-
2 weeks ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Anne Tyler |Colin Thubron |Kazuo Ishiguro
Poet laureate Simon Armitage talks about his writing life and about a new collection of poems, Blossomise, that celebrates the transformations of spring. Blossomise is a collaboration between Armitage and illustrator Angela Harding. The 22 poems range between haikus that honour Japanese traditions of the blossom festival to stylistic pieces that take on the tones of ballads, hymns, songs, prayers and nursery rhymes.
-
4 weeks ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Paul Auster |Tim Waterstone |Anne Tyler |Matthew Parris
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah talks about his new novel, Theft, his first since the Nobel award, and receives the honorary fellowship of Oxford Literary Festival in recognition of his outstanding contribution to literature. The fellowship will be presented by the president of the festival, Miles Young, warden of New College.
-
1 month ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Colin Thubron |Anne Tyler |Matthew Parris |Paul Auster
Science writer and broadcaster Marcus Chown says the answer to mankind’s most enduring questions – what is space? what is time? where did the universe come from? – may lie in black holes. Black holes often occur when a star approaches the end of its life and are a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light, can escape. Chown looks at the discovery of black holes and the enigma that could unlock the answers to the most profound questions about the universe.
-
1 month ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Colin Thubron |Matthew Parris |Anne Tyler
Journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, moral philosopher and theologian Professor Nigel Biggar, political commentator and researcher on populism Matthew Goodwin, and award-winning film and documentary-maker Richard Sanders debate one of the most divisive issues of our time: the status of free speech inside and outside of our universities. Universities are increasingly criticised for their stance on free speech, social justice, and, in particular, ‘wokeness’. What is woke?
-
Jan 13, 2025 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Colin Thubron |Tim Waterstone |Anne Tyler |Lucy Worsley
Historian and constitutional expert David Torrance tells the story of the first UK Labour administration and the ‘wild men’ who shook up the establishment. Torrance explains how the 1923 election was only the second time all adult men had been able to vote, and it opened the way to a new government of working-class men who had never before occupied the corridors of power.
-
Dec 26, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Peter Carey |Anne Tyler |Matthew Parris |Tim Waterstone
Three authors in the Yale University Press Little Histories series, mathematician Dr Snezana Lawrence, art critic Dr Charlotte Mullins and philosopher Dr Nigel Warburton each give a short talk to mark the 20th anniversary of the first publication of the series in English. Lawrence, a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, London, is author of A Little History of Mathematics. She looks at how our ancestors thought about numbers and how they used mathematics to explain the world around them.
-
Dec 12, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Kazuo Ishiguro |Paul Auster |Matthew Parris |Anne Tyler
Two leading philosophers of mind Professor Helen Beebee and Professor Philip Goff discuss the nature of consciousness and how we experience it. Could machines (such as Data in Star Trek) or AI systems (such as Skynet in The Terminator) achieve consciousness? What would it take for such human-made devices to become morally responsible? We all know what it’s like, from the ‘inside’, to enjoy conscious experiences.
-
Aug 27, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Peter Carey |Ken Hom |Kazuo Ishiguro |Anne Tyler
Prize-winning Harvard historian Professor Serhii Plokhy tells the story of the Russian occupation of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 2022 and how the plant workers fought to prevent a nuclear disaster. Chernobyl was the site of a nuclear accident four decades earlier and Russia’s occupation during the early days of its invasion of Ukraine was widely seen as reckless.
-
Mar 21, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Ken Hom |Tim Waterstone |Anne Tyler |Kazuo Ishiguro
Crime analyst Martin Thorley goes behind the ‘golden era’ of Sino-British relations in the 2010s and uncovers a period of Chinese government influence over British affairs and corruption. Thorley says the declaration of the golden era came at time of political uncertainty in the UK and as China was sliding deeper into authoritarianism. It caused disquiet among Britain’s allies.
-
Mar 19, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Anne Tyler |Matthew Parris |Colin Thubron
Astronomers Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Professor Chris Impey discuss how efforts to bring thinking from a greater diversity of backgrounds can enhance astronomy and provide insight into the universe and the search for life in space. Bell Burnell is a well-known astrophysicist who discovered the first pulsars whilst studying at university. She is a former president of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the Institute of Physics.
