Poetry

Catherine Clarke

A History of England in 25 Poems
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 12:00pm Sun 22 Sunday, 22 March 2026 See this event
Pam Ayres

Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems
Sheldonian Theatre 2:00pm Sun 22 Sunday, 22 March 2026 See this event
Alastair Lack

Oxford Poets with Alastair Lack
Meet outside St John’s College Lodge (main entrance), St Giles 2:00pm Sun 22 Sunday, 22 March 2026 See this event
Ruth O’Callaghan

Poetry Workshop: A Body of Work
Pusey House: Ursell Room 10:00am 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
Ruth O’Callaghan

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

Awake: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination
Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 3 12:00pm Sun 29 Sunday, 29 March 2026 See this event

Festival information:

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 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.

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 night in Oxford was the most beautiful event I have ever done. Not just the spectacular setting (of the Sheldonian), but an unforgettable evening.

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.