The Uncharted Festival of Ideas is back in downtown Berkeley for the fourth year on Friday Oct. 14 and Saturday Oct. 15. The festival is a production of Berkeley’s independent news site, Berkeleyside, and offers a rich mix of conversations with some of the word’s edgiest thinkers, as well as music and dance performances, fun interactive workshops, a popup Books Inc. bookstore, and an opening-night party on the UC Berkeley campus. Speakers this year include Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues; KQED Forum host Michael Krasny, whose new book is about Jewish humor; James Beard award-winner Kenji López-Alt, author of The Food Lab, who will host a workshop; writer Kevin Powell, one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, literary and hip-hop voices in America today; and Iranian-American comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh. End-of-Summer one- or two-days tickets are 35% discounted before Sept. 23. Visit BerkeleyIdeas.com for details.