Historical Fiction

Owen Davies, Sarah Wise and Louisa Treger

Locked Away in the Asylum: Two Centuries of Mental Health Scandal
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Katie Melua, Aka Morchiladze and Dato Turashvili chaired by Maya Jaggi

Out of Stalin’s Shadow: Writing the New Georgia
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sun 17 Sunday, 17 March 2024 See this event
Boris Akunin talks to Maya Jaggi

Mysteries of a Russian Exile SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Liz Hyder and Lucy Barker Suzi Feay

Magic, Illusions and Mediums: Two Historical Novels
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Wed 20 Wednesday, 20 March 2024 See this event
Greg Mosse and Kate Mosse interviewed by Nick Higham

Sharing the Love of Writing
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 6:00pm Sat 23 Saturday, 23 March 2024 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.