Oxford Debates

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
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
Alister McGrath, David Papineau and Christopher French Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: Scientism, Religion, and the Limits of Reason
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Thu 31 Thursday, 31 March 2022 See this event
Kate Clanchy and Rebecca Abrams Interviewed by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: Sensitive Readers SOLD OUT
Blackwell’s bookshop 2:00pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Marina Wheeler Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: The Fate of the British Isis Brides and their Children
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 4:00pm Sun 3 Sunday, 3 April 2022 See this event

Festival information:

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.