Jonathan-sacks

Former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks on morality

Festival team

Festival Chief Executive and Director: Sally Dunsmore

Festival Board Directors: Bruce Thew (Chairman), John Harris (President), Graham Benson (Deputy Chairman)

Special Advisor: Tony Byrne

Director of Children’s and Young People’s Programme: Andrea Reece andrea.reece@zen.co.uk

Executive Consultant – Film, Television and Theatre: Graham Benson

Website and content editor: Derek Holmes

Graphic design: Stafford & Stafford

Festival manager: Louise Croft

Assistant to Special Advisor:Sarah Burch

Director of Academic Programmes: Jem Poster

PR and Assistant to the Director: Katie Read

Marketing: Rachel Byrne

Green Room Managers: Rachel Byrne and Jill Dunsmore

Programme printers: Oxford University Press

Digital Strategy & Website Design: BearRamElk

Consultant Chef: Paul Bloomfield

Sheldonian Theatre events manager: Ben Truesdale

St Hilda’s College writing day programme director: Triona Adams

Photography: KT Bruce

Festival stewards: We also thank all the voluntary festival stewards for their time and generous support throughout the festival. If you are interested in volunteering at the festival please contact volunteers@oxfordliteraryfestival.org

Patrons: Dame Joan Bakewell, Professor Colin Blakemore, Professor John Carey, Professor Richard Dawkins, Daisy Goodwin, Joanne Harris, Peter Kemp, Mark Lawson, The Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Patten of Barnes, CH, PC, Dr David Starkey, Sir Peter Stothard, Ian and Carol Sellars, Professor Ian Goldin, Alex Preston

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

Alumni Office

Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design

Local radio partner

Regional media partner

Oxford University Images

K T Bruce Photography

Festival information:

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.

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.

Every literary festival stays in an author’s mind for slightly individual reasons. I shall remember the Oxford festival for: - the size of the audience: at the top end of the range - their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted - the beauty and the grace of the place itself – incomparable - the willingness of my hearers to buy books afterwards; I’ve never sold more.

A stimulating and rewarding on-stage conversation; a lively informed and tolerant audience; privileged access to the great treasures of the Bodleian, and finally, wonderfully interesting dinner companions to help me conclude the best day I have enjoyed at any festival – anywhere.

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

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.

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival partners & sponsors

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

Alumni Office

Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design

Local radio partner

Regional media partner

Oxford University Images

K T Bruce Photography