Italian Day | Oxford Literary Festival

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
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
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
Martin Kemp and Robert Hollingworth

Leonardo 500: Shaping the Invisible
Weston 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
Cristina Dondi

Printed Books: The First 50 years
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm 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
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:

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.

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 is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.

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.

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 sponsors, donors & partners

Partner of Oxford Literary Festival

Prestige publishing partner. Celebrating 25 years in Europe in 2024

Accountants to the festival

Oxford International Centre for Publishing

Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection

Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection

Where learning meets opportunity: education partners of the festival

Wines of the Douro Valley

Festival on-site and online bookseller

The Cervantes Institute, London

The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture

Festival ideas partner

Festival cultural partner

Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme

Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK

Festival media partner

Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture

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

Oxford University Images

Alumni Office

Olive oil from Sicily

Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design

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