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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.
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2 weeks ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Colin Thubron |Anne Tyler |Kazuo Ishiguro
Novelist and academic Professor Janet Todd marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen by showing how Austen has inspired and challenged her personally through different phases of her life. Todd reveals what ‘living with Jane Austen’ has meant to her and what it might also mean to others. She reflects on her own life and on Austen’s letters, manuscripts and novels. Todd says Austen has an undimmable power to help us understand the world and our minds and bodies.
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3 weeks ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Colin Thubron |Lucy Worsley |Ken Hom |Kazuo Ishiguro
Journalist and broadcaster Rachel Shabi points to a hopeful way forward in an era when claims of antisemitism continue to distort our politics at home and abroad and make it impossible to discuss issues constructively. Shabi analyses one of the most divisive issues of our time including the contingency of whiteness, Judeo-Christian mythmaking, pro-Israel antisemitism and the Palestinian struggle against colonialism.
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1 month ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Kazuo Ishiguro |Lucy Worsley |Ken Hom |Tim Waterstone
Join our panel of leading political and media figures, Professor Simon Heffer, Marina Purkiss, Zoe Strimpel and Adele Walton, for lively debate on topics of the day, chaired by Yasmin Alibhai Brown. Ticketholders are invited to email questions before the event, and Yasmin will pick a representative range for audience members to ask. Heffer is a journalist and historian. He is a professor of modern British history at the University of Buckingham.
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1 month ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Kazuo Ishiguro |Lucy Worsley |Colin Thubron |Matthew Parris
Veteran foreign correspondents Ian Williams and Michael Sheridan discuss modern day China and how the new UK government should face up to the challenges it presents. Williams is a former foreign correspondent for Channel 4 News and NBC News who has reported on China for the last 25 years. In Vampire State: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Economy, he describes the ‘predatory and surreal’ nature of the Chinese economy. Williams says rules and agreements mean little.
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1 month ago | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Anne Tyler |Tim Waterstone |Kazuo Ishiguro
Writer and broadcaster Matthew Teller discusses a new collection of stories he has co-edited about literature and culture in Gaza. Daybreak in Gaza weaves together stories about Gaza’s history with war diaries and memoirs of ordinary citizens – artists, writers and poets, farmers, shopkeepers. Together they display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and the breadth of its history.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
thenav.ca | Julia Fox |Madeline Miller |Kazuo Ishiguro |Ella Hannesson
My life changes every day. It’s not because of my own experiences, but because of other people’s, immortalized between yellowed pages. As an English major, people occasionally ask me why I’m so obsessed with literature. Why I advocate for reading with the fervor of a cult leader. What reading means to me. Reading is not just a hobby—it’s a daily revolution in paperback form. A random book on a Tuesday afternoon can flip your entire worldview upside down.
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Dec 31, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Kazuo Ishiguro |Colin Thubron |Peter Carey |Lucy Worsley
Journalist, author and feminist campaigner Julie Bindel looks at what defines lesbian culture, love and friendship and asks why lesbians often face a particular hostility. Bindel says lesbians face particular challenges when compared with the experiences of gay men. She argues that lesbians continue to suffer from bigotry and discrimination because sexism and enforced gender codes are still unchallenged.
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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.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
oxfordliteraryfestival.org | Lucy Worsley |Matthew Parris |Tim Waterstone |Kazuo Ishiguro
The Oxford Literary Festival is intellectual Viagra. 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.
