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Spanish And Latin American Programme

Ruth Clarke and Annie McDermott Chaired by Polly Barton

Translation Slam
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Mon 27 Monday, 27 March 2023 See this event
Juan David Morgan

The History of Panama in the Literary Work of Juan David Morgan
Worcester College: Provost’s Lodgings 4:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Carlos Fonseca Interviewed by Boyd Tonkin

Colonel Lagrimas and Natural History: A Novel
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Sat 1 Saturday, 1 April 2023 See this event
Giles Tremlett

España: A Brief History of Spain
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 10:00am Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Carla Guelfenbein Interviewed by Ian Goldin

My Writing Life
Blackwell’s bookshop 2:00pm Sun 2 Sunday, 2 April 2023 See this event
Irene Vallejo Interviewed by Peter Kemp

Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
Pusey House: Chapel 6:30pm Tue 6 Tuesday, 6 June 2023 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

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.