Food And Drink | Oxford Literary Festival

Philip Lymbery Interviewed by Nick Higham

Pasture to Plate®. Saving Life on Earth: Feeding People without Trashing the Planet
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Graham Harvey Interviewed by Robin Hicks

Pasture to Plate®. Grass-Fed Nation: Getting back the Food we Deserve
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Zoe Harcombe

Pasture to Plate®. The Diet Fix: Pasture-grazed Meat and Health
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Hans Herren and Philip Lymbery

Pasture to Plate®: How to Nourish the World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Henry Edmunds Interviewed by Philip Lymbery

Pasture to Plate®: Farming in Harmony with Nature
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Ben Okri, Suzanna Crampton and Graham Harvey

BBC World Service Recording: Food and Storytelling
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 4:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Jonathan Ray

That’s the Spirit! 100 of the World’s Greatest Spirits
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 4:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 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
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
Helena Attlee and Rachel Roddy

A Foodwriting Masterclass SOLD OUT
Lincoln College 10:00am Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2019 CANCELLED
St Cross College 10:00am Sun 7 Sunday, 7 April 2019 See this event

Festival information:

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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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