Food And Drink

Henry Dimbleby Introduced by Philip Lymbery

Ravenous: Why our Appetite is Killing us and the Planet
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Adam Alexander and Claire Ratinon Interviewed by Dan Saladino

Unearthing a History of Vegetables
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Andrew Jenkinson

Why We Eat (Too Much): The New Science of Appetite
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Skye McAlpine

A Table Full of Love: Recipes to Comfort, Seduce, Celebrate and Everything Else in Between
Exeter College: Marquee 12:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Diane Purkiss

English Food: A Social History of England Told Through the Food on Its Tables
Exeter College: Marquee 10:00am Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Gary Francione Interviewed by Tilda Storey Law

The Meat Paradox
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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 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 is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.