Here you can access details of events that have already taken place at OCLW. We have uploaded podcasts, photographs and reports for some events.
Academic Year 2011-2012
Trinity Term
19-21 April 2012
Organised by The European Network on the Theory and Practice of Biography. This is an invitation-only event.
Please note that OCLW was not responsible for the administration of this conference. View the conference programme, and information about attendance, by clicking here.
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Hilary Term
1pm, Tuesday 6 March (Week 8)
Haldane Room, Wolfson College
OCLW's Hilary Term was brought to a close with a Life-Writing Lunch, at which Dr Olivia Smith (St John's, Oxford) gave a talk about her work on John Locke, and Literature as an Object of Knowledge
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5.30pm, Tues 28 February
Haldane Room, Wolfson College
Biographers Daisy Hay (Young Romantics) and Pete Newbon (Children of the Romantics) gave generous, eloquent insights into their practice as biographers of groups of Romantic writers (in Daisy's case, the Shelleys, Byron, Keats and Leigh Hunt; in Pete's case, the children of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Charles Lamb). In stimulating talks, followed by a discussion, Daisy and Pete reflected on the particular challenges posed by exploring the lives of the Romantic poets, not as archetypal solitary geniuses, but as sociable beasts, deeply entangled in the ties of family and friends. This marked the end of this year's Weinrebe Lectures in Life-Writing; next year's series will be themed around 'Life-Writing and Portraiture'. We're excited already!
5.30pm, Tues 21 February
The Hall, Wolfson College
The British-Libyan author Hisham Matar marked the first publication of his work in his home country by describing to a packed audience at Wolfson College the 'existential crisis' at the heart of contemporary Libyan national identity, and the corresponding existential exile embedded in the life of the writer. You can read a full report of Hisham's talk - entitled 'The Closest Exit May be Behind You' - by clicking here. A podcast of the talk can be downloaded here.
5.30pm, Tues 14 February
The Hall, Wolfson College
The prize-winning author and memoirist Candia McWilliam delivered the third in the Weinrebe Series of Life-Writing Lectures, with a beautifully constructed talk, laden with metaphor, entitled 'Where may truth lie? Fiction in memory, memory in Fiction'. You can read a full report of Candia's talk by clicking here; and download a podcast of Candia's talk here.
5.30pm, Tues 7 February
The Hall, Wolfson College
The second in the series of OCLW's Weinrebe Lectures in Life-Writing was a lively and stimulating conversation between author Alan Hollinghurst and biographer (President of Wolfson College and director of OCLW) Hermione Lee, entitled 'What can I say? Secrets in Fiction and Biography'. You can read a report of the conversation by clicking here, and listen to a podcast of the conversation here.
5.30pm, Thurs 2 February 2012:
The Hall, Wolfson College
OCLW's Weinrebe Lectures in Life-Writing got off to a wonderful beginning with a lecture from renowned novelist and memoirist Michèle Roberts: '"Oh, you liar, you storyteller": On Fibbing, Fact and Fabulation'. Roberts' lecture offered a stimulating blend of moving personal accounts, and thought-provoking reflections on the theory of life-writing.
We are greatly looking forward to the rest of the lecture series! You can access the lecture programme here, or download it as a PDF file here. Listen to a podcast of the talk here.
Michaelmas Term
1-2pm, Tuesday 29 November (Week 8)
Wolfson College, Oxford.
OCLW's Research Fellow, Dr Rachel Hewitt, kicked off our termly series of lunchtime seminars, the Life-Writing Lunch. Rachel spoke about her research on the early history of Britain's mapping agency, the Ordnance Survey, which
she published in October 2010 in her book Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey. Rachel considered the unexpected benefits of considering her book as a 'biography' of the OS, describing how close attention to the lives, preoccupations and connections of its chief personnel led her to surprising conclusions regarding the OS's identity and purpose.
6pm, Tuesday 15 November (Week 6)
Wolfson College, Oxford
The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing was officially launched with an inaugural lecture by Professor Michael Wood (Princeton), entitled 'All About my Mother: Reading Proust's Letters'. This was followed by a launch party. The evening was a wonderful start to the Centre!
Read a report of the evening and of Professor Wood's lecture. A podcast of Professor Wood's lecture is available here.
6pm, Tuesday 25 October (Week 3)
Lincoln's Inn, London
Professor Hermione Lee gave a lecture entitled ‘“From Memory”: Isaiah Berlin, Literary Encounters and Life-Stories’
Read an account of the evening and access a podcast of Hermione's talk here.
