Environment | Oxford Literary Festival

Jonathan Drori

Around the World in 80 Trees
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Dana Thomas

Fashionopolis: The price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes
Bodleian: Divinity School 10:00am Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Angus Forbes

Global Planet Authority: How We’re About to Save the Biosphere
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Natalie Fee

How to Save the World for Free
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Brigit Strawbridge Howard

Dancing with Bees: A Journey back to Nature
St Cross College 4:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Alex Rogers

The Deep: The Hidden Wonders of our Oceans and How we can Protect Them
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Tue 31 Tuesday, 31 March 2020 See this event
Rob Hopkins

From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Errol Fuller

Elephant
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Patrick Curry

Enchantment: Wonder in Modern Life
St Cross College 12:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

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 is intellectual Viagra.

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

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival partners & sponsors

Title partner

International radio partner

Festival ideas partner

Festival cultural partner

Partner of Jewish programme

Supporter of Italian programme

Supporters of the Irish programme

MIT Press. Sponsors of the programme of American literature and culture

Festival London hotel partner

Festival on-site and online bookseller

Festival academic partner

Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture

Worcester College

Lincoln College

11th St Hilda's day at the festival

St Cross College

Alumni Office

Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design

Local radio partner

Regional media partner

Oxford University Images

K T Bruce Photography