March 21

Jem Poster and Sarah Burton

Creative Writing Course: Rediscovered Selves: Writing Memoir and Autobiography
9:30am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Charles Foster

Pets and Their People
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Richard Brooks Nick Wallis

Private Eye: Post Mortem
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 10:00am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Hallie Rubenhold talks to Andrew Wilson

Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr Crippen
Pusey House: Chapel 10:00am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Leigh Hodgkinson

Martha Maps it Out
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 10:00am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Bill Tara, Marlene Watson-Tara, Gary Francione, Anna Charlton and Laurence Candy

Exploring the Microbiome: Health from the Inside Out
Pusey House 10:30am Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Gerri Kimber Michael Caines

Katherine Mansfield: A Hidden Life
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 12:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Louis Charalambous talks to Nick Wallis

Better Call Louis: Adventures in the Media Jungle
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Simon Mason talks to Triona Adams

Leading a Double Life of Crime: Wilkins Mysteries and Finder series
Pusey House: Chapel 12:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Anna James

Alice with a Why
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 12:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Alistair Moffat

The North Sea: Along the Edge of Britain
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Carl Frey talks to

How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Alastair Lack

Literary Oxford with Alastair Lack
Meet outside St John’s College Lodge (main entrance), St Giles 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Michael Morpurgo talks to Daniel Hahn

Black Beauty: A Retelling
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Andrew Taylor talks to Carolyn Kirby

Historical Crime Fiction: A Servant of Two Masters?
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Olivia Laing in conversation with Eley Williams

The Silver Book
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 2:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Luka Jukic

Central Europe: The Death of a Civilisation and the Life of an Idea
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Colin Freeman

The Mad and the Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 4:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Kate McLoughlin

Silence: A Literary History
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 4:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Alison Larkin

Grief: A Comedy
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Nigel Biggar and Marie Kawthar Daouda

Empire and the Colonies: Challenging Ideas of Guilt and Victimhood
Pusey House: Chapel 4:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Tim Wigmore and Huw Turbervill

Test Cricket: Past, Present and Uncertain Future
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Joseph Jebelli

The Brain at Rest: Why Doing Nothing Can Change Your Life
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Ian Patterson and Francesca Galligan

A Passion for Books
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Liam Byrne

Why Populists Are Winning: and How to Beat Them
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
John Finnemore talks to Mick Herron

My First Murder
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event
Michelle Paver and Catriona Ward talk to Suzi Feay

Masters of Gothic Fiction
Pusey House: Ursell Room 6:00pm Sat 21 Saturday, 21 March 2026 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.