Lgbtq

Diarmaid MacCulloch talks to Jane Shaw

Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Mon 31 Monday, 31 March 2025 See this event
Wendy Moore

Jack and Eve: Two Women In Love and At War
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Matt Cook

Queer Beyond London: LGBTQ Stories from Four English Cities
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Tasha Suri, C L Clark and Sarah Rees Brennan

Breaking Boundaries: Queering Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Trinity College: Garden Room Levine Building 6:00pm Tue 1 Tuesday, 1 April 2025 See this event
Julie Bindel

Lesbians: Where are we Now?
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Helen Joyce talks to Julie Bindel

Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event

Festival information:

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.

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.

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

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.