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Zoë Coyle
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George Carey
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Nick Higham

Where the Light gets In: A Conversation about Assisted Dying

Zoë Coyle and George Carey Chaired by Nick Higham

Saturday, 1 April 2023

12:00pm

1 hour

Blackwell’s bookshop

£7 - £12.50

Debut novelist Zoë Coyle and former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey discuss the theme of assisted dying at the heart of Coyle’s Where the Light Gets In.

The story is of wild child Delphi Hoffman who is finally getting her life together when she receives a phone call from her terminally ill mother in Tasmania asking her to fly back from the UK and help her to die. The novel explores the connection between mothers and daughters and themes of love and loss, grief and rebuilding.

Coyle uses her 20 years’ experience in film and theatre for her work in corporate and communication training. Her novel was inspired by her upset 20 years ago when her own terminally ill mother decided to euthanise herself because she had no access to assisted dying.

Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1991 and 2002, is a supporter of assisted dying. In an essay for the British Medical Journal written jointly with Rabbi Jonathan Romain, he argued that there was ‘nothing holy about agony’. The pair are part of a new alliance of faith leaders arguing that nothing in scripture prohibits assisting a death to end suffering. They point to a 2019 poll that found 84% of the British public and 80% of religious people supported assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

Discussions are chaired by journalist Nick Higham, who was the BBC’s first ever media correspondent and is a former presenter of Meet the Author on the BBC news channel.

The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Cervantes Institute, London Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award BBC World Service International radio partner Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Netflix University of Oxford FT Weekend Title partner Marlene Hauser Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Jill Dunsmore David Isaac Carole and John Allen Lucian Hudson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Miles Young Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture George Warren Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture John Roberts Trinity College Trinity College St Cross College St Cross College Lincoln College Lincoln College Worcester College Worcester College New College Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies British Academy Royal Academy of Arts Project People Institute of Hospitality Thje Menu Partners Foodbuy Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Bantam Doubleday Doubleday Transworld TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Compassion in World Farming Pasture to Plate Oxford Brookes University Oxford University Images Oxford University Images The Sheldonian Theatre Critchleys Accountants to the festival CAV Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates Conference Oxford Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Paul Bloomfield Ltd Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner The Oxford Times Regional media partner Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily Schoolreaders The Litmus Partnership K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography Ox in a Box OX magazine Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence The Wild Geese James Currey Society Pusey House Confucius Institute Literature Ireland Flip through Flanders
 

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

The Feathers Hotel Woodstock festival hotel The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller International Literary Properties Supporters of the festival green room The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Cervantes Institute, London Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award BBC World Service International radio partner Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Netflix University of Oxford FT Weekend Title partner Marlene Hauser Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Jill Dunsmore David Isaac Carole and John Allen Lucian Hudson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Miles Young Emily Rose and James Marrow Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture George Warren Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture John Roberts Trinity College Trinity College St Cross College St Cross College Lincoln College Lincoln College Worcester College Worcester College New College Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies British Academy Royal Academy of Arts Project People Institute of Hospitality Thje Menu Partners Foodbuy Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Bantam Doubleday Doubleday Transworld TORVA Books which change you, your mind, your world Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Compassion in World Farming Pasture to Plate Oxford Brookes University Oxford University Images Oxford University Images The Sheldonian Theatre Critchleys Accountants to the festival CAV Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates Conference Oxford Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Paul Bloomfield Ltd Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner The Oxford Times Regional media partner Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily Schoolreaders The Litmus Partnership K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography Ox in a Box OX magazine Siren Communications Siren Communications - corporate consultants Chêne Bleu Wines of Provence The Wild Geese James Currey Society Pusey House Confucius Institute Literature Ireland Flip through Flanders