Lectures & Talks

The Summer School offers three days of one-hour lectures and 10-minute talks delivered by the leading experts in the field; the programme combines a series of academic talks with a panel discussion on publishing as well as two talks given by the fantasy writers (for further information, see Bloomsbury Afternoon).

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Bloomsbury Afternoon

On Wednesday the Summer School will host a Bloomsbury Afternoon with Bloomsbury Publishing about the ever-evolving landscape of fantasy fiction.

Introduced by Nigel Newton CBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, the afternoon will start with a conversation between Zoe Gilbert (chair; Bloomsbury author and academic), Vicky Leech Mateos (Bloomsbury Editorial Director, specialising in fantasy fiction), Safae El-Ouahab (Associate Literary Agent at Rogers, Coleridge, and White), Lucy Strong (Bloomsbury Academic Editor for Literary Studies and Creative Writing), and Rebecca McNally (Bloomsbury Publishing Director & Editor in Chief, specialising in children's literature).

The publishing panel will be followed by talks (Q&A) by fantasy authors Katherine Rundell (Impossible Creatures, Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, etc.) and Oxford alumna Samantha Shannon (The Bone Season series, The Roots of Chaos cycle).

Academic Talks

The academic speakers include Professor Mark Atherton, Professor Ros Ballaster, Professor Simon Horobin, Grace Khuri, Professor Carolyne Larrington, Megan Laybourne, Professor Stuart Lee, Professor Robert Maslen, Professor Guiseppe Pezzini, Professor Adam Roberts, Dr Gabriel Schenk, Dr Theresa Specht, Dr Felix Taylor, Dr Minjie Su, and Dr Helen Young.

They will give talks on a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to history and future of the genre, theoretical background, Classical and medieval influences, myths, legend, fairy-tales, nineteenth-century fantasy, Oxford school of fantasy, weird fiction, twentieth-century fantasy writers, Game of Thrones, gaming, manga, prequels & sequels.