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Politics

Samuel Ramani

Putin’s War on Ukraine: Russiaʼs Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Paul Corthorn

Enoch Powell: Politics and Ideas in Modern Britain
Blackwell’s bookshop 2:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Vernon Bogdanor

The Strange Survival of Liberal Britain: Politics and Power before the First World War
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Jonathan Healey

The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Dennis Grube

Why Governments Get It Wrong And How They Can Get It Right
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 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
Phil Tinline

The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Interviewed by Martin Sixsmith

The Russia Conundrum
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
Michael Cockerell

Unmasking our Leaders: Confessions of a Political Documentary-Maker SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Tom Gallagher

Europe’s Modern Machiavellis: Arrogance and Deception in 20 Political Leaders CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Simon McDonald Interviewed by Nick Higham

Leadership: Lessons for Running a Better Government
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Tom Gallagher

Salazar: The Dictator Who Refused to Die CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Tim Marshall

The Future of Geography: How Power and Politics in Space will Change our World SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Eric Heinze

The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech Is Everything
Exeter College: Marquee 6:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Catherine Ashton

Voices of Europe. And Then What? Inside Stories of 21st-Century Diplomacy
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Jasper Becker

Why Communism Failed
Exeter College: Marquee 2:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Kate Bingham and Tim Hames

The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Justin Schlosberg, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Iain Dale Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate. Is Our Press Free . . . To Lie and Manipulate? SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Simon Kuper

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Thomas Simpson, Alice Sherwood and Marina Purkiss Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate. Trust, Corruption, and Politicians
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Martin Wolf Interviewed by Yuan Yang

The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism and How to Fix It
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Michael Burleigh

Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Rachel Reeves Interviewed by Katy Balls

The Oxford Lecture: The Women who made Modern Economics
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 6:00pm Sat 4 Saturday, 4 November 2023 See this event

Festival information:

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 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.

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.

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.

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.