Tuesday 29 March 2022

Brian Mountford Interviewed by Angela Tilby

Church Going Gone – A Biography of Religion, Doubt and Faith
Bodleian: Divinity School 10:00am Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Daniela Rosenow

Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Typesetting and Printing on the Hand-press SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Schola Musicae 11:00am Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Ruth Scurr

Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Jonathan Sumption Interviewed by David Runciman

Law in a Time of Crisis SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Lucy Easthope Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac Interviewed by Gwenan Edwards

The Secret Royals: Spying and the Crown, from Victoria to Diana
St Cross College 12:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Onjali Q Raúf

The Boy at the Back of the Class
Sheldonian Theatre 1:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Typesetting and Printing on the Hand-press SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Schola Musicae 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
St John’s College 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Bobby Duffy

Generations: Does When You’re Born Shape Who You Are?
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Peter Stott

Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial
St Cross College 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Carissa Veliz Interviewed by Stephen Law

Artificial Intelligence: A New Age Dawns. Just How Terrified Should We Be? CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Dan Jones and Richard Barber

Histories of the Middle Ages: Powers and Thrones and Magnificence
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Mark Grenside Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Fall Out: Making Movies Shouldn’t be Murder
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Patrick Curry

Enchantment: Wonder in Modern Life
St Cross College 4:00pm Tue 29 Mar Tuesday, 29 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
Elijah Lawal, Gary Younge and Alex von Tunzelmann Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: Toppling Statues and Fallen Idols
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Hilali Noordeen Interviewed by Muir Gray

Letters to a Young Doctor: Exploring and Surviving a Career in Medicine
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
David Runciman

Confronting Leviathan: A History of Ideas
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Alastair Niven Interviewed by Romesh Gunesekera

In Glad or Sorry Hours: A Life in Education and the Arts CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Bodleian Libraries

Old School Tours
5:30pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Peter Davidson

The Lighted Window: Evening Walks Remembered
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm 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
Dennis Duncan

Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Susie Alegre Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Freedom to Think: The Long Struggle to Liberate Our Minds
St Cross College 6:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Edmund de Waal Interviewed by James Naughtie

Felicity Bryan Tribute Conversation: Letters to Camondo
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event
Jonathan Fenby and George Magnus Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: A New Chinese Empire?
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 29 Tuesday, 29 March 2022 See this event

Festival information:

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.

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

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 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.

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.