March 28

Ruth O’Callaghan

Poetry Workshop: A Body of Work
Pusey House: Ursell Room 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Avi Shlaim and Peter Oborne

Gaza: Genocide and Britain’s Complicity in Destruction
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Kelly Grovier and Lachlan Goudie

The Artist’s Brush: The Secrets Behind Great Paintings
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Chine McDonald talks to Jessica Hamel-Akré

Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood
Weston Lecture Theatre 10:00am Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Elizabeth Oldfield and Oliver Burkeman

Living Life to the Full: Making the Most of the Time we Have
Pusey House: Chapel 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Nick Higham

Mavericks: Empire, Oil, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Penny Mordaunt

Pomp and Circumstance: Why Britain’s Traditions Matter
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Margaret Busby

Part of the Story: Writings from Half a Century
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Maz Evans

The Last Bard
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Charli Howard and Freya India chaired by Julie Bindel

What it Means to be a Woman in the 21st Century
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 12:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Elleke Boehmer

Southern Imagining: A Literary and Cultural History of the Far Southern Hemisphere
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Richard Holmes talks to Suzi Feay

The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Carla Kaplan and Mimi Pond

The Enduring Fascination of the Mitford Sisters
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Andrew Monaghan

Blitzkrieg and the Russian Art of War
Pusey House: Chapel 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Seth Berkley

Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 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 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Ross Montgomery

Small Wonder
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 2:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Ben Arogundade

Hollywood Blackout: The Battle for Recognition in a White Hollywood
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Eleanor Chan

Duet: An Artful History of Music
Department for Continuing Education: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Jung Chang

Fly, Wild Swans
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Felipe Fernández-Armesto

How the Spanish Empire was Built: A 400-Year History
Pusey House: Chapel 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Mark Haddon

Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour
Pusey House: Ursell Room 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Michael Collins and Christopher Lamb

American Hope: Leo XIV Builder of Bridges
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Jennifer Killick, Christopher Edge and Jack MacKay

Masters of the Macabre
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 4:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Melanie McDonagh

Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark. Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Ruth O’Callaghan

Poetry Reading: A Body of Work
Pusey House: Ursell Room 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Sven Beckert

American Lecture. Capitalism: A Global History
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Naz Shah talks to Harriet Wistrich

Honoured: Survival, Strength and my Path to Politics
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 2 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 March 2026 See this event
Amy Jeffs, Gwen Burns and Natalie Brice

Old Songs: Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads
Pusey House: Chapel 6:00pm Sat 28 Saturday, 28 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.

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.

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 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.

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.