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Sheldonian Events

Michael Rosen

The Incredible Adventures of Gaston Le Dog SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Danny Robins, Christopher French and Deborah Hyde chaired by Stephen Law

Into the Uncanny
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Mike Brearley in conversation with Nick Higham

Turning over the Pebbles: A Life in Cricket and in the Mind
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Amir Khan interviewed by Philip Lymbery

Transforming Food Production: The Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Val McDermid and Ann Cleeves chaired by Alan Johnson

Some Places Cry out for Murder
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 16 Saturday, 16 March 2024 See this event
Paul Lynch interviewed by Jake Kerridge

Prophet Song
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 17 Sunday, 17 March 2024 See this event
Chris Bryant interviewed by David Isaac

Provost of Worcester College Lecture: A Westminster Life and a Writing Life
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 17 Sunday, 17 March 2024 See this event
Grace Blakeley, Liam Fox, Hardeep Matharu and Peter Oborne chaired by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Oxford Debate: You Ask The Questions
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Sun 17 Sunday, 17 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
Pedro Serrano, Justin Schlosberg and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate. Fog Of War: Who Can We Trust, And Why, When Conflicts Arise?
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Ruby Wax and Gelong Thubten chaired by Mick Brown

Hard Times and Fearless Living
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
A C Grayling

Who Owns the Moon? In Defence of Humanity’s Common Interests in Space
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Chris Patten in conversation with Tom Fletcher

Chancellor’s Lecture. From China to the Middle East and Ukraine: A World in Turmoil
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Mon 18 Monday, 18 March 2024 See this event
Sharron Davies Andrew Billen

Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sport
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Thu 21 Thursday, 21 March 2024 See this event
Ali Smith interviewed by Richard Ovenden

The Bodley Lecture and Award of the Bodley Medal: Life and Work
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Thu 21 Thursday, 21 March 2024 See this event
Will Hutton talks to Ian Goldin

This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event
Wendy Buffrey, Nick Wallis, Ian Henderson and Richard Moorhead

Exposing the Post Office Horizon Scandal
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event
Michael Wood talks to

Felicity Bryan Tribute Conversation. In the Footsteps of Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event
Ian Goldin and Hein de Haas chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: How Does Migration Really Work?
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event
Paul Nurse interviewed by Nick Higham

Science and Innovation Award: Understanding Life
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 22 Friday, 22 March 2024 See this event
Jacqueline Wilson

The Girl Who Wasn’t There
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Sun 24 Sunday, 24 March 2024 See this event
Tom Holland Nicolette Jones

The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks and the Gods: a Tale of the Persian Wars
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Sun 24 Sunday, 24 March 2024 See this event
Josephine Quinn Peter Frankopan

How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 24 Sunday, 24 March 2024 See this event
William Hague interviewed by Dinah Rose

President of Magdalen Lecture: A Political Life
Sheldonian Theatre 5:00pm Sun 24 Sunday, 24 March 2024 See this event
Alan Hollinghurst

Our Evenings
Sheldonian Theatre 6:30pm Tue Oct 1 Tuesday, 1 October 2024 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

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.