Welcome to the Oxford Literary Festival

Welcome to the 24th Oxford Literary Festival.

Title partner

International radio partner

Festival ideas partner

Festival cultural partner

Partner of Jewish programme

Supporter of Italian programme

Supporters of the Irish programme

MIT Press. Sponsors of the programme of American literature and culture

Festival London hotel partner

Festival on-site and online bookseller

Festival academic partner

Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture

Worcester College

Lincoln College

11th St Hilda's day at the festival

St Cross College: Festival college partner. All facilities generously donated to the festival

Woodstock

Festival green room sponsor

Alumni Office

Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design

Local radio partner

Regional media partner

Oxford University Images

K T Bruce Photography

Estate agents

Wines of Tuscany

Wines of the Douro Valley

Festival information:

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

It was a privilege for me to visit the festival to receive the Bodley Medal. As an incidental blessing I saw Oxford at its most mysterious and atmospheric. It was a day of piercing cold and as I walked through the twilight from the Sheldonian to Christ Church, the streets were empty and the whole city was shutting itself away. Christ Church was silent except for the footfall of unseen persons around corners and the sounds of evensong creeping from behind closed doors. For the first time I understood thoroughly the power of college ghost stories.

Often as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget.

I came away buzzing and reassured that we still have in this century a wide ranging community fascinated not just by famous authors (I’ve rarely seen so many concentrated in one place) but by challenging ideas and questions.

I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven.

The Oxford Literary Festival has in my mind become the leading literary festival of the year. The organisation, the roster of speakers, the ambience and the sheer quality of it all is superb. May it now go from strength to strength each year stretching its ambition more and more. I believe it will.

The night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners