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Events 2023

Carlo Rovelli Interviewed by Peter Frankopan

Anaximander and the Nature of Science
Trinity College 7:00pm Mon 20 Monday, 20 February 2023 See this event
Jem Poster and Sarah Burton

Creative Writing Course. Where do you get your ideas?
Wadham College: Locke Access Centre 9:30am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Henry Dimbleby Introduced by Philip Lymbery

Ravenous: How To Get Ourselves and Our Planet Into Shape
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Nick Acheson Interviewed by Lucy Lapwing

The Meaning of Geese: A Thousand Miles in Search of Home
Exeter College: Marquee 10:00am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Simon Mason and Cara Hunter Chaired by Peter Guttridge

Writing in the Shadow of Morse
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Adam Alexander and Claire Ratinon Interviewed by Dan Saladino

Unearthing a History of Vegetables
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Reggie Nelson

Opening Doors: How Daring to Ask For Help Changed My Life CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Puneet Bhandal

Bollywood Adventures
Exeter College: Marquee 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Val McDermid and Sue Black

The Facts of Fiction: The Author and the Forensic Anthropologist
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Philippe Sands Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Chatwin, Patagonia, and the Bodleian: Searching for a Nazi SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Bodleian Guides

Literary Oxford with the Bodleian
Weston Library Steps 1:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Leah Garcés Interviewed by Philip Lymbery

Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Jonathan Stroud Interviewed by Ben O’Donnell

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
John Parrington

Mind Shift: How Culture Transformed the Human Brain
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 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.

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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.

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.

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.