Oxford Literary Festival 2020

Penelope Lively Interviewed by Chris Patten

Chancellor’s Lecture: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2020 See this event
Judith Maltby, Alison Shell and Clemence Schultze Chaired by Vivienne Faull

Anglican Women Novelists: From Charlotte Brontë to P.D. James
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Alexandra Harris, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and Roy Foster Chaired by Hermione Lee

Princeton Conversation: Lives of Houses
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Declan Kiberd

Childhood and the Irish Writer CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 10:00am Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Ros Ballaster, Anna Louise Senkiw, Ben Wilkinson-Turnbull and Catriona Cannon

The Edgeworth Collection: A Masterclass
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Alastair Lack

Oxford Poets with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
David Norris

Why I Love James Joyce
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Joanne Harris and David Greenwood-Haigh

Exotic Pleasure: Stories of Chocolate
St Cross College: Dining Hall 4:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Sebastian Barry, Kevin Barry and Sinéad Morrissey Chaired by Boyd Tonkin

Voice of Ireland
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Marion Turner

Chaucer: A European Life
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 30 Monday, 30 March 2020 See this event
D J Taylor

Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature 1939-51
St Cross College 2:00pm Mon 30 Monday, 30 March 2020 See this event
David Robey and Peter Hainsworth

Italian Literature: A Very Short Introduction
Blackwell’s Marquee 1:15pm Tue 31 Tuesday, 31 March 2020 See this event
Christina Hardyment

Novel Houses: Twenty Famous Fictional Dwellings
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Sally Bayley, Arizona Smith and Georgina Hellier

No Boys Play Here: A Girl’s Coming of Age Through Shakespeare
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Alessandro Bianchi

Art and Literature in Print: The Publishing Market in Tokugawa Japan
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Camillo Formigatti and Menaka PP Bora

A Sanskrit Treasury
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Thu 2 Thursday, 2 April 2020 See this event
John Carey Interviewed by Bernard O’Donoghue

A Little History of Poetry
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
Janice Hadlow

The Other Bennet Sister
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
John Took

Dante
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
Helen Taylor

Why Women Read Fiction: The Stories of our Lives
St Cross College 4:00pm Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
Christopher Tugendhat Interviewed by Alex Preston

A History of Britain Through Books 1900-1964
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 See this event
Arthur Miller

The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 See this event
Gill Hornby Interviewed by Peter Kemp

Miss Austen
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 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 festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.