Worcester College is once again proud to participate in the Oxford Literary Festival, with researchers, alumni and venues contributing to the 27th edition of the event. This year, you can enjoy the following events with a connection to Worcester, as well as a weekend of special broadcasts from the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre by the BBC World Service.

Sunday 17 March

A Westminster Life and a Writing Life: Chris Bryant interviewed by Provost David Isaac

17/03/24 – 2pm, Sheldonian Theatre

MP, former Anglican priest and writer Sir Chris Bryant talks about his life and why he is drawn to writing – including his two most recent books, Code of Conduct: Why We Need to Fix Parliament and How to Do It and James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder.

BUY TICKETS FOR CHRIS BRYANT & DAVID ISAAC

Wednesday 20 March

Impossible Office: The History of the British Prime Minister with Anthony Seldon

20/03/24 – 10am, Lincoln College

Historian of Number 10 Downing Street Sir Anthony Seldon (1973, PPE & Honorary Fellow) explains why the office of UK prime minister has endured longer than any other democratic political office in the world.

BUY TICKETS FOR ANTHONY SELDON

Johnson at 10: Anthony Seldon interviewed by Simon McDonald

20/03/24 – 2pm, Pusey House Chapel

Sir Anthony Seldon (1973, PPE & Honorary Fellow) talks to Lord McDonald of Salford, former permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, about his bestselling book on Boris Johnson’s period as prime minister during one of the most turbulent times in modern British history.

BUY TICKETS FOR ANTHONY SELDON & SIMON MCDONALD

The Inequality of Wealth: Why it Matters and How to Fix It: Liam Byrne interviewed by Provost David Isaac

20/03/24 – 4pm, Lincoln College

Former Labour Treasury minister Liam Byrne MP warns that inequality of wealth threatens our society, economy and politics and sets out a plan to rebuild a wealth-owning democracy.

BUY TICKETS FOR LIAM BYRNE & DAVID ISAAC

Saturday 23 March

BBC World Service – Forward Thinking: Why We Need More Diversity in Space with Jocelyn Bell Burnell

23/03/24 – 10.45am, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was overlooked for a Nobel Prize for a discovery she made – instead it went to her male boss. She has been a campaigner for greater access and recognition for women in science for 50 years. For us she will also consider ways of increasing global participation on prestige space science projects.

Book free tickets for this BBC World Service recording

BBC World Service – Forward Thinking: Can Veganism Feed the World? with Gary Francione and Ron Weiss

23/03/24 – 1.45pm, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Professor Gary Francione is a lawyer and advocate of animal rights and veganism. Dr Ron Weiss is a doctor and nutritionist. They consider whether veganism is a way to feed to world. While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it’s a massive cultural leap for many, and there are also downsides like the growth of the unhealthy processed vegan food industry. However, low and no-meat diets are generally better for us and people have lived on them around the world for centuries.

Book free tickets for this BBC World Service recording

Sunday 24 March

BBC World Service – Forward Thinking: Who Wants to Live Forever? with Venki Ramakrishnan

24/03/24 – 10.45am, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Scientific advance means we are tackling diseases that were seen as incurable just a few years ago. But if this means we can live longer, is it ethical to do so? The Nobel prize-winning scientist Professor Sir Venki Ramakrishnan outlines incredible advances in our understanding of the aging process and the medical science now capable of halting and reversing changes.

Book free tickets for this BBC World Service recording

BBC World Service – Forward Thinking: Can Feminism Fix the Internet? with Kerry McInerney

24/03/24 – 1.45pm, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Tech companies dominate the planet, with social media an all-pervasive source of unchecked and often inflammatory information. Solutions to these problems tend to be technical, workarounds designed by predominantly male techies. Research fellow Dr Kerry McInerney argues that wider society needs to be involved. It might be unfashionable, but as the web is an amplifier of many pre-existing societal issues, how about listening to the organisations that deal with those?

Book free tickets for this BBC World Service recording

How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History: Josephine Quinn interviewed by Peter Frankopan

24/03/24 – 2pm, Sheldonian Theatre

Professor Josephine Quinn (Fellow & Tutor in Ancient History) launches her new book, How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History, in which she argues that Western civilisation was built on a set of values that stretch far wider than the classical world of Greece and Rome. She talks to Professor Peter Frankopan, Worcester’s Senior Research Fellow, Professor of Global History, and author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World.

BUY TICKETS FOR JOSEPHINE QUINN & PETER FRANKOPAN

Library tours

Worcester’s Librarian, Mark Bainbridge, invites you to explore the College’s eighteenth-century library and its special collections. These collections are of special importance for the study of the English Civil War and Interregnum and not only preserve the text of the Putney Debates, but also hold the William Clarke collection of 7,000 pamphlets and notebooks from the Civil War period. Another strength is the history of architecture. Visitors will see not only books, but also drawings by Inigo Jones, Nicholas Hawksmoor and others.

Tuesday 19 March at 11am Tuesday 19 March at 3pm Wednesday 20 March at 11am Wednesday 20 March at 3pm