Fiction | Oxford Literary Festival

Melissa Harrison Interviewed by Oliver Balch

Pasture to Plate®: All Among the Barley
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 10:00am Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Melvyn Bragg Interviewed by Peter Kemp

Love Without End: A Story of Heloise and Abelard SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Tessa Hadley Interviewed by Harriett Gilbert

BBC World Service Recording: Book Club with Tessa Hadley
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 2:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Ben Okri Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin

The Freedom Artist
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
John Boyne Interviewed by Hannah Beckerman

A Ladder to the Sky
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Paul Lynch and Caoilinn Hughes Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Emerging Irish Voices
St Cross College 4:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Annabel Abbs Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Frieda: A Novel of the Real Lady Chatterley
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Philippa Stockley Interviewed by George Miller

Black Lily
St Cross College 6:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
A N Wilson Interviewed by Paula Byrne

Aftershocks
St Cross College 10:00am Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Olga Grjasnowa and Selja Ahava Chaired by Boyd Tonkin

Voices of Europe 1
St Cross College 2:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Jacek Dehnel, Piotr Tarczynski and Jasmin B Frelih Chaired by Boyd Tonkin

Voices of Europe 2
St Cross College 4:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Cara Hunter Interviewed by Peter Guttridge

Lincoln College Lecture. No Way Out: Launch Event
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 4:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Kazuo Ishiguro Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Bodley Lecture and Award of Bodley Medal SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Ruth Hogan and Hannah Beckerman Chaired by Lucy Atkins

Families and Secrets: Two Novels
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 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
Alba Arikha Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Where to Find Me
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 2:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
John Lanchester Interviewed by Hannah Beckerman

The Wall
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm 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
Will Caine and Gavin Esler

The Inquiry
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm 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
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
Ma Jian Interviewed by Flora Drew

China Lecture: China Dream
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 5 Friday, 5 April 2019 See this event
Lavinia Greenlaw Interviewed by Paula Byrne

The Built Moment and In the City of Love’s Sleep – Poetry and Prose
St Cross College 10:00am Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Val McDermid Interviewed by Nicolette Jones

A Life Of Crime
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Kirsty Gunn Interviewed by Claire Armitstead

Action Writing: Seeking out and Celebrating the Imagination
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Lionel Shriver Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Property: A Collection SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Tess Stimson Interviewed by Nicolette Jones

From Adultery to Murder: A Shorter Journey Than You Think
Worcester College: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Laura Bates Interviewed by Hannah Beckerman

The Burning
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Alex Reeve and Marlene Hauser Interviewed by Suzi Feay

The House on Half Moon Street and Off-Island
St Cross College 2:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Diane Setterfield and Daisy Johnson Interviewed by Hannah Beckerman

Oxford Novels: Once Upon a River and Everything Under
St Cross College 4:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event
Joanne Harris Interviewed by Suzi Feay

The Strawberry Thief and Honorary Fellowship of Oxford Literary Festival
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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