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Jewish And Hebrew Programme

Anne Berest interviewed by Catriona Seth

The Postcard
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Jürgen Renn and Hanoch Gutfreund

The Einsteinian Revolution: The Historical Roots of His Breakthroughs
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Harry Freedman

Shylock’s Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice’s Jews and the Ghetto
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Avi Shlaim

Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew SOLD OUT
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 19 Tuesday, 19 March 2024 See this event
Monique Charlesworth

Mother Country: A Story of Love and Lies
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Wed 20 Wednesday, 20 March 2024 See this event
Rachel Cockerell talks to Matthew Stadlen

Melting Point: A Jewish Promised Land in Texas
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Thu 21 Thursday, 21 March 2024 See this event
Tom Conti, Jeremy Robson, Lynne Hjelmgaard and Keren Abse Tony Curtis

Dannie Abse: A Centenary Celebration
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 6:00pm Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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 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.

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.