This is a text-only version of an article first published on Monday, 14 December 2015. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
THE third Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature takes place from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 February 2016.
The Festival - described as a "literary festival with a theological slant" - is sponsored by the Church Times and takes place in the North Oxfordshire village of Bloxham, just outside Banbury. For 2016 the festival has a Shakespearean theme reflecting the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death.
The festival contains its usual programme of talks, panel discussions, music and drama.
Speakers on Shakespearean items include the Revd Dr Paul Edmondson, who is Head of Research and Knowledge for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, as well as being a self-supporting priest near Stratford upon Avon; and the leading Shakespeare expert, Professor Stanley Wells.
Meanwhile Professor Alison Shell will be talking about Shakespeare and Religion. Other speakers include the distinguished retired judge, Baroness Butler-Sloss talking about mercy; Professor David Wilkinson on astronomy, and also prayer; and well known broadcaster and former 1980s pop icon the Revd Richard Coles will be speaking about the latest instalment of his autobiography. The Revd Judith Maltby, Chaplain and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, will be introducing her new project, a collection of essays about Anglican women novelists, with some of the contributors talking about their favourite novelists.
Meanwhile, the shortlist for the Michael Ramsey Prize - celebrating the most promising contemporary theological writing from across the globe - will be announced at the Festival, and the judges will reveal how they made their choices. Novelists speaking at the festival include Michel Faber, author of The Book of Strange New Things and The Crimson Petal and the White; Salley Vickers and Catherine Fox.
Also in the line-up are the former Bishops of Oxford and Reading.
Bishop John will be interviewing speakers, and Bishop Stephen will be reflecting on the Psalms.
Musical entertainment will be provided by the North Cotswold Chamber Choir, and the Shakespeare Revue Company. On the Sunday, after a Festival Eucharist at St Mary's Banbury, the Archdeacon of Oxford, the Ven.
Martin Gorick, will take a walking tour around Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was previously Vicar of Shakespeare's church. Tickets are already selling fast, so to avoid disappointment, please book early.
For all the details click here or phone 0845 0176965.
Picture: Dave Walker