Talks and Performances
- Where Story, Insight & Music Ignite Live Audiences
Steve Bonham’s captivating talks blend brilliant insights, wanderlust storytelling, and psychological depth – and even potentially a song or two! Ideal for book and arts festivals, U3A groups, wellbeing events, environmental and community associations, and curious clubs of all kinds. Expect deeply human stories, practical tools for resilience (especially in How to Survive… with a piano!), and a dash of the magical and unexpected to stir the imagination and spark conversation.
The Wild Within
How Nature Shows Us How We Can Be
“Deep in a forgotten corner of a field near my home, a tiny wood is doing something extraordinary.
No signposts. No management plan. Just a few acres left to their own devices. And yet—without permission, without a strategy—it’s flourishing. Brambles tangle. Saplings fight their way up. A hidden chaos gives way to new balance.”
We know now the potential nature can recover—if we let it - But what if the same is true for us?
In this lively, story-filled and thought-provoking one-hour talk, psychologist, adventurer and author Steve Bonham invites audiences to explore a surprising question:
👉 What can the renewal of wild places teach us about rewilding ourselves ?
Drawing from ecological rewilding, human psychology, and his book How to Survive and Thrive in an Impossible World, Stephen introduces the idea of psychological rewilding—a hopeful, humorous and radical way of thinking about how we stay resilient, creative and purposeful, especially in challenging times.
A brand new talk for 25/26
I love the idea of human re-wilding, of seeing ourselves as complex, dynamic ecosystems that can thrive when we give ourselves permission to do so. It’s an elegant idea that is appealing, accessible, and grounded in solid psychological research. It’s the right time for us to be thinking this way, for our good and the good of planet.
Dr Jonathan Males, psychologist, coach, author, consultant to British Paralympic Team.
“Steve’s creativity constantly inspires me, weaving music, poetry, psychology and lived experience into potent insights. ”
Stumbling Over Eden
Stumbling Over Eden starts with an idea born on the top of Mt Toubkal the highest peak in North Africa - to walk from the roof of the High Atlas Mountains to the sands of the Sahara Desert. What results is a fantastical tale involving a Krupp cannon, arrest, being tailed by the secret service, the lairs of old warlords, a spirit dog, a lost tribe of dwarfs and an amorous camel. But more than that, it is a story of resilience, companionship, independence, the strange weave of history and the true meaning of adventure.
Steve at Wigtown Book Festival 2022 with Robert Twigger proving a guitar is never far from hand!
Steve at Ripon Theatre Festival 2023
Audience Feedback
“Another incredible evening at Leigh library for Stumbling Over Eden . . . Steve really brought his trek to life through extracts, funny tales and some amazing songs”
“We had a lovely time at this event tonight. Steve was a very engaging speaker and his stories about a trek across Morocco were so interesting – we all fell in love, a little bit, with Black, the feral golden retriever who got them safely home.”
"You could have heard a pin drop as Steve spoke, we were all remembering our lived and unlived adventures. It was inspiring.” Cilian Fennel, Creator & Producer of RTÉ’s award-winning Centenary show
Stumbling Over Eden - beyond the Adrenaline high
Following the narrative of a DIY trek from the top of the High Atlas Mountains to the Sahara desert (550 km), Steve Bonham reflects on the nature of adventure and its rewards weaving in themes of risk-taking, serendipity and companionship. This is a celebration in story, bold ideas and song of the adventurer that lies within us all and invites us to see "beyond the adrenaline high" the true experience of stepping into the unknown and how to make a friend of uncertainty.
Audience Feedback
“It was a privilege to have you join the Cumbria Soaring Club Lakes Charity Classic paragliding club competition to provoke a conversation about adventure, risk-taking and companionship in the sky. Thanks for adding a thoughtful, humorous and melodic tone to our tribal gathering of international pilots!”
With total appreciation. Baz Roberts, (Chair)
Have we become afraid to be afraid!
How to Survive and Thrive in an Impossible World
A world turned upside down! How do we flourish in times of enormous uncertainty and in a world in which a rising tide of anxiety and disaster seems to be in danger of overwhelming us? How do we grab the wheel of our lives and steer into calmer waters? The world we are moving into seems to be one in which the old rules do not apply. So what are we going to do for ourselves if we are to flourish as individuals ? Steve Bonham, award-winning psychologist, writer, adventurer, musician, and ‘vagabond philosopher’ weaves a spell of new research, story, and wry observation’
Written during COVID lockdown - How to Survive and Thrive has been delighting audiences all over the UK!
Audience Feedback
Incredible. It was inspiring and positive. I have downloaded your book already! I believe that it is such an important part of my role as "Wellbeing Lead" to highlight and point people in the general direction of wisdom, help or advice. I feel you have offered all three.
Andy Allen Consultant Anaesthetist University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Explaining How to Survive and Thrive in an Impossible World - Nottinghamshire Environmental Association .
Stephen Venables- mountaineer, author- the first Briton to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen
“I’ve known Steve over 25 years. As a psychologist he is a bit different, tramping deserts, crossing the Atlas, exploring Andalucia, writing, discovering, questioning and performing in a delightful quest for quirky serendipity.”
FringeReview.co.uk
“Steve Bonham is … engaging funny and a very original thinker!”
Roisin Ingles, Irish Times