April 5 | Oxford Literary Festival

Tim Bouverie

Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War SOLD OUT
St Cross College 10:00am Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Martin Kemp Interviewed by Laura Battle

Leonardo 500: Fifty Years of Living with Sanity and Insanity in the Art World and Beyond SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Oliver Bullough

Moneyland: Why Thieves Rule the World & How to Take it Back
Bodleian: Divinity School 10:00am Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Andrew Robinson

Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-François Champollion
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton

Physical Intelligence: Achieve More, Stress Less, Live More Happily
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Will Caine and Gavin Esler

The Inquiry
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Barbie Nadeau Interviewed by Teresa Franco

Roadmap to Hell: Sex, Drugs and Guns on the Mafia Coast
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Nicola Trapani

The Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and How to Live Better and Longer – with Tasting
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 12:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Belinda Jack

Reading: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Gina Rippon

The Gendered Brain: Shattering the Myth of the Female Brain SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Alessandro d’Avenia Interviewed by Teresa Franco

What Hell is Not: A Mafia Novel
St Cross College 2:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
John Gray

Seven Types of Atheism SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Martin Kemp and Robert Hollingworth

Leonardo 500: Shaping the Invisible
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Jason Cowley Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Reaching for Utopia: Making Sense of an Age of Upheaval
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Paola Diana Introduced by Gilbert Licudi

Gibraltar Lecture. Saving the World. Women: The Twenty-First Century’s Factor for Change
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Patrick Gale Interviewed by Sophie Ratcliffe

Take Nothing With You SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Adam Rutherford

The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Cristina Dondi

Printed Books: The First 50 years
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
David Owen Interviewed by Louise Richardson

Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture. Hubris, Brexit and A Life in Politics
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Vivek Singh Interviewed by Mark Sansom

Vivek Singh’s Indian Festival Feasts
Westgate Centre: Cinnamon Kitchen 4:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Old School Tour: 60 Minutes SOLD OUT
5:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Ritchie Robertson

Goethe: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 5:15pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Jo Brand

Born Lippy: How to do Female SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Old School Tour: 30 Minutes SOLD OUT
6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Stefan Dercon

Dull Disasters? How Planning Ahead Will Make a Difference.
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Oren Harman Interviewed by Frederick Studemann

Evolutions: Fifteen Myths that Explain our World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Ferdinand Addis

Rome: Eternal City
St Cross College 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Ma Jian Interviewed by Flora Drew

China Lecture: China Dream
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Kerry Hudson Interviewed by Simon Kövesi

Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Old School Tour: 30 Minutes SOLD OUT
7:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Old School Tour: 30 Minutes SOLD OUT
7:30pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Helena Attlee

Italian Dinner: The Land Where Lemons Grow
St John’s College 8:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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