March 27

Liam Shaw

Dangerous Miracle: A Natural History of Antibiotics and How We Burned Through Them
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Georgette Bennett talks to Nick Higham

Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Iain Pears

Parallel Lives: A Love Story from a Lost Continent
Pusey House: Ursell Room 10:00am Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Zoe Gardner, Eric Heinze, James Schneider and Zoe Strimpel chaired by Stephen Law

Oxford Debate: Has Socialism’s Time Come?
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Sarah Williams

When Courage Calls: Josephine Butler and the Radical Pursuit of Justice for Women
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Anthony Gardner and Jane Thynne

Spies on the Case in Britain Past and Present
Pusey House: Chapel 12:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Ed Davey and Tiggy Walker

Why We Care and Why it Matters
Sheldonian Theatre 12:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Mia Bennett and Klaus Dodds

Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Daniel Hahn

If this be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Alan Johnson

Harold Wilson: Twentieth-Century Man
Pusey House: Chapel 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Martin Plaut talks to Nigel Biggar

Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies

God, the Science, the Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Marlene Watson-Tara and Bill Tara

Macrobiome: How the Planet Governs Human Ecology and the Microbiome
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Louise Perry and Zoe Strimpel chaired by Julie Bindel

The Sexual Revolution: How Liberated are Women Today?
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Alastair Lack

The Oxford of Morse, Lewis and Endeavour
Meet outside St John’s College Lodge (main entrance), St Giles 2:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Carolyn Kirby and Anthony Delaney

Gender Fluid Georgians
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Ludovic Orlando

Horses: A 4,000-Year Genetic Journey Across the World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Jonathan Romain and Kathleen Stock chaired by Nick Higham

Assisted Dying: A Dignified end or a Collective Fantasy?
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Eamonn Gearon

The Arab Bureau: The Story of Britain’s Most Ingenious Intelligence Unit
Pusey House: Ursell Room 4:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Yulia Iliukha and Olia Hercules

Ukrainian Lives: Confronting the Realities of War
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Tim Gregory

Going Nuclear: How the Atom will Save the World
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Sajid Javid talks to Alan Johnson

The Colour of Home: Growing up in 1970s Britain
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
Jan McFarlane

Festival Evensong
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event
James Cahill and Christopher Stephens in conversation with A J West

Being Gay in Oxford: From the Dawn of Liberation to Today
Pusey House: Ursell Room 6:00pm Fri 27 Friday, 27 March 2026 See this event

Festival information:

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.

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.

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.

The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra.

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.