Technology | Oxford Literary Festival

Martin Rees Interviewed by Ian Goldin

Princeton Lecture. On the Future: Prospects for Humanity
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 30 Saturday, 30 March 2019 See this event
Martin Moore and Jamie Susskind Chaired by Ian Goldin

Is Democracy and Freedom Threatened by Technology SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 March 2019 See this event
Rachel Botsman Introduced by Peter Tufano

Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together – and Why It Could Drive Us Apart CANCELLED
Said Business School 12:00pm Thu 4 Thursday, 4 April 2019 See this event
Josephine Wolff

Cybersecurity: You’ll See This Message When It’s Too Late
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm 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 Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

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.

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 Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.

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.

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