Sheldonian Events

Jim Al-Khalili

The Joy of Science
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 25 Friday, 25 March 2022 See this event
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
Charlie Higson Interviewed by Triona Adams

Whatever Gets You Through the Night
Blackwell’s bookshop 4:00pm Fri 25 Friday, 25 March 2022 See this event
Penelope Lively Interviewed by Chris Patten

Chancellor’s Lecture: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 25 Mar Friday, 25 March 2022 See this event
Harry Potter

Celebrating 25 Years of the Harry Potter Books
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Delia Smith Interviewed by Nick Higham

You Matter: The Human Solution
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Katherine Rundell

The Good Thieves
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Lemony Snicket Interviewed by Imogen Russell Williams

Poison for Breakfast
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Val McDermid Interviewed by Emma Smith

The Past is Never Dead: Crime Fiction from Christopher Marlowe to 1979
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 26 Saturday, 26 March 2022 See this event
Kate Pankhurst

Fantastically Great Women
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
Freya North and Wendy Holden Chaired by Lucy Atkins

Little Wing and The Duchess CANCELLED
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
Sola Akingbola Interviewed by Nicholas Janni

Music as a Gateway of Connection
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
Allie Esiri, Natascha McElhone, Ronni Ancona, Mark Quartley and Diana Quick

Poetry for Every Day of the Year
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 27 Sunday, 27 March 2022 See this event
David Owen Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma: Two Hundred Years of Britain-Russian Relations SOLD OUT
Trinity College 6:00pm Mon 28 Monday, 28 March 2022 See this event
John Bell, Andrew Pollard, Sarah Gilbert, Teresa Lambe and Catherine Green Chaired by Nick Higham

The Race Against the Virus: A Tribute to the Oxford Vaccine Team
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Mon 28 Monday, 28 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
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
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
Nicholas Crane Interviewed by Nick Higham

Latitude: The True Story of the World’s First Scientific Expedition
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 30 Wednesday, 30 March 2022 See this event
Ian McEwan, Karen Leeder and Laurence Laluyaux Introduced by Richard Ovenden

The Gift of Translation CANCELLED
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Wed 30 Wednesday, 30 March 2022 See this event
Richard Moxon Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Brain Fever: How Vaccines Prevent Meningitis And Other Killer Diseases
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 10:00am Thu 31 Thursday, 31 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
Ed Miliband

The Provost of Worcester College Lecture. Go Big: 20 Bold Solutions to Fix our World
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Thu 31 Thursday, 31 March 2022 See this event
Zadie Smith Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

2022 Bodley Lecture and Award of Bodley Medal: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Thu 31 Thursday, 31 March 2022 See this event
Peter Hain Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

A Pretoria Boy: The Story of South Africa’s Public Enemy Number One
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Martin Rees Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

On the Future: Prospects for Humanity and The End of Astronauts
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Muir Gray Interviewed by Nick Higham

Increase your Brainability and Reduce your Risk of Dementia
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Donna Leon Interviewed by Peter Kemp

Vice-chancellor’s Lecture: Give Unto Others
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 1 Friday, 1 April 2022 See this event
Chris Bail Interviewed by Mary Hockaday

Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make our Platforms less Polarizing
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Joanna Lumley Interviewed by Philip Lymbery

The True Meaning of Compassion: The Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Jacqueline Wilson

The Primrose Railway Children and The Runaway Girls
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Mariana Mazzucato Introduced by Martin Sandbu

Voices of Europe. Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Tom Tugendhat Interviewed by Alec Russell

FT Weekend Lecture: Britain, the Conservative Party and the World
Sheldonian Theatre 6:30pm Sat 2 Saturday, 2 April 2022 See this event
Richard Dawkins Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 3 Sunday, 3 April 2022 See this event
Ben Garrod

Why did Dinosaurs go Extinct and Saving Endangered Species
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 3 Sunday, 3 April 2022 See this event
Michael Morpurgo

Animal Tales CANCELLED
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 3 Sunday, 3 April 2022 See this event
Maureen Lipman, Norma Winstone, Christian Garrick, Art Themen and Jeremy Robson

Festival 25 Celebration: An evening of Song, Humour, Poetry, and Jazz
Sheldonian Theatre 7:30pm Sun 3 Sunday, 3 April 2022 See this event
Celia Imrie and Fidelis Morgan Chaired by Triona Adams

Orphans of the Storm
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Fri 16 Friday, 16 September 2022 See this event
Chris Patten Interviewed by Rana Mitter

Hong Kong Diaries
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 16 Friday, 16 September 2022 See this event
Philip Lymbery and Deborah Meaden by Matthew Stadlen

Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 16 Friday, 16 September 2022 See this event
Ian McEwan Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin

Lessons
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 17 Saturday, 17 September 2022 See this event

Festival information:

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

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 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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.