The Oxford Literary Festival

The city of Oxford has been a popular location for fictional murders for nearly a century, the ancient university and its beautiful buildings also lending themselves to wonderful screen adaptations. Bestselling British novelist Cara Hunter—author of the DI Fawley series and Murder in the Family—talks us through some of her favourite crime novels set in the city of dreaming spires. (If you'd like to see Cara in person, she's speaking at two events at the Oxford Literary Festival on 16 March, 2024)

The golden age of mystery largely passed Russia by, but that doesn't mean there weren't some great crime novels produced over the last 150 years. Bestselling crime novelist Boris Akunin, who was born Grigory Chkhartishvili in Soviet Georgia and now lives in exile in London, recommends five Russian mysteries—great works of literature that happen to also have a crime at their heart.

Reading about wine may not be quite as fun as drinking it, but can help open up a world of history, geography, science and culture. The Financial Times's wine critic and daily writer on JancisRobinson.com, Jancis Robinson, picks the best books on wine.

The medieval era in Europe lasted a millennium and saw massive social change and technological innovation, as well as calamities like the Black Death. That makes it a great period for historical fiction, offering a glimpse of a past that was very different from our own lives, and yet can resonate with the present. Here Marion Turner, Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, recommends some of her favourite historical novels set in the Middle Ages and explains why she finds them so compelling.

In the years after William Shakespeare died, his plays took on a life of their own. They meant different things to different people at different times as they spread around the world, turning a glover's son from a one-horse town in central England into one of the best-known authors of all time. Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, recommends books to better understand 'Shakespeare reception'—the study of Shakespeare since his death.

The English chef who studied cooking in Sichuan tells us that there is no one Chinese cuisine, how Western perceptions of Chinese food are changing, and why carrots are called "barbarian radishes" in Mandarin

The likelihood that intelligent life would come to exist on Earth is so improbable, it's time to re-explore the idea of cosmic purpose, argues Philip Goff, a professor of philosophy at the University of Durham and the author of Why? The Purpose of the Universe. He recommends five books that cast doubt on our post-Darwinian worldview and help us consider the latest findings of science and philosophy more fully.

When it was published on December 19th, 1843, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol was an instant classic. Oxford Professor of English Literature Robert Douglas-Fairhurst runs through the best of Dickens's prolific writings about Christmas.

What does it mean to be a good parent and what influence do we have on children as they navigate the challenges of the 21st century? Philosopher Elizabeth Cripps, a senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, recommends books that shed light on some of the ethics of parenting, including one on how to raise kids who aren’t assholes.

It’s no longer enough for military history to be just about battles told from the winning side. One of the great military historians of our time, Sir Hew Strachan, talks us through what makes a great military history.