Philosophy

A C Grayling

Technology, Climate, Justice and Rights: Can We Get The Whole World To Agree On Any Of Them?
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Fri 25 Friday, 25 March 2022 See this event
Clare Chambers Interviewed by Timandra Harkness

Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Nigel Biggar Interviewed by James Orr

What’s Wrong with Rights?
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 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
Stephen Law

How to think about Weird Things
St Cross College 10:00am Wed 30 Wednesday, 30 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
Rachael Wiseman Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life
Lincoln College 2:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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

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.

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.

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.