Rick Stein, Alan Johnson, David Owen, David Olusoga, Penelope Lively, and Ruby Wax join line-up

200 events now available to book

More than 100 new events have been added to this year’s FT Weekend Oxford Literary festival line-up including celebrity chef Rick Stein, pictured right, on A Life in Food.

Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga talks about his role in the BBC’s much anticipated update of Kennneth Clark’s landmark documentary Civilisation, and ex-minister Alan Johnson discusses his multi-award-winning series of autobiographies and the future of the Labour Party.

Booker winners Ben Okri and Penelope Lively return to Oxford this year, and the festival also welcomes Man Asian Literary Prize winner Su Tong.

Comedian and writer Ruby Wax, pictured left, talks about her new manual for mental health, How to be Human.

Major speakers previously announced include Shakespearean actor Antony Sher, journalist and presenter Robert Peston, scientist Richard Dawkins, novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, Spandau Ballet songwriter and actor Gary Kemp, biographer Claire Tomalin, poets Michael Longley and Wendy Cope,  former director of the National Gallery and British Museum Neil MacGregor, Archers actor Tim Bentinck, witchcraft expert Ronald Hutton, and children’s writers Judith Kerr, Lauren Child and Cressida Cowell.

Oxford debates issues of the day

Leading commentators and philosophers take part in a series of ‘Oxford debates’ at this year’s festival.

Former Foreign Secretary David Owen, pictured right, and ex-diplomat Mariot Leslie discuss how a post-Brexit UK should look.

Lawyer and Christian campaigner Andrea Williams and humanist Stephen Law debate whether Christians are being prosecuted. Law also leads an interactive debate involving the audience on ‘how to raise good citizens’.

Journalists Matthew d’Ancona and Alice Thwaite look at how we can champion truth in a time of ‘alternative facts’ and lies.

The 2018 festival takes place between Saturday March 17 and Sunday March 25. You can book online through this website, in person at Oxford Visitor Information Centre, Broad Street, and at our telephone box office on 0333 666 3366*.

* A £1.50 agent’s booking fee applies to all bookings made at the visitor information centre and by phone.