A DELICIOUSLY SELF-INDULGENT OPPORTUNITY TO GAPE, GAWP, GAZE AND LEARN - MARCH 27 - 9.59AM - 2019

Oxford Literary Festival 2019 Blackwell’s Marquee

You know it’s all too easy to think of literary festivals as something somehow... highbrow, designed for the egghead and scholastic types bedecked in their woollen tank tops, mismatching socks and egg-stained ties (the men aren’t much better). But this festival is the absolute opposite. And if proof of this were needed, might I suggest you pop into the Blackwell’s marquee which always occupies the space next to the Sheldonian Theatre (technically speaking, it’s known as the Clarendon Quad of the Bodleian Library but ask for directions to this and chances are you may be lost forever). The marquee, which acts not only as the Festival bookshop but a very convivial coffee shop too, is the conversational nerve centre for everyone and their umbrellas, opinions and gossip (the best things in life are free - right? Well sunrises and sunsets of course tick that box but really, can anything quite match a morning of just people watching?). A bustling, chatty polestar, it’s an entertainment in itself. But just in case you need something more than simply books to peruse, coffee to sup and some heavy duty earwigging to perform, the marquee itself offers it’s very own ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ type of dias to authors with both its ‘A Very Short Introduction Series’ (free 15-minute talks on everything from demographics to Charles Dickens, Mathematical Finance and yes, gardening), and ‘Marquee Moments’ (also free) in which guest speakers introduce their books in brief 30-minute presentations. Seating incidentally is allocated on a first come, first seated basis, so arrive early. And for further details of the whole week’s programme, just pop in and ask.