Memoir

Dan Jarvis Interviewed by Nick Higham

Long Way Home
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Prue Leith and Peta Leith Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

The Vegetarian Kitchen
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Laura Cumming Interviewed by Claire Armitstead

On Chapel Sands
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
James Crowden

The Frozen River: Seeking Silence in Ladakh
St Cross College 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2020 See this event
Mary Peters Interviewed by Nick Higham

Passing the Torch: Sportswomen who Inspire
Cohen Quad: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2020 See this event
Alison Light Introduced by Claire Tomalin

A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 31 Tuesday, 31 March 2020 See this event
John Humphrys Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

An Audience with John Humphrys
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Henry Blofeld

My A-Z of Cricket: A Personal Celebration of our Glorious Game
Sheldonian Theatre 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
Celia Paul Interviewed by Christopher le Brun

Self-Portrait
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 1 Wednesday, 1 April 2020 See this event
Vivek Singh Interviewed by Rosie Birkett

A Life in Food
Westgate Centre: Cinnamon Kitchen 2:00pm Thu 2 Thursday, 2 April 2020 See this event
Pat Barker Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

2020 Bodley Lecture and Award of Bodley Medal: The Silence of the Girls
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Thu 2 Thursday, 2 April 2020 See this event
Greta Scacchi Interviewed by Peter Guttridge

An audience with Greta Scacchi
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
Alexander McCall Smith

A Celebration of A Writing Life and Honorary Fellowship
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 3 Friday, 3 April 2020 See this event
Ken Clarke Interviewed by Robert Shrimsley

FT Weekend Lecture: A Lifetime in Politics
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 April 2020 See this event
Clover Stroud Interviewed by Lucy Atkins

My Wild and Sleepless Nights: A Mother’s Story
St Cross College 12:00pm Sun 5 Sunday, 5 April 2020 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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 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.

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.