Jewish And Hebrew Programme

Joseph Sassoon

The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty CANCELLED
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Rebecca Abrams

Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries CANCELLED
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
John Barton

The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Mon 28 Monday, 28 March 2022 See this event
Matthew Teller

Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Harry Freedman

Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Raffi Berg

Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad’s Fake Holiday Resort
St Cross College 2:00pm Wed 30 Mar Wednesday, 30 March 2022 See this event
Daniel Snowman

Just Passing Through: Interactions with the World 1938 to 2021 CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 30 Wednesday, 30 March 2022 See this event
Howard Jacobson Interviewed by Sophie Ratcliffe

Mother’s Boy: A Writer’s Beginnings
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Thu 31 Thursday, 31 March 2022 See this event
Charles Dellheim

Belonging and Betrayal: How Jews Made the Art World Modern CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Thu 31 Thursday, 31 March 2022 See this event
Rebecca Abrams

Made in Medieval England: the Church, the Jews and the Forging of English Antisemitism
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Jonathan Brent Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

The Jewish Archives of Lithuania
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.