Has the Literary Map of Oxford Changed Over the Last 100 years? C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkein, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Aldous Huxley, Matthew Arnold, Percy Bysshe Shelley, W. H. Auden, Irish Murdoch, Rose Macaulay, Vera Brittain – Oxford's literary history is rich and varied. Hear more about our extraordinary city from Daniel Hahn, co-editor of The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland, and Colin Dexter, author of the world-famous Morse novels.

Few things mirror the times as much as our changing taste in food. Acclaimed historian Kate Colquhoun takes us from the Iron Age to the industrial revolution, and from the Regency to Jamie Oliver, charting the different fashions in food, and what those fashions tell us about our history. When did we move from serving everything at once to the succession of courses we know today? How did the Black Death lead to the beginning of rural baking? Why was the sale of fruit banned in 1569? Colquhoun answers all these questions and many, many more.

Sponsored by Blackwell

“Mallory and Irvine”. The mystery of the two British climbers who perished near the summit of Mount Everest in 1924 has never lost its allure. Were they the first to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain some thirty years before Hillary and Tenzing in 1953? Julie Summers, the great niece of Sandy Irvine, talks about her definitive biography of the young mountaineer, whose life and death linked him with one of the greatest mountaineering legends of all time.

According to award-winning science writer Rita Carter, human beings are made up of not just one personality, but a whole bunch of them, working together to give the impression of a unified self. Here she talks about her striking new theory, and offers practical guidance on how to build a strong and happy “household” of personalities and how to get them to cooperate as effectively as possible.

This presentation explores the relationship between poetry and works of art, predominantly paintings. The chosen works of art will be illustrated and briefly set in context before the relevant poems – an intensely personal selection – are read. Hopefully, the audience will be suitably inspired to make their own suggestions for possible future use.

Sponsored by Cox & Kings

Edward I's reign was possibly the most dramatic of the Middle Ages, one whose wars left a legacy of division between the peoples of Britain that has lasted to this day. Brilliant young historian Marc Morris assesses the achievements of the monarch known as 'Longshanks' – the hammer of the Scots and the conqueror of Wales – and asks how deeply we are still affected by his long and bloody reign.

Sponsored by Blackwell

If Palestine is at the core of the problems in the Middle East, then what is the solution? How do we move forward from an impasse that has foiled many a peacekeeping initiative, in the year that marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. Renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, joins Avi Shlaim, author of The Lion of Jordan: King Hussein’s Life in War and Peace, and chair James Barr, author of Setting the Desert on Fire: The Arab Revolt of 1916, to discuss the issues.

Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars

Sponsored by Blackwell

From Frank Gehry in Dundee and Zaha Hadid in Fife to the Wilkinson Eyre designs at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, Maggie’s Centres have become contemporary landmarks. Exploring the uplifting power of buildings, Charles Jencks, author of Critical Modernism and Iconic Buildings and co-founder of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, discusses the importance of design in creating these unique environments and tells the story behind Maggie’s pioneering form of cancer support.

After the talk, Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre will join Charles Jencks on stage to answer questions about the design for Maggie’s Oxford.

Games are played everywhere from economics and online auctions to social interactions. Game theory is about how to play such games in a rational way, and how to maximize their outcomes. Here, Ken Binmore reveals the insights that theory can bring to everything from how to play poker optimally to the sex ratio among bees.

Pat Chapman, author of The New Curry Bible, has been called ‘the ambassador of Indian food’ by Derek Cooper. In this mouth-watering event, Pat and his wife Dominique (Editor of the Cobra Good Curry Guide), will give a cookery demonstration at Aziz Pandesia and answer questions about Indian food. This event includes a buffet lunch.
Keep your ticket and get 15% off the food bill on your next visit (Tuesday–Thursday) to the restaurant

Sponsored by Aziz Pandesia Restaurant

To paraphrase the old maxim, all political careers end in failure – and memoirs. So what makes a good political diary? Can a politician’s diary be true? Why should we care? We'll be debating with some of the people best placed to answer – the political diarists themselves.
The Orwell Prize is Britain's pre-eminent prize for political writing. Two awards – one for a book, one for journalism – are given each year to writers who achieve George Orwell's ambition 'to make political writing into an art'. This year's winners will be announced on 24th April.
Check website at a later date for speakers.

All children learn at school about Florence Nightingale, but what about the other women caught up in the carnage of the Crimean war? Christine Kelly, editor of Fanny Duberly’s famous and recently republished eye-witness journals of the war, discusses with fellow historian Helen Rappaport some of the untold stories of female heroism, stoicism and endeavour from this most bloody conflict.

Sponsored by Blackwell

Why do we sleep? How much sleep do we normally need, and what happens if you don't get enough of it? Jim Horne, Director of the Sleep Research Centre at the University of Loughborough, finds the answers to these questions and many more in this fascinating journey through the science and the secrets of our sleeping lives.

Most of us are apple lovers, but crumble aside, how many of us can come up with really imaginative recipes for this wonderful fruit? Drawing on her delightful book for inspiration, Sue Clifford talks of Britain’s rich apple heritage, revealing where to find the best local varieties and how to use them.

From 1994 until 2006, Seamus Murphy photographed the Taliban regime, the tumultuous years of civil war, and the historical elections following the fall of the Taliban. Alongside scenes of war and politics, his magnificent photographs capture intimate images of domesticity, work and play. He talks about his work with war correspondent Anthony Lloyd.

Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars

Virginia Woolf said the goal of the essay 'is simply that it should give pleasure...It should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last'. David Bradshaw, the editor of a new one-volume selection of Woolf’s essays, sheds new light on the author of To The Lighthouse, a great but flawed and fragile writer.

Can one man change an entire city and university, however much campaigning energy he can muster in his lifetime? William Morris certainly wanted to transform nineteenth-century Oxford and lectured in it no less than nine times as an architectural and political activist in his middle and later years. Though the story of Morris's student days in the city has been told many times by his biographers, the tale of his later impassioned returns to Oxford is much less well-known. Tony Pinkney recreates Morris's sixteen-year struggle to convert his alma mater into a conservationist and socialist utopia: a story of rousing speeches, crusading organisations, inspired undergraduates, setbacks and disappointments, but also of some crucial successes.

Sponsored by Purcell Miller Tritton

Wars do not end when the fighting stops. While Hitler and Goebbels took their lives in the bunker under ruined Berlin, men and women everywhere faced the prospect of rebuilding peace. In this fascinating talk, David Stafford uncovers some of the stories of those who had lived through the Second World War and now had to endure the daily horrors and hardships of its aftermath, from the Allied soldiers who liberated the concentration camps, to the German civilians forced to face up to the consequences of defeat.

Sponsored by Blackwell

Writer and comedian Charlie Higson has brought Bond to life for a whole new younger generation through his fantastic Young Bond series. With four titles already out and one due for late 2008, the centenary year of Ian Fleming's creation is full of exciting prospects for James Bond fans. Focusing on the current title Hurricane Gold, a fast-paced adventure set in the wilderness of Mexico, Charlie Higson will entertain young and old alike with his fantastic knowledge of the world's most famous secret agent.

How is disability treated in writing, in both books and film and television scripts? Is specialist research a good idea, or is Mark Haddon’s approach, that disabled people are just other humans, better? Joining Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, is Susan Clow, manager of Scope’s “In the Picture” project which promotes the inclusion of disabled children in early years’ picture books, and Lois Keith, author of Take Up Thy Bed & Walk: Death, Disability and Cure in Classic Fiction for Girls. Chaired by Tom Shakespeare.

China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. Join Rana Mitter as he gives his very short introduction to why China looks the way it does today, and how it got there.

A highlight of the Festival will be Choral Evensong, a service of the Anglican Church which many believe to be one of the finest art-forms that the western world has produced. There will be readings from the Authorised Version of the Bible, and the music will include settings of poetry by Milton and George Herbert. Evensong will last about one hour.

Lionel Shriver won herself a huge audience when her hard-hitting novel We Need to Talk about Kevin won the Orange Prize for fiction. Here the no-nonsense novelist and critic talks about the inspiration behind her new novel, whose plot hinges on one simple kiss, which will determine whether Irina McGovern stays with her disciplined, intellectual partner Lawrence or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player.

The British can make two remarkable claims about their empire. Not only was it the largest and most diverse in history, but it also had one of the swiftest declines. Why so fast? The acclaimed historian Piers Brendon is a brilliant and controversial guide to Britain's imperial sunset.

Sponsored by Blackwell

Everyone has such moments: 'I didn't know what to say!' They may be provoked by a friend, a colleague or a stranger. You may be at work, in a bar or under the duvet. It may be a matter of love or death, a question of honesty or belief. And the worst thing is – you say the wrong thing. What Not To Say takes those situations, unpacks them with philosophy, and explores the do's and don'ts. For those weary of feel-good self-help, or wary of psycho-babble, Mark Vernon – a former Anglican priest who now teaches philosophy at Birkbeck College, London – offer an alternative.

If there’s one thing harder than bringing peace to Northern Ireland, it’s writing about it. Jonathan Powell was the government’s key negotiator in the long search for a lasting settlement in the province, and has since become good mates with two of the Provisional IRA’s leading lights, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness – much to the horror of many of his friends and relations. In this keenly awaited account of the peace process’s twists and turns, its backroom deals and fuzzy fixes, Powell promises an insider’s account of history in the making.

Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars

Come and hear three of Penguin's new writers talk about their latest books and ask an important Penguin editor how she decides what to publish. Catherine Bailey, author of Black Diamonds, will talk about the downfall of the Fitzwilliams – a wealthy influential family who lived in England's largest private house until catastrophe descended. Jane Johnson, author of Crossed Bones, will speak of Barbary pirates in Cornwall and Morocco, tracing her connections with both places. And novelist Jeremy Page will transport the audience to Norfolk at the end of the Second World War to talk about his acclaimed fictional debut, Salt. Viking Editorial Director, Kate Barker, will talk about her work as an editor at Penguin.

£1 off the price of one title if you order the books in advance or on the evening at Blackwell's Bookshop, 50 Broad Street on presentation of your ticket. Tel: 01865 333623. Or present your ticket on the evening itself at the
Blackwell's Marquee Bookshop.

A chance to hear three of our finest contemporary poets read from their work and discuss the art of poetry with each other. Jamie McKendrick looks from Franco's Spain to the Belgian Congo in his search for the symbols of power in his new volume Crocodiles & Obelisks; Tom Paulin revisits poems from his celebrated and varied collections; and Bernard O'Donoghue looks back on his distinguished career as represented in his outstanding Selected Poems.

The ever-mischievous Fay Weldon talks about her latest novel, a wickedly satirical take on The Decameron, set in an exclusive health spa in modern Cumbria, where 10 high-achieving women have gathered for 10 days between Christmas the New Year to gossip, confess their darkest secrets and tell the stories of their lives.

Join us for a creative journey through climate change. This event will showcase Oxfordshire writers responding to the highs and lows of the climate journey, making you laugh, possibly even cry, but engage in a refreshing and new way with climate change and our responses to it.

Brought to you by Oxfordshire ClimateXchange and Hammer and Tongue
www.climateX.org www.hammerandtongue.co.uk

The team behind the very popular general knowledge quiz game bring you more astounding and little-known facts, this time on the subject of the animal kingdom. Meet the water bears that can live in suspension for hundreds of years, the parasite carried by your cat that makes men grumpy and women promiscuous, and the woodlouse that drinks through its bottom. Marvel at elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and woodpeckers that have ears on the end of their tongues.

Come and mull over the day with other Festival guests and enjoy a glass or two from the Buttery Bar. And after all that sitting down – dance! The Parktown Strutters are a celebrated Oxford jazz band, who played alongside one of the Festival’s founding patrons, Humphrey Carpenter, and who continue to make the music of the Vile Bodies era live again.

All ticket proceeds will go to the Oxford Literary Festival Charitable Trust. We are very grateful to the Strutters and to other donors who have made this possible.