OXF OR D lit era ry festival Saturday 25 March to Sunday 2 April 2017 Vikram Seth Hilary Mantel Alexander McCall Smith Nigella Lawson Jeremy Paxman Alexandra Shulman William Boyd Jessica Ennis-Hill Toby Jones pocket guide 19 97– 2 017 WORCESTER COLLEGE Festival College Partner Bodleian Libraries UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Festival Cultural Partner Festival Ideas Partner Box Office 0333 666 3366 • www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org Welcome to your pocket guide to the 2017 Ft Weekend oxFord literary Festival Tickets Tickets can be booked up to one hour before the event. Online: Please visit www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org In person: Oxford Visitor Information Centre, Broad Street, Oxford, seven days a week. * Telephone box office: 0333 666 3366 * Festival box office: The box office in the Blackwell’s marquee will be open throughout the festival. Immediately before events: Last-minute tickets are available for purchase from the festival box office in the marquee in the hour leading up to each event. * An agents’ booking fee of £1.50 will be added to all sales at the visitor information centre and through the telephone box office. This pocket guide was correct at the time of going to press. Venues are sometimes subject to change, and a few more events will be added to the programme. For all the latest times and venues, check our website at www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org General enquiries: 07444 318986 Email: [email protected] Ticket enquiries: [email protected] colour denotes children’s and young people’s events colour denotes schools events Blackwell’s bookshop marquee The festival marquee is located next to the Sheldonian Theatre. It is the place to experience the buzz of the festival. We will be open throughout the festival – buy your festival tickets, browse a wide range of books by festival speakers, enjoy refreshments from the coffee shop and take in some free author talks while you’re there. special events Wednesday 8 march Paul Auster – 4 3 2 1 A Novel 7pm / Sheldonian Theatre / £12.50-£15 Bestselling US author Paul Auster makes a rare UK appearance in this festival preview event to talk about his latest novel 4 3 2 1 . In conversation with Boyd Tonkin, literary critic for the Financial Times , The Economist and The Spectator . thursday 6 July Chris Patten – First Confession 7pm / Sheldonian Theatre / £12.5 0-£15 One of the leading Conservative politicians of the 1980s and 1990s and holder of several of the highest public offices at home and abroad Lord Patten talks about First Confession and looks back at his time as a minister, MP, public servant and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Tours of Worcester College Library Tues 28, Weds 29 and Thurs 30 / 2pm / Worcester College / £15 The Librarian of Worcester College, Mark Bainbridge, invites you to explore the college’s 18-century library and its 17th and 18th-century collections. Access to the library is via a steep spiral staircase and limited. Suitable footwear should be worn. No stilettos. stop press The following events were either confirmed or provisionally added to the programme as the pocket guide went to press. Please check for new events and all times and details at www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke – The Art of Barcelona, Amsterdam and St Petersburg Tuesday 28 March / 6pm / Worcester College: Lecture Theatre / £13.50 Art historian Janina Ramirez and art critic Alastair Janina Ramirez Sooke talk about their forthcoming BBC Four documentary and present some preview clips. stop press continued on next page 1 stop press (continued) Benedetta Cibrario Friday 31 March 2pm / Bodleian: Divinity School / £12.50 Italian novelist and winner of the Rapallo Carige prize for women writers Benedetta Cerbrario talks about her third novel Lo Scurnuso , a story of a sculptor and his son set in 18th-century Naples. Live broadcasts and recordings at Worcester College Check website for details Free entry to all events but must be International Radio Partner booked in advance The ‘FT Live’ day at the festival Events all day on Saturday 1 April at the Weston Library, the Sheldonian Theatre and other venues. Title Sponsor Check programme for details Oxford University Press is proud to return to the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival with another series of soap box talks from the very short introductions series. These free, 15-minute talks feature expert authors from the series and take place twice a day in the Blackwell’s Marquee, next to the Sheldonian Theatre. Saturday 25 1.15pm / Geoff Cottrell – Telescopes Sunday 26 1.15pm / Nicholas Cronk – Voltaire 5.15pm / Anna Cento Bull – Modern Italy Monday 27 1.15pm / Susan Llewelyn – Clinical Psychology 5.15pm / Russell Foster – Circadian Rhythms Tuesday 28 1.15pm / David Hand – Measurement 5.15pm / Michelle Baddeley – Behavioural Economics Wednesday 29 1.15pm / Klaus Dodds – Geopolitics 5.15pm / Tristram Wyatt – Animal Behaviour Thursday 30 1.15pm / Elleke Boehmer – Nelson Mandela 5.15pm Matthew Reynolds – Translation Friday 31 1.15pm Dick Passingham – Cognitive Neuroscience 5.15pm Virginia Berridge – Public Health Saturday 1 1.15pm Maria Rosa Antognazza – Leibniz 5.15pm Christopher Taylor – Socrates 2 saturday 25 march Roger Penrose – Fashion, Faith and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe 10am / Sheldonian Theatre / £12.5 0-£15 Bestselling author and one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists Professor Sir Roger Penrose argues that fashion, faith and fantasy may be leading some researchers astray on the extreme frontiers of physics. Fiona Carnarvon – At home at Highclere: Entertaining at the Real Downton Abbey 10am / St John's: Auditorium / £13.50 Lady Fiona Carnarvon looks back at 300 years of family archives to tell the story of entertaining at Highclere Castle – the setting for the hugely popular television series Downton Abbey – and reveals what it is like entertaining at the ancestral home today. Justin Miles – How to Become an Ultimate Explorer 10am / Corpus Christi: Lecture Theatre / £8 Age 7-11 Full-time explorer and adventurer Justin Miles talks about his manuals for would-be adventurers, The Ultimate Explorer Guide for Kids and The Ultimate Mapping Guide for Kids . Steve Antony – Pandas Doughnuts and the Queen’s Handbag 10am / The Story Museum / £7 Age 4-7 Join one of the hottest picture book talents around, Steve Antony, in this fun-filled session of arty activities. Learn how to draw a panda who loves good manners (and doughnuts). Read stories together, chase after the Queen’s hat and even get a sneak peek into the Queen’s handbag. Stephen Harris – Oxford Botanic Garden: A Garden for all Seasons 10am / Weston Lecture Theatre / £12.50 Plant scientist Dr Stephen Harris gives an illustrated history of the oldest surviving botanic garden in Britain, Oxford Botanic Garden – holder of one of the world’s oldest scientific plant collections. Box Office 0333 666 3366 • www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org 3 saturday 25 march ( continued) Alberto Álvaro Ríos – A Small Story About the Sky 10am / Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room / £12.50 Award-winning American poet and writer and Arizona’s first poet laureate Alberto Álvaro Ríos talks about his life and work. Iain Martin and Ivan Fallon – The Banking Crisis and How It Changed the World 10am / Worcester College: Lecture Theatre / £12.50 Two leading journalists and financial commentators, Iain Martin and Ivan Fallon, look back at the 2008 banking crisis, assess what impact it had on our changing world including the Brexit vote, and discuss what the future holds for the Euro and for Britain’s Iain Martin economy. Bettany Hughes – Istanbul: A tale of Three Cities 10am / Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre / £13.50 Award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes tells the story of Istanbul – of the three great cities of Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul. Artemis Cooper – Elizabeth Jane Howard: A Dangerous Innocence 12 noon / Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre / £13.50 Biographer Artemis Cooper looks at the life and loves of the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, who wrote about what love can do to people but whose own love life was characterised by short-lived marriages and affairs. Lionel Shriver – The Mandibles: A Family 2029 – 2047 12 noon / Weston Lecture Theatre / £13.50 Writer and journalist Lionel Shriver talks about her latest novel, The Mandibles – a family story of money, bitterness, rivalry and selfishness set amidst a catastrophic financial collapse. Box Office 0333 666 3366 • www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org 4 Korky Paul – Winnie the Witch 12 noon / Corpus Christi: Lecture Theatre / £8 Age 6-9 Come and meet one of the world’s top author/illustrators Korky Paul, and enjoy a special appearance from Winnie herself. Dan Pearson – Natural Selection: A Year in the Garden 12 noon / Worcester College: Lecture Theatre / £12.50 Award-winning garden designer, plantsman, journalist and writer Dan Pearson reflects on his development as a gardener from childhood in Hampshire to his roof garden in Bonnington Square and the 20 acres of hillside he gardens in Somerset, and reads from some of his work. Lisa Feldman Barrett – How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain 12 noon / Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room / £12.50 Psychologist Professor Lisa Feldman Barratt explains her groundbreaking theories on how the brain constructs emotions – ones that shed new light on what it means to be human. Jessica Ennis-Hill – Evie’s Magic Bracelet 12 noon / Sheldonian Theatre / £ 8-£15 Age 6-11 Olympic and World champion track and field athlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill launches her new children’s book series, Evie’s Magic Bracelet . Come and hear about the books, about Ennis-Hill’s own childhood, and ask her about her golden sporting career. Carol Dyhouse – Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire 2pm / Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre / £12.50 History professor Carol Dyhouse looks at the heartthrob from Byron, Mr Darcy and Christian Grey to today’s boy-bands.