Historical Fiction

Lianne Dillsworth, Rebecca Watson and Keiran Goddard Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Debut Panel: Theatre of Marvels, Little Scratch, and Hourglass CANCELLED
St Cross College 4:00pm Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
Sarah Burton and John Spurling Interviewed by Jem Poster

A Mirror for Monkeys and The Strange Adventures of H
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 28 Monday, 28 March 2022 See this event
Anni Domingo Interviewed by Valerie Brandes

Breaking The Maafa Chain
St Cross College 4:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Alex Preston Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Winchelsea CANCELLED
Lincoln College 2:00pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.