With the publication of Stalin’s Nose, Rory MacLean crashed through the norms of the genre to create a literary species almost his own. To mark the republication of his early books (with introductions from Colin Thubron, William Dalrymple and Jan Morris), Rory will retrace sixteen passionate years of journeying, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of the Taliban, and talk about how – like Chatwin before him – he audaciously crosses the travel book with some of the wilder forms of the novel. An illustrated talk.

Sponsored by Cox & Kings

This first biography by the highly acclaimed novelist Jane Stevenson received almost universal praise when published late last year. Here Stevenson talks about the brilliance and the eccentricities of this most underrated of British twentieth-century artists, a man who never followed fashion and whose private life was even more unusual than his paintings.

‘I write plays because dialogue is the most respectable way of contradicting myself.’ For more than 40 years, audiences have marvelled at Tom Stoppard's happy tendency to turn his fights with himself into extraordinary drama: Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, and most recently, his great play about Syd Barrett and the Prague Spring, Rock ‘n’ Roll. None of the usual adjectives applied to his work – brilliant, witty, intellectual, dazzling – are enough to convey the precise effect of hearing him speak in person. Today he accepts the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence – awarded in the past to Harold Pinter, Seamus Heaney and Margaret Atwood.

Few people are better placed to pass judgment on post-war British theatre than Michael Billington. The Guardian's drama critic has been writing notices on the latest openings for over 40 years now, and has spent more than 8,000 nights in the theatre. An expert on the work of Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Alan Ayckbourn, he is also a great Ken Dodd fan. He talks about angry young men, the sixties satire boom, the Thatcher years on stage and examines the trends, actors and directors that have most influenced theatre in the last six decades.

Sponsored by Oxford University Press

National treasure and acclaimed illustrator Shirley Hughes talks about her work, including her much-loved picture-book character Alfie, and the endearing story of Dogger, which was voted top in a poll of award-winning picture books. Shirley will also give a sneak preview of her forthcoming picture book, Jonodab, to be published in the summer. This is a rare opportunity for families to see Shirley, and gain insight into her work and life.

Thanks to the writing of Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford we know – or think we know – a great deal about the frivolous generation that turned the 1920s and 1930s into an endless whirl of improbable parties. D J Taylor uses the diaries of one of the silliest of the Bright Young People – the drug and drink addled Elizabeth Ponsonby – to look at the era of excess from a new and sobering perspective.

Ma Jian has been called by Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian ‘one of the most important and courageous voices in Chinese literature’. This epic novel, drawing on this exiled writer's first-hand experiences of the horrors of Tiananmen Square, shows why. Telling the story of a medical student who falls into a coma during the break-up of the Tiananmen Square protest, he plunges us first into his rich imaginative dream world, and then the death-in-life that he wakes up to ten years later. In conversation with John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor.

Does it matter where a novelist lives? A sense of place is important to writers Meg Rosoff and Marcia Willett, who talk about its influence on their work. Meg Rosoff lives on the coast in Suffolk, where her book What I Was is set. And Marcia Willett, who started writing fiction aged 50 and has since written 23 books, scrupulously researches all the settings of her novels.

Playwright Steven Berkoff’s latest book, My Life In Food is a gastronomic rollercoaster in which the master storyteller chomps his way around the world relishing the experience of eating every bit as much as the delicacies he samples. Part-autobiography, part-social commentary and part-modern philosophy, My Life In Food is a culinary book like no other. Berkoff’s journey takes him from his mother’s traditional Jewish kitchen and the simple teashops of his native post-war East End to haute cuisine around the world. On his quest to find the perfect deli, Berkoff treats the reader to flavours, anecdotes and asides; including hymns of praise to the humble tomato, the beloved bagel and, of course, mama’s chicken soup.

Come and enjoy a traditional carvery Sunday lunch in Hall under the direction of Head Chef Roland Depit and Hall Manager Andrew Hedges.

Make your choice of Roast Beef or Roast Lamb with all the trimmings from the carvery. This will be followed by a traditional British pudding, served to you at table with coffee to follow. Small portions of the same menu are available for children under 10 years of age.

The Hall reflects Christ Church's long association with children's literature. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was inspired and written in this college by Lewis Carroll, whose portrait and the Alice Window can both be seen here. More recently, the Hall was used as the model for the dining hall of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.

The Carvery lunch will be served in three sittings:

(Event Number 051 - Buy Tickets) 12.30pm
(Event Number 052 - Buy Tickets) 1.15pm
(Event Number 053 - Buy Tickets) 1.45pm

Please make any special dietary requirements or food allergies known when booking tickets. The Buttery Bar, adjacent to Hall, will be open for the purchase of drinks and wines from the Christ Church Cellar from 11.30am.

A madcap session from the quirkiest and liveliest poet and guitarist in town! See James perform a range of wonderfully weird and fantastically strange poems from his new collection, Time Travelling Underpants. Come and discover that Mary didn’t have a little lamb but a slug that came to a sticky ending! Talking of sticky – did you know that Goldilocks was a dab hand at cooking porridge? Perfect for 7-777 year olds. Why not bring along your own air guitar and join in?

Geopolitics is a way of looking at the world: one that considers the links between political power, geography, and cultural diversity. Using examples ranging from historical maps and 007 films to the rhetoric of political leaders, Klaus Dodds explains why, for a full understanding of contemporary global politics, it is essential to be geopolitical.

Martin Kemp and Robert Hollingworth use Leonardo da Vinci's words and images and Monteverdi's music to reveal their pioneering genius. Martin Kemp is Professor of Art History at Oxford University and has written extensively on art and science. Robert Hollingworth is founder/director of I Fagiolini, the leading vocal ensemble.

In this fascinating talk by one of the world's foremost commentators on religious affairs, Karen Armstrong explores the long and complex history of the Bible, looking both at its development as a series of sacred texts, and at how those texts have been used, interpreted and assimilated over thousands of years. Throwing an unfamiliar light on one of Western culture's most familiar books, she aims to help us look at the Bible with fresh eyes.

BBC television presenter Nicholas Crane talks about his epic journeys around Britain in the footsteps of eight of our great traveller-chroniclers, from Gerald of Wales, who embarked on a seven-week journey around the wild perimeter of Wales in March 1188, to HV Morton, the journalist and travel writer who travelled the length and breadth of England by car in the 1920s.

Sponsored by Cox & Kings

Africa is a vast continent blessed with extraordinary natural resources, yet its image as a place of darkness, destruction and decay looms large in the world’s imagination. This discussion brings together Elleke Boehmer, author of the forthcoming novel Nile Baby; writer and filmmaker Yaba Badoe and writer Rounke Coker, to discuss the little-heard ‘other Africa’, one whose many varied cultures have produced stories that speak of love, community, change, hope, renewal and continuity. Chaired by Becky Ayebia Clarke of publisher Ayebia.

Supported by Ayebia

The BBC's Business Editor has an enviable reputation as an investigative journalist, established long before he broke the news about the Northern Rock crisis. In this eye-opening talk based on his new book, he takes a long hard look at the rise of Britain's new financial elite, the power they now hold, and the influence they exert in Downing Street, showing us how many of the decisions that affect our lives are influenced by just a few very rich people.

Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars

From Peter Pan to The Wizard of Oz and The Happy Prince, children's literature unchained the imagination of the young well before Harry Potter. Sunday Times Children's Books Editor Nicolette Jones discusses what role there is for classic children's literature in the 21st century with fellow Sunday Times journalist Karen Robinson and three actors – Garrick Hagon, Teresa Gallagher and Anton Lesser – who are all passionate about children's books and will be reading some of their favourite passages.

Sponsored by Naxos AudioBooks

You probably thought aliens came down to Earth to take over the planet – but, no, they simply want to steal your pants! This zany, hilarious tale – a Richard and Judy Book Club Winner written by Claire Freedman – is delightfully brought to life by its vibrant illustrations and is sure to enchant and amuse the whole family. Come and meet the illustrator, Ben Cort, and help him draw some wacky new aliens – in underpants, of course. A fun, madcap event – you’ll laugh your pants off!

Join award-winning illustrator Anthony Browne, creator of Gorilla and Willy the Wimp, for this hands-on and interactive session. Anthony will talk about the Shape Game and how it has been part of his work since he began creating picture books, and he will also share his new book Silly Billy, an atmospheric exploration of childhood worries and how to overcome them. One of the most popular and stylistically distinctive children's book artists around, Anthony recently won the highest international accolade for children's book illustration, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, for his services to children's literature.

It’s rare enough to get the chance to hear one best-selling author of seriously addictive crime thrillers explain his modus operandi. But to find two together? Connolly is the creator of Charlie Parker, a detective hunting the killer of his wife and daughter – and the Unquiet is his ninth novel. He joins forces with former stand-up comedian Mark Billingham, whose latest book stars a vicious psychopath who specialises in manipulating others to do his dirty work for him.

Here's your chance to attend the announcement of the winner of one of Britain's most prestigious history book awards, the Hessell-Tiltman History Prize. Come and hear the prize judges, acclaimed historians Gillian Tindall, Juliet Gardiner and chair Anthony Howard, discuss the judging of the prize, the writing of their own books, and the special skills required to produce an award-winning popular work of history.

If you don't have the space or time to be totally self-reliant, but crave creative ideas for recycling, growing organic vegetables and establishing an environmentally friendly home office, then charismatic twins Andy and Dave Hamilton have written just the book for you. Ask them for tips on getting started (not overfilling your kettle, tackling an allotment for the first time) before moving onto the big ones (making a solar oven from a used pizza carton, keeping chickens). A talk for everyone who has ever wondered if there’s more to saving the planet than reusing the occasional plastic bag.

Franz Kafka is among the most intriguing and influential writers of the twentieth century. During his lifetime he worked as a civil servant and published only a handful of short stories, his most famous novels only appearing after his death. Join Ritchie Robertson as he gives a brief portrait of this fascinating author and helps us make sense of his absorbing and perplexing work.

After years of dodging impertinent questions about his personal life, Julian Barnes, the author of Flaubert's Parrot and Arthur and George, has finally written a memoir. Here he talks to the acclaimed biographer Hermione Lee about his family, his fear of death and his ambivalence towards religion. ‘I don't believe in God,’ he says, ‘but I miss him.’

As well as being one of the 20th-century's most passionate and influential poets
Sylvia Plath was also a fine painter, as the book Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath's Art of the Visual so strikingly shows. This revealing event offers a chance to gauge the value of Plath's art and explore its influence on her development as a writer, as actors Diana Quick, Elisabeth Gray and Tom Hollander read from and discuss her work with English academic and co-author of Eye Rhymes, Sally Bayley.

John Simpson has been travelling the world as a journalist for forty years, reporting on everything from wars and summits to natural disasters. Despite some of the terrible things he’s seen and reveals in this talk, he remains more optimistic than many about our future on the planet. Looking back on his encounters with everyone from President Mugabe to the Bushmen of the Kalahari, he offers his view on some of the great crises facing the world.

Supported by Ian and Carol Sellars

Four-fifths of all life on earth lives in the ocean – a resource we have taken too long for granted. What about the impact of climate change and pollution, declining fish stocks and coastal erosion? Hear these issues discussed by Sarah Holden, whose book Planet Ocean reveals the discoveries of the ‘Defending Our Oceans’ voyage – Greenpeace’s most ambitious expedition to date.

Sponsored by Purcell Miller Tritton

Few people know more about the history of the English language than David Crystal. The author of nearly 100 books, he's been described by the Times Higher Education Supplement as a ‘latter day Dr Johnson’ and by the New Statesman as ‘one of England's greatest living language commentators’. In this discursive, Bill Bryson-esque journey through the groves and thickets of his mother tongue, Crystal offers a delightful account of his encounters with the English language and its speakers throughout the world – from Bangor to Bombay and from Stratford to San Francisco.