Sheldonian Events

Henry Dimbleby Introduced by Philip Lymbery

Ravenous: Why our Appetite is Killing us and the Planet
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Val McDermid and Sue Black

The Facts of Fiction: The Author and the Forensic Anthropologist
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Michael Morpurgo Interviewed by Philip Lymbery

Farms for City Children: The Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 25 Saturday, 25 March 2023 See this event
Anthony Horowitz

Thrills and Spills: From the Diamond Brothers to Alex Rider
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Michael Morpurgo

Tales from the Farm: Writing about Nature, Animals and the Landscape
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Cressida Cowell

Which Way to Anywhere
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Anthony Horowitz Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

The Twist of a Knife and a Writing Life
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
John Banville, John Boyne and Neil Jordan Chaired by Claire Armitstead

Voices of Ireland: Literature, History and Nation
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sun 26 Sunday, 26 March 2023 See this event
Jeremy Bowen

The Making of the Modern Middle East: A Personal History
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Martin Rees Interviewed by Nick Higham

Science and Innovation Award: If Science is to Save Us
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Joseph Coelho

The Power of Poetry with the New Children’s Laureate
Sheldonian Theatre 1:00pm 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
Tom Holland

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Gary Younge, Deborah Meaden, Kenan Malik and David Starkey Chaired by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Oxford Debate: You Ask the Questions
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 March 2023 See this event
Mick Herron Interviewed by Chris Patten

Chancellor’s Lecture: A Life of Crime
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Wed 29 Wednesday, 29 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
Juliet Davenport, Rupert Read, Simon Sharpe and Gaia Vince Chaired by Stephen Law

Climate Breakdown: Habit, Fear, and Progress
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Thomas Hertog

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 March 2023 See this event
Colm Tóibín Interviewed by Richard Ovenden

Bodley Lecture and Award of Bodley Medal: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Thu 30 Thursday, 30 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
Roger Highfield and Peter Coveney

Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionise Medicine and Change Your Life
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Al Murray

Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War
Sheldonian Theatre 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
Greta Scacchi Interviewed by Peter Guttridge

An audience with Greta Scacchi
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event
Simon Sebag Montefiore

The World: A Family History
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Am I Made of Stardust?
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Eleanor Catton Interviewed by Alex Preston

Birnam Wood
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Tim Harford

The Truth Detective
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Thomas Simpson and Alice Sherwood Chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate. Trust, Corruption, and Politicians
Randolph Hotel: Ballroom 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
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
Rob Biddulph

Draw with Rob
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Robin Stevens

Ministry of Unladylike Activity
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Peter Frankopan Interviewed by David Isaac

Provost of Worcester College Lecture. The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
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

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

The Oxford festival is the most elegant and atmospheric of literary festivals. It’s a pleasure to both attend and perform there.

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.

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.