Biography | Oxford Literary Festival

Darcey Bussell Interviewed by Nick Higham

Evolved SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Jenny Hartley

Charles Dickens: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Matthew Sturgis

Oscar: A Life
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Will Iredale, Colin Bell and Keith Quilter

Pathfinders and Kamikaze Hunters: The Last of the World War II Aviators
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 12:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Catherine McIlwaine

Stepping into Tolkien’s Study
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Simon Schama Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

An Audience with Simon Schama
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Robert Daws

Wodehouse in Wonderland by William Humble
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 4:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Jeremy Robson Interviewed by Maureen Lipman

Under Cover: A Poet’s Life in Publishing
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Robert Hardman

Queen of the World
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Ursula Buchan

Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Peter Conradi and Mark Logue

The King’s War
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Eilat Negev and Yehuda Koren

Flaming Dene. A Victorian Stunner, Nude Model and Actress
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Sophie Ratcliffe Interviewed by Alan Rusbridger

The Lost Properties of Love
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Julia Blackburn

Time Song: Searching for Doggerland
St Cross College 12:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Laura Marcus

Autobiography: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Aatish Taseer Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin

The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges
St Cross College 2:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
David Gilmour

The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Armand D’Angour

Socrates in Love: The Making of a Philosopher
Bodleian: Divinity School 10:00am Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Ranulph Fiennes Interviewed by Rupert Lancaster

An Audience with Ranulph Fiennes
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Robert Irwin

Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Lisa Appignanesi

Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Diarmaid MacCulloch Interviewed by Mary Beard

British Academy Lecture. Thomas Cromwell: A Life
Sheldonian Theatre 4:15pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Boyd Tonkin and Elena Lappin

Crossing Borders in Literature and Language
St Cross College 12:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Rob Iliffe

Newton: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Tim Waterstone Interviewed by Nick Higham

The Face pressed Against a Window
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Linda Yueh

The Great Economists
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Angela Gallop

When the Dogs Don’t Bark: A Forensic Scientist’s Search for the Truth SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Robert Harris Interviewed by Chris Patten

Chancellor’s Lecture: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 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
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
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
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
Adam Zamoyski

Napoleon: The Man Behind the Myth
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Andrew Hill and Ruth Nutter

Ruskin Today: How a Victorian Visionary’ can Shape our Future
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Claire Harman Interviewed by Claire Armitstead

Murder By The Book: A Sensational Chapter In Victorian Crime
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Robert Saunders and Richard Ovenden

Masterclass: How Britain Joined Europe: From the Edward Heath Archive SOLD OUT
Weston Library: Bahari Room 1:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
William Burns

The Back Channel: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Zachary Leader

The Life of Saul Bellow: Love and Strife 1965 -2005
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
The Life and Legend of Sultan Saladin
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 10:00am Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Bart van Es Interviewed by Hannah Beckerman

The Cut Out Girl
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Anna Beer

Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Ralegh
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Nick Stadlen Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Life is Wonderful: Mandela’s Unsung Heroes
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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 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.

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 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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.

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