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Law

Philippe Sands

The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Sam Fowles, Andrew Blick and Adam Wagner Chaired by Mary Hockaday

Upholding Democracy: How we must Fight for our Freedoms and Values
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Inigo Bing Interviewed by Nick Higham

The Ten Legal Cases that Made Modern Britain SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Wendy Joseph Interviewed by Susannah Jowitt

Unlawful Killings. Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey
Exeter College: Marquee 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Nick Wallis Interviewed by Nick Higham

The Great Post Office Scandal
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

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.