Events coming up

The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing promotes a lively cross-disciplinary dialogue on all aspects of life-writing through a busy programme of events including lectures, performances, panel discussions, conferences, seminars, and workshops, most of which are free and open to all.

To see what's coming up browse the events listings below. For regular notifications about our events, sign-up to our newsletter.

Many of our events are recorded - click through to listings under Past Events to watch or listen to these recordings. Recordings of events that have taken place since 2020 are also available on our YouTube channel. Additional recordings from the years before 2020 can be found in the Wolfson College recordings archive, and listed on Oxford University's podcasts page.

Custody, Care and Writing: Professor Lara Feigel in Conversation with Professor David Dwan

20 October

Weinrebe Lecture

Writing about Vanishing Cultures and Rarely Told Stories: Samantha Ellis on 'Chopping Onions on My Heart'

27 October

Vera Fine-Grodzinski Programme for Jewish Women's Voices Seminar

Anita Brookner, Zadie Smith, Peter Boxall, Hermione Lee

‘Anita Brookner and Zadie Smith: Art and Life’ Professor Dame Hermione Lee and Professor Peter Boxall in Conversation

30 October

Laura Marcus Life-Writing Workshop

Hermione Lee, Anita Brookner, Kate Kennedy

'Anita Brookner: Art & Life': A Biographical Conversation between Professor Dame Hermione Lee and Dr Kate Kennedy

03 November

Book Launch & OCLW Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration

Putting Myself into History: 'Red, Red Robin: My Long Goodbye to Home'. Professor Alison Light in Conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy

17 November

Book Launch

Evie Sutcliffe and Lochie Springett: The Many Forms of Modernist Life-Writing

20 November

Laura Marcus Life-Writing Workshop

A Masterclass with Literary Agent Emma Paterson

24 November

Global Majority & Underrepresented Writers' Programme

Dr Rachel Garfield, 'Jewish Women, Punk Feminism, and Art in the 1970s and 1980s'

01 December

The Vera Fine-Grodzinski Programme for Jewish Women's Voices Seminar

Past events

All-day Masterclass: Getting Published, with Katy Regan

25 September

Visiting Scholars End of Year Showcase

23 June

Yosef Wosk Visiting Scholars Programme

'The Backyard Bird Chronicles': Amy Tan and Professor Andrew Gosler in Conversation

10 June

Jeniam Conversations

A Story of Survival: Anne Sebba and Dr Kate Kennedy on 'The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz'

09 June

The Vera Fine-Grodzinski Programme for Jewish Women's Voices Seminar

Women's Life-Writing: From 'Feminine Writing' to Autofiction

05 June

Laura Marcus Life-Writing Workshop

Professor Karen Karbiener, '"Who wishes to walk with me?" Walt Whitman, Poet of Places'

02 June

Weinrebe Lecture in Collaboration with Arts of Place, University of Birmingham

'Part Fable, Part Porridge': Professor Jackie Kay and Professor Dame Hermione Lee on Writing the Self

29 May

Jeniam Conversations

Life-lines South and North: Professor Elleke Boehmer and Professor Dame Hermione Lee on 'Ice Shock' and 'Southern Imagining'

26 May

Book Launch

Paying Attention to the Wild: Chloe Dalton and Dr Charlie Lee-Potter on Nature and Life-Writing

22 May

Jeniam Conversations

Dan Glass, '"This is My Culture": A Masterclass on Life-Writing as Activism'

19 May

Global Majority & Underrepresented Writers' Programme Masterclass

Professor Rhodri Lewis, The Rules of the Game: Writing about Frank Kermode

15 May

Laura Marcus Life-Writing Workshop

Professor Kit de Waal in Conversation with Professor Elleke Boehmer

12 May

Global Majority & Underrepresented Writers' Programme, Friends of OCLW, OCLW Life-Writing Research Network, OCLW Visiting Scholars, and CWAR Fellows Event

Audio Archive

Life-Writing Day with the English Faculty

09 February 2019

Sir Thomas Allen in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy and pianist Simon Over

25 January 2019