Oxford author will be star turn at festival (From Witney Gazette)

Oxford author will be star turn at festival

7:00am Friday 23rd February 2007

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THOUSANDS of book lovers will be heading to Oxford next month for the city's annual literary festival.

Highlights this year will include an appearance by Oxford author Philip Pullman, who will be talking about how his prize-winning book Northern Lights has been turned into a film starring Nicole Kidman.

And visitors are promised an early glimpse of Lyra and the main characters in the eagerly awaited film, The Golden Compass.

It is hoped that exclusive sneak preview of scenes can be shown. Some of the scenes were filmed in Christ Church, where the festival is based.

Other big names appearing at the six-day festival will include Jeremy Paxman who will be discussing the monarchy, Richard Dawkins, the best-selling Oxford scientist, and combative atheist Richard Dawkins, who will be discussing his new book The God Delusion, with Rod Liddle and Joan Bakewell.

Some 160 different events are scheduled for the festival, which will run from Tuesday, March 20, to Sunday, March 25.

The Oxford Times will once again be among the festival sponsors.

The week will be launched with a literary dinner with crime novelist PD James and television don and historian David Starkey in Christ Church's Tudor dining hall. Novelists taking part this year include Sarah Waters, Rachel Seiffert, Edna O'Brien, A.L. Kennedy and Salley Vickers.

Comedian Griff Rhys Jones will be speaking, along with punctuation pedant Lynne Truss, travel writer Colin Thubron and biographers Antonia Fraser, John Julius Norwich and Claire Tomalin. For children, highlights will include the chance to meet Anthony Horowitz, the author of the phenomenally successful Stormbreaker books, while every schoolgirl's favourite writer, Jacqueline Wilson, will be reading from new work.

Local writer Geraldine McCaughrean will also talk about her acclaimed sequel to Peter Pan and the challenges of following in the footsteps of JM Barrie.

Other celebrated speakers include Iain Banks, Simon Callow, Nick Cohen, Jim Crace, Sophie Grigson, Maggi Hambling, Joanne Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Will Hutton, poet Andrew Motion and actress Janet Suzman.

This year promises a plethora of panel events covering subjects as diverse as 'The Garden as a Work of Art', 'Changing Childhood', 'American Executions' and 'Guantanamo and Climate Change'.

In addition, BBC Radio 4 will be recording an edition of its literary panel game, The Write Stuff.

Last year, the event attracted more than 30,000 people, with 3,000 youngsters attending the free events for children.

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