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April 02

Lyndal Roper talks to Cal Revely-Calder

Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War
Pusey House: Chapel 10:00am Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Tim Tate

To Catch a Spy: How the Spycatcher Affair Brought MI5 in from the Cold
Bodleian: Convocation House 10:00am Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Simon Horobin introduced by Samuel Fanous

C S Lewis’s Oxford
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Keir Giles, Stephanie Baker and Mark Galeotti chaired by Dominic Nicholls

The Russian Threat: Why it has Grown and How to Fight Back
Sheldonian Theatre 10:00am Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Harriet Wistrich talks to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Sister in Law: Fighting for Justice in a System designed by Men
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Jeremy Mynott

The Story of Nature: A Human History
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Helen Beebee and Philip Goff chaired by Tilda Storey Law

Oxford Debate: From Atoms to Awareness: What is Consciousness?
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Tim Lankester talks to Matthew Stadlen

Inside Thatcher’s Monetarism Experiment: The Promise, the Failure, the Legacy
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Vybarr Cregan-Reid

We are What We Read
Bodleian: Convocation House 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 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
David Starkey introduced by Nick Higham

A 21st Century Perspective: Our Life and Times Today
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
A C Grayling talks to Stephen Law

Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars
Pusey House: Chapel 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Lamorna Ash

Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search for Religion CANCELLED
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Rüdiger Görner

In the Future of Yesterday: A| Life of Stefan Zweig
Bodleian: Convocation House 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Roberto Trotta

Starborn: How the Stars Made Us – and Who We Would Be Without Them
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Paul Caruana Galizia talks to Susannah Jowitt

A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s Quest for Justice
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Thomas Hale and Hannah Ritchie chaired by Matthew Stadlen

Charting the Path to a Sustainable Planet
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack SOLD OUT
Meet outside St John’s College Lodge (main entrance), St Giles 2:00pm 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 SOLD OUT
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Wendy Cope talks to Peter Kemp

Collected Poems: A Celebration of a Lifetime’s Work
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Simon Ings

Engineers of Human Souls: Four Writers who Changed Twentieth-Century Minds
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Andrew Robinson introduced by Samuel Fanous

Einstein in Oxford
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Joe Tucker talks to Steven Parissien

The Secret Painter
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Rachel Shabi talks to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Off-White: The Truth about Antisemitism
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Simon Mayall

The House of War: The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 6:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Paul Collier talks to Sophie Roell

Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Sjeng Scheijen

The Avant-Gardists: Artists in Revolt in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union 1917–1935
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Stephen Law, Emma Swinn and Nigel Warburton chaired by Gary Francione

Opening the Public Doors to Philosophical Debate
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event
Elif Shafak talks to David Isaac

Provost of Worcester Lecture: There are Rivers in the Sky
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Wed 2 Wednesday, 2 April 2025 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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 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 Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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

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.

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.