by Prof Mark Blagrove and Dr Julia Lockheart

Mark Blagrove and Julia Lockheart will discuss their book ‘The Science and Art of Dreaming’, published in February 2023.

The book examines the biological, psychological and social causes of dreaming, and includes recent advances in the study of nightmares and lucid dreaming. It shows how sleep can process memories and that dreams may reflect these processes, but also that dreams can elicit self-disclosure and empathy when they are shared after waking.

The playfulness, originality and metaphorical content of dreams also link them to art, and especially to the cultural movement that has most valued dreams – Surrealism.

The book concludes that, rather than, or in addition to, dreams having a role in memory or emotion processing during sleep, dreams may have a function of enabling self-disclosure and group bonding when the dream is shared on waking.

9th May 2023, starting at 7pm.

Get your ticket here: and it’s free

Mark Blagrove is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Sleep Laboratory at Swansea University.

Dr Julia Lockheart is Associate Professor at Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.