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Colm-toibin
Colm Tóibín
Richard-ovenden)
Richard Ovenden

Bodley Lecture and Award of Bodley Medal: Life and Work

Colm Tóibín Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Thursday, 30 March 2023

6:00pm

1 hour

Sheldonian Theatre

£7 - £15

Celebrated Irish novelist Professor Colm Tóibín talks about his life and work with Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden and receives the Bodley Medal for his outstanding contribution to literature.

Tóibín is a multi-award-winning literary novelist whose works have won the Folio Prize, Hawthornden Prize, the Costa Novel Award and the Stonewall Book Award. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times and longlisted once. His novels include The South, The Heather Blazing, The Testament of Mary, and Nora Webster. His most recent, The Magician, won the 2022 Folio Prize. It is a fictionalised story of the life of the Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Thomas, Mann, his battle with his inner desires and his family, and of the tumultuous times of two world wars, the rise of Hitler, and the Cold War. 

Tóibín’s works explore many themes including Irish society, exile, Catholicism, creativity, identity, masculinity, fatherhood and homosexuality. He is also a journalist, essayist, playwright and poet. He has taught widely at universities including Stanford University, The University of Texas, Princeton, and University of Manchester. He is currently teaching at Columbia University and is Chancellor of the University of Liverpool.
The ceremony will feature Tóibín in conversation with Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian and director of gardens, libraries and museums at Oxford University, who will also present the author with his Bodley Medal. The Bodley Medal is the Bodleian Libraries’ highest honour, awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds of books and literature, libraries, media and communications, science and philanthropy.

First presented in 2002, previous recipients at the festival have been Peter Carey (2012), Hilary Mantel (2013), Nicholas Hytner (2014), Ian McEwan (2015), Professor Mary Beard (2016), William Boyd (2017), Claire Tomalin (2018), Kazuo Ishiguro (2019) and most recently Zadie Smith (2022).  Robert Caro (2022) was the first person to receive his award at the North American edition of the Bodley Medal presentation.

Presented by the Bodleian Libraries.

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

FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

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