Around 350 world-class speakers will be descending on Oxford from Saturday (March 21) as Oxford Literary Festival kicks off in style with hundreds of talks, lectures, debates and special events taking place throughout the week.
From comedy to politics, current events to gardening, children’s authors to crime fiction, nature to history, ethics to the environment, poetry to fashion, science to film, religion to food and drink, no stone has been left unturned by the organisers to ensure that this year’s Oxford Literary Festival is as prevalent, global and relevant as ever, bringing experts, authors and change-makers into the city centre to enlighten us on their work.
But with so much to choose from we’ve compiled a TOP 10 to give you a head start to plan your days around.
CHILDREN’S EVENT: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Dexter Proctor The 10-Year-Old Doctor, Sunday March 22. 10am, Oxford University Mathematical Institute: Lecture Theatre 1. Introducing Dexter Procter – the world’s youngest doctor who started speaking at four seconds old. By the age of three, he had 87 A-levels, from Afrikaans to zoology. And by 10, he was working as a paediatrician at Lilydale General Hospital. Join the record-breaking duo as they take you on a laugh-out-loud journey through their first ever fiction book series to find out if Dexter will be able to save his job, save the school and find his place in the world? Age 8+ https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-22/dexter-proctor-the-10-year-old-doctor
HISTORY: Dan Jones, Lion Hearts and The Pretender, Wednesday March 25, 10am, Sheldonian Theatre. The historian, broadcaster and novelist Dan Jones and novelist Jo Harkin discuss their latest works of historical fiction set in the 14th and 15th centuries, chaired by Suzi Feay. Lion Hearts is the final instalment of Jones’s bestselling Essex Dogs trilogy, following the fortunes of ten ordinary 14th-century soldiers in the early years of the Hundred Years’ War when England is reeling from the Black Death from the author of The Plantagenets, The Templars and Powers and Thrones, and TV television documentary presenter including Secrets of Great British Castles. Harkin’s The Pretender, based on a true story, is set in 1480 when the despised Richard III is not long for the throne and the man who will become Henry VII is poised to snatch the crown. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-25/lion-hearts-and-the-pretender
NATURE: A double date with Chris Packham
1) Wild for Life; Chris Packham talks to Philip Lymbery, Saturday March 21, 2pm. Sheldonian Theatre. BBC wildlife presenter of Springwatch fame and animal activist Chris Packham talks about his life and inspiration, while discussing what troubles him and gives him hope. Having devoted his life to describing and protecting the natural world he considers what it takes to give so much of your life to the fight for the natural world? What works when it comes to protecting the environment and what doesn’t? His thoughts on speciesism humanity and why we all need to get active if we want to protect our world. In association with Compassion in World Farming. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-21/wild-for-life
2) Why Should we Care about Nature? Chris Packham, Michael Morpurgo, Isabella Tree and Philip Lymbery, Saturday, March 21, 4pm, Sheldonian Theatre. Chris Packham, children’s author and Farms for City Children charity founder Michael Morpurgo, author and conservationist Isabella Tree and chief executive of Compassion in World Farming Philip Lymbery discuss why we should care about nature and how we can put a value on it when a tree is worth more dead than alive. In association with Compassion in World Farming.https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-21/why-should-we-care-about-nature
ETHICS: Kathleen Stock Assisted Dying: A Dignified end or a Collective Fantasy? Friday March 27. 4pm. Sheldonian Theatre. Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain and philosopher and writer Professor Kathleen Stock debate assisted dying and the pros and cons of the legislation currently passing through parliament. Will assisted dying grant us dignity and control of our life and death or is this notion simply a collective fantasy? Discussions are chaired by journalist Nick Higham, the BBC’s first ever media correspondent and former presenter of Meet the Author on the BBC news channel. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-27/assisted-dying-a-dignified-end-or-a-collective-fantasy
CHILDREN’S EVENT: Michael Rosen, The Big Journey, Sunday March 29. 2pm. Sheldonian Theatre. The bestselling author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt talks about his latest illustrated book for children, The Big Journey, sequel to the acclaimed The Big Dreaming – a grand adventure as two bears set out on an epic journey over the mountains, drawing on all their courage and resilience to see them safely to the other side. Age 4+. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-29/the-big-journey
POETRY: Pam Ayres Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems, Sunday March 22, 2pm, Sheldonian Theatre. Pam Ayres talks about her life as one of the UK’s bestselling poets of the last few decades and about her latest book, Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems tracing her life from the 1970s to the current decade through poems, from the young woman juggling boyfriends to the wife adrift amid the joy and terror of motherhood and the adoring granny. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-22/doggedly-onward-a-life-in-poems
HISTORY: Mistress: A History of Women and their Country Houses, Ruth Larsen, Sunday March 29. 2pm. Weston Lecture Theatre. Uncovering the lives of the mistresses of some of the great country houses of England and Wales and power and influence they really had, focusing on 18 women from five centuries in their book, Mistress: A History of Women and their Country Houses and the impact they had on society, culture and politics. Larsen is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Derby and an expert on gender and the country house. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-29/mistress-a-history-of-women-and-their-country-houses
Leading a Double Life of Crime: Wilkins Mysteries and Finder series. Simon Mason talks to Triona Adams, Saturday March 21. 12pm, Pusey House Chapel. The author of two successful, concurrent, much-loved and very different series the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries and the Finder series featuring an ex-policeman finding missing persons. Here Simon Mason explains how writers keep their separate identities separate. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-21/leading-a-double-life-of-crime-wilkins-mysteries-and-finder-series Part of the festival’s crime fiction programme. Find out about CRIME FICTION SATURDAY HERE
Grief – A Comedy The Gibraltar Conversation. Grief: A Comedy. Alison Larkin talks to Christian Santos, Saturday March 21, 4pm, Weston Lecture Theatre. READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ALISON HERE The comedian and writer talks about her novel-memoir, an uplifting story that shows how true love can live on after death, based on her solo comedy show of the same name. Larkin was in her 50s, and divorced with two children, when she unexpectedly found true love with Bhima. Five days after they decided to marry, Bhima suddenly died. The story begins six weeks after Bhima died with him turning up at Larkin’s table determined to help her find love again. https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2026/march-21/grief-a-comedy
Oxford Literary Festival runs from March 21-29. Details here: https://oxfordliteraryfestival.org
