You are Currently viewing Past Events, Click here to see upcoming 2024 Events

See 2024 Events

Children & young people

Puneet Bhandal

Bollywood Adventures
Exeter College: Marquee 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Jonathan Stroud Interviewed by Ben O’Donnell

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Frances Hardinge Interviewed by Elizabeth Garner

Unraveller
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Anthony Horowitz Interviewed by Amanda Craig

Thrills and Spills: From the Diamond Brothers to Alex Rider
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Michael Morpurgo

Tales from the Farm: Writing about Nature, Animals and the Landscape
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Cressida Cowell

Which Way to Anywhere
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Greg Jenner

Unforgettable History Lessons SOLD OUT
Exeter College: Marquee 2:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Chris Riddell

The Cloud Horse Chronicles
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Joseph Coelho

The Power of Poetry with the New Children’s Laureate
Sheldonian Theatre 1:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Martin Brown

Horrible Histories 30th Anniversary
Exeter College: Marquee 10:00am Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Am I Made of Stardust?
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Mini Grey

The Greatest Show on Earth
Exeter College: Marquee 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Tim Harford

The Truth Detective
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
S F Said

Tyger
Exeter College: Marquee 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Rob Biddulph

Draw with Rob
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Anthony McGowan

Dogs of the Deadlands
Exeter College: Marquee 10:00am Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Robin Stevens

Ministry of Unladylike Activity
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Hannah Gold

Unforgettable Animal Adventures
Exeter College: Marquee 2:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Jim Mellon

Juno’s Ark
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 2:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Leo Timmers and Fiona Ross

Elephant Island
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Bella Pearson and Anna Goodall

Guppy Books and Maggie Blue and the Dark World
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event

Festival information:

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.