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.

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.

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 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.

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