Many of the best-known writers of fiction in the English language appear at this year’s Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival. They include Anne Tyler, Peter Carey, Vikram Seth, William Boyd, Phillip Hensher, Andrew Motion, Anthony Horowitz and Robert Harris.

Some talks will be literary events in their own right. US author Anne Tyler, pictured, makes her first official visit to the UK to talk about her new novel The Beginner’s Goodbye and she will also accept the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence from our headline sponsor. We also have the two-time Booker winner Peter Carey making a rare public appearance in the UK on the eve of publication of his new novel The Chemistry of Tears. The sense of occasion will be heightened when he receives the prestigious Bodley Medal from the Bodleain Libraries. Indian novelist Vikram Seth will give this year’s Chancellor’s lecture.

The first new Sherlock Holmes novel to be authorised by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The House of Silk,  has been written by Anthony Horowitz. The writer of the bestselling Alex Rider children’s spy stories will be discussing the new novel and his lifelong love of Sherlock Holmes with The Sunday Times chief fiction reviewer Peter Kemp.

Former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion, pictured, has written Silver: A Sequel to Treasure Island. It is published in April and there is a taste of it when Sir Andrew appears on the final day of the festival.

Another novelist with a new work is William Boyd. He will introduce Waiting for Sunrise, a love story and a thriller about secret intelligence set in Vienna just before and during World War I, and discuss its themes of Freudian psychoanalysis, suspicion and betrayal.

Philip Hensher is alongside his husband Zaved Mahmood to discuss Scenes from Early Life. His latest novel is based on the early life of Mahmood during a vicious war of independence In Pakistan that eventually saw the emergence of Bangladesh.

The world of high finance provides the setting for Robert Harris’s new novel The Fear Index. He will talk about his latest work, which features the wealthy creator of a form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions and can predict movements in the financial markets. However, the world, is about to be thrown into financial turmoil. John Lanchester is also in Oxford to discuss his novel Capital that tells of the impact of the global crisis on the residents of one street.

There is plenty more from writers of fiction including Kathy Lette on The Boy Who fell to Earth, Marina Lewycka on Various Pets Dead and Alive, Alison McQueen and T D Griggs on empire in 21st-century fiction, and Jonathan Freedland aka Sam Bourne on his new novel Pantheon which sheds light on a World War II scandal with an interesting Oxford connection.