Events 2025

Joanna Lumley in conversation with Philip Lymbery

For the Love of Life
Sheldonian Theatre 6:30pm Fri Jan 31 Friday, 31 January 2025 See this event
Jem Poster and Sarah Burton

Creative Writing Course: Start Strongly, Finish in Style: Writing Beginnings and Endings in Fiction
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 9:30am Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Andrew Thompson and Joey Giddings chaired by Cara Hunter

Repeat Offenders: ‘It must be true, I saw it on TV’
Pusey House: Chapel 10:00am Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Katherine Carter

Churchill’s Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 10:00am Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Mel Taylor-Bessent

Race to Imagination Island: Writing Masterclass
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Andy Cato, Deborah Meaden and Philip Lymbery chaired by Kate Humble

Why we Need More Compassion in our Food and Farming
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Mick Herron

Running away with the Circus: Rereading John le Carré The Quest for Karla
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Simon Morrison

Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Eric Kaufmann, Nicola Kelly, Keon West and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: The Changing Landscape of Racism
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Ferran Adrià

elBulli Today: Preserving the Legacy and Spirit of the World’s Greatest Restaurant
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Jessie Burton

Hidden Treasure
Pusey House: Chapel 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Nussaibah Younis and Jonathan Coe

Festival Debuts: Fundamentally
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 12:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Brian McGilloway talks to Tom Fletcher

Walking the Tightrope: Creating Fiction in Troubled Times
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Peter Boxall

The Possibility of Literature: The Novel and the Politics of Form
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Nadhim Zahawi

The Boy from Baghdad: My Journey from Waziriyah to Westminster
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack
Meet outside St John’s College Lodge (main entrance), St Giles 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Matty Long

Super Happy Magic Forest
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Cressida Cowell

Dragon Tales
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Petroc Trelawny

Trelawny’s Cornwall: A Journey through Western Lands
Pusey House: Chapel 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Tamsin Mather

Adventures in Volcanoland
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Kate Summerscale talks to Andrew Wilson

The Peepshow: Behind the Walls of 10 Rillington Place
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Miriam Margolyes talks to Philip Lymbery

Compassion for All Life: The Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Katherine Webber and Sarah Underwood

Captain of Fates and Gentlest of Wild Things
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Robin Stevens

The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Jonathan Coe talks to Val McDermid

The Val McDermid Interview: The Proof of my Innocence
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Josh Cohen

All the Rage: Why Anger Drives the World
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Anna Whitelock and Lubaaba Al-Azami

Seeds of Empire
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
John Kiszely

General Hastings ‘Pug’ Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat
Brasenose College: Amersi Lecture Room 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Nick Laird and Hannah Sullivan

Poetry Showcase: Up Late and Was it for This
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event
Stuart Gillespie, Shireen Kassam and David Clough chaired by Joy Carter

A Shopping List for Life: Eating for People, Animals and Planet
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 29 Saturday, 29 March 2025 See this event

Festival information:

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 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 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 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 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.

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.