Society

Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper Chaired by Matthew Stadlen

Changing the World: The Women of Westminster and Great Women Speakers SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 30 Oct Saturday, 30 October 2021 See this event
Noreena Hertz Interviewed by Ian Goldin

The Lonely Century: A Call to Reconnect
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 31 Sunday, 31 October 2021 See this event
Stephanie Shirley Interviewed by Nick Higham

So To Speak
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 October 2021 See this event
Ian Goldin

Rescue: From Global Crisis to a Better World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 31 Sunday, 31 October 2021 See this event
Henry Mance

How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped World
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 November 2021 See this event
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Ladies Who Punch: Fifty Trailblazing Women Whose Stories You Should Know
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 November 2021 See this event
Charles Foster Interviewed by Nick Hunt

Being a Human: Adventures in 40,000 Years of Consciousness
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 6 Saturday, 6 November 2021 See this event
Clive Aslet

The Story of the Country House: A History of Places and People
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 November 2021 See this event
Julia Neuberger Interviewed by Nick Higham

Antisemitism: What It Is. What It Isn’t. Why It Matters
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 7 Nov Sunday, 7 November 2021 See this event
Kate Griggs Interviewed by Gwenan Edwards

This is Dyslexia: The Untapped Power of Dyslexic Thinking and its Vital Role in our Future
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 7 Sunday, 7 November 2021 See this event

Festival information:

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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 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.

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 night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

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.

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.