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Live On Stage
Friday May 8 2026, 7:30pm BST

Chasing Aliens, with Jon Ronson and Daniel Lavelle

Are we really alone in the universe?

The question of whether there is extraterrestrial life is one of our oldest questions. And few nations on Earth are more captivated by the prospect of life on Mars than the United States. President Barack Obama recently made headlines by stating he believes aliens are real. And around 41% of Americans believe aliens have made contact with planet Earth.

On May 8, Orwell Prize-winning journalist Daniel Lavelle joins acclaimed filmmaker and podcaster Jon Ronson to discuss why humans, and Americans in particular, are so obsessed with encountering aliens.  

Drawing from Lavelle’s new book, Chasing Aliens, they will explore an extraordinary road trip through America’s UFO heartlands – a journey that led Lavelle from fringe believers and interdimensional crystal rituals at the clandestine Skinwalker Ranch, all the way to Harvard astrophysicists and the corridors of government itself. He will reveal what he found: not just the truth about UFOs, but something far more unexpected – a deeply moving story about loneliness, belief, and our unshakeable need not to be alone in the cosmos.

Chasing Aliens: Faith and Conspiracy in the UFO Heartlands (Hardback)
by Daniel Lavelle

BUY ON:
Waterstones
Event Name

Chasing Aliens, with Jon Ronson and Daniel Lavelle

Speaker

  • Daniel Lavelle

    Orwell Prize-winning Journalist

Host

  • Jon Ronson

    Journalist, author, and filmmaker

Location
  • Conway Hall
  • 25 Red Lion Square
  • London
  • WC1R 4RL
Time
  • Friday 8 May 2026
  • 7:30pm to 9pm BST

Speakers

Speaker

Daniel Lavelle

Orwell Prize-winning Journalist

Orwell Prize-winning freelance feature writer from Manchester. His first book, Down and Out, was published in 2022 and won a Royal Society of Literature award for non-fiction writing. He has covered topics such as mental health, homelessness and culture for the Guardian, New Statesman and the Independent. He received the Guardian’s Hugo Young Award for an opinion piece on his experience of homelessness. ‘The Empty Doorway’ won Feature of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2019 and was nominated for the same award at the National Press Awards 2020. His latest book is Chasing Aliens: Faith and Conspiracy in the UFO Heartlands.
Host

Jon Ronson

Journalist, author, and filmmaker

Journalist, author, and filmmaker.  He is the author of books including Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and The Psychopath Test. He has produced documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4, covering such topics as euthanasia, Kidneys for Jesus, the Cliff Richard fan club and David Icke. He co-wrote the script for the Netflix film Okja with director Bong Joon-ho. He is the writer and presenter of the new hit series 'Things Fell Apart' for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Speakers are subject to change.