History | Oxford Literary Festival

John Elliott Interviewed by Frances Lannon

Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion SOLD OUT
St Cross College 10:00am Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Christopher Lloyd

Best Moments in British History
Bodleian Weston Library: Blackwell Hall 10:00am Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Lucy Worsley

Lady Mary: Tales of Tudor Intrigue SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Christopher Lloyd

Absolutely Everything! A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous
Bodleian Weston Library: Blackwell Hall 3:30pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Charles Spencer

To Catch a King: Charles II’s Great Escape SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 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
Michael Nylan

The Chinese Pleasure Book
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Sam Willis and James Daybell

Histories of the Unexpected
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Rachel Moss Interviewed by Janina Ramirez

The Book of Durrow
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Christopher Lloyd

Absolutely Everything! A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous
Bodleian Weston Library: Blackwell Hall 2:00pm 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
Peter Conradi and Mark Logue

The King’s War
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Dermot Turing Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

X, Y & Z: The real Story of How Enigma was Broken SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Lisa Hilton Chaired by Cassian Harrison

BBC 4 Preview Screening: Charles I and a Nation Divided
St Cross College 4:00pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Dan Stone

Concentration Camps: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 5:15pm Mon 1 Monday, 1 April 2019 See this event
Michael Burleigh

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: A History of Now
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 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
Daniel Snowman

The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Simon Targett

New World, Inc: How England’s Merchants Founded America and Launched the British Empire
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Chris Naunton

Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Tue 2 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 See this event
Adrian Tinniswood

Master of St Cross Lecture. Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the Royal Household
St Cross College 4:00pm 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
Christopher Andrew

The Secret World: A History of Intelligence SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Wed 3 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 See this event
Anna Marie Roos

Martin Lister and his Remarkable Daughters: The Art of Science in the 17th Century
Weston Lecture 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
Jim Ring

How the Navy Won the War
Weston Lecture Theatre 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
Robert Gildea

Empires of the Mind: The Colonial Past and the Politics of the Present SOLD OUT
St Cross College 10:00am Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith

Lost Maps of the Caliphs
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Claudia Gold Interviewed by Paula Byrne

King of the North Wind: The Life of Henry II in Five Acts
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Kate Diston and Zoë Simmons

Rare & Wonderful: Treasures from Oxford University Museum of Natural History SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Violet Moller

The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Felipe Fernández-Armesto

The Oxford Illustrated History of the World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
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
Ferdinand Addis

Rome: Eternal City
St Cross College 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
Jerry Brotton and Richard Ovenden

Masterclass: The Selden Map of China SOLD OUT
Weston Library: Bahari Room 11:00am Sat 6 Saturday, 6 April 2019 See this event
Lewis Dartnell

Origins: How the Earth Made Us
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 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
Ali Ansari

Iran: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 5:15pm 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
Jonathan Fenby

Crucible: Thirteen Months that Forged Our World
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm 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:

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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Brasenose College founded in 1512

Founded 1884

Reuben College founded in 2019

Magdalen College founded 1458

Trinity College founded 1555

Lincoln College founded 1427

Worcester College founded 1714

Exeter College: college home of the festival. Founded 1314

New College founded 1379

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