Kirk and some of the key players in the Cambridge technology cluster open the Wordfest's winter coda on Friday, looking at the history of enterprise in the city.

Other highlights over the following weekend include Edna O'Brien discussing her new memoir, Country Girl, Jack Straw reliving his years in parliament, Artemis Cooper chronicling the life of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Tom Watson and Martin Hickman exploring the deleterious influence of Rupert Murdoch, David Lammy and Paul Lewis assessing the state of the nation following last year's riots, Gillian Beer celebrating the work of Lewis Carroll, and Robert and Edward Skidelsky pondering what it takes to live a good life.

Also on the bill are Clare Mulley, Orlando Figes, Tom Holland, Tony and Melissa Benn, John Hegley, Maajod Nawaz, Andrew Marr and Kate Summerscale, while fiction comes from Rose Tremain, Kate Mosse, Joanne Harris, Ali Smith and Salley Vickers.

(01223 300085; cambridgewordfest.co.uk) Fri to 25 Nov