Recently Added

Adam Rutherford and Matthew Cobb

Genetic Control: A Fantastic Opportunity or a Dark Future
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Lavie Tidhar

Maror: Bloody Tale of the Making of a Nation
Exeter College: Marquee 4:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Martin Wolf Interviewed by Gillian Tett

The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism and How to Fix It
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Lily Le Brun Interviewed by Kelly Grovier

Looking to Sea: Britain Through the Eyes of its Artists
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Juan David Morgan

The Golden Horse and Between Honour and Sword
Worcester College: Provost’s Lodgings 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Erica Wagner Interviewed by Frederick Studemann

Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort of Love Story
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Isabel Wilkerson

American Lecture. Caste: Exposing America’s Invisible Scaffolding
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Simon Kuper

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Claer Barrett Interviewed by Tim Harford

What they don’t Teach you about Money: a Cost of Living Survival Guide
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Catherine Lacey

Biography of X
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Timothy Garton Ash Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Homelands: A Personal History of Europe
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Roy Sebag

The Natural Order of Money
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 10:00am Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Elias Chacour

Festival Evensong
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Tom Crewe, Maddie Mortimer, Aidan Cottrell-Boyce and Santanu Bhattacharya

New Writers of Fiction
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Elias Chacour Interviewed by Diarmaid MacCulloch

A Palestinian Christian Working for Peace and Reconciliation in Israel
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Tanya Goodin and Rory Cellan-Jones

Switching off and Switching in: Living in the Digital Age
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Dan Snow and Alice Loxton

Why History Remains a Big Hit
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Ever Obi, Onyeka Nwelue, Ikenna Okeh and Ivan Sršen

The Immigrant’s Story in Modern Fiction
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 10:00am Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Norma Winstone, John Parricelli, Jeremy Robson and Amy Key

Blue Moon: Music and Words
Worcester College: Provost’s Lodgings 6:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
James Naughtie

The Spy Across the Water
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Toni Kan, David Hundeyin and Mitterand Okorie Interviewed by SarahBelle Selig

What do we do with a Man like James Currey?
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Ejine Nzeribe, Nwabueze Nwokolo and Sabine Jell-Bahlsen Interviewed by Stephen Embleton

Voice of African Women: The Lake Goddess
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Yeva Skalietska

You Don’t Know What War Is: The diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 4:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Cristina Dondi

Lincoln Lecture. The 15th-century Printing Revolution in Europe: Myths and Realities
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 6:00pm 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
Ian Bostridge Interviewed by Suzi Feay

Song and Self: A Singer’s Reflections on Music and Performance
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 2:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Roy Strong Interviewed by Richard Barber

The Stuart Image: An Introduction to English Portraiture 1603 to 1649
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Esme Young

Behind the Seams: My Life in Creativity, Friendship and Adventure
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Sian Harding

The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Graham Harvey and Jake Fiennes

Saving the British Countryside and Our Health
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Philippe Sands Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Chatwin, Patagonia, and the Bodleian: Searching for a Nazi
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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 Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.