Featured Events in Oxford in July 2025 (May Updated)

We can't wait to welcome Cory Doctorow to Blackwell's to discuss his latest novel PICKS AND SHOVELS and his wider work as an author and activist. Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. About the book: Enshittification was a choice. The decay of the once-great internet into five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four, was a choice. Policy choices that sidelined privacy and labor protection and ignored monopolisaiton created the enshitternet. In PICKS AND SHOVELS, Cory Doctorow visits the moment those first choices were being made, in a historical technothriller that takes us back to the heroic era of the PC revolution and the moment where it all started to go wrong. Picks and Shovels stars Martin Hench, Doctorow's hard-charging, two-fisted high-tech forensic accountant. It's a standalone novel in a series that includes the bestselling novels Red Team Blues and The Bezzle, In this volume, we learn the origin story of Silicon Valley's first - and best - finance-crime fighting spreadsheet sleuth, born in fraud and fire. About the author: Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently PICKS AND SHOVELS and THE BEZZLE (followups to RED TEAM BLUES) and THE LOST CAUSE, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. He famously coined the term enshittification to describe the reduction in the quality of services provided (see: Google) as a consequence of profit-seeking. Tickets are £4.00. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of a book, please email events.manchester@blackwell.co.uk or call us on 0161 274 3331. Our event format is usually a 45 minute talk or discussion followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new. Support your local bookshop and help us keep the Manchester literary scene vibrant and exciting. You can follow us on Eventbrite and social media (@BlackwellsMCR) to keep up to date on upcoming events. Information Source: Blackwell's Manchester | eventbrite

Alice in Wonderland Festival is usually celebrated on the first Saturday in July each year. Join venues across Oxford including the Oxford Museum, the History of Science Museum, Oxford Botanic Gardens, Weston Library, Alice Shop and the Story Museum for a variety of activities including theatre, puppetry, crafts, adventures, dance, games, talks and more to celebrate one of literature and Oxford's best-loved storytelling heroes.

Through the expansive finding of fossils and development of new techniques and methods, the 19th century transformed our understanding of the history of Earth. Breaking Ground explores these themes through William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist, and Mary Buckland (née Morland), a scientific illustrator, the couple at the heart of this exhibition. They both helped to establish new scientific methods and ideas, which led to fascinating discoveries in palaeontology, including the first ever dinosaur to be named to science.

Through the expansive finding of fossils and development of new techniques and methods, the 19th century transformed our understanding of the history of Earth. Breaking Ground explores these themes through William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist, and Mary Buckland (née Morland), a scientific illustrator, the couple at the heart of this exhibition. They both helped to establish new scientific methods and ideas, which led to fascinating discoveries in palaeontology, including the first ever dinosaur to be named to science.

Through the expansive finding of fossils and development of new techniques and methods, the 19th century transformed our understanding of the history of Earth. Breaking Ground explores these themes through William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist, and Mary Buckland (née Morland), a scientific illustrator, the couple at the heart of this exhibition. They both helped to establish new scientific methods and ideas, which led to fascinating discoveries in palaeontology, including the first ever dinosaur to be named to science.

We're are thrilled to welcome Julia Armfield back to Blackwell's for the paperback publication of Private Rites, an uneasy, water-logged tale of family, queer love and faith at the end of the world. Julia will be in conversation with Jess White. Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. About the book: It's been raining for a long time now, for so long that the lands have reshaped themselves. Old places have been lost. Arcane rituals and religions have crept back into practice. Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes have not spoken in some time when their estranged father dies. A famous architect revered for making the new world navigable, he had long cut himself off from public life. They find themselves uncertain of how to grieve his passing when everything around them seems to be ending anyway. As the sisters come together to clear the grand glass house that is the pinnacle of his legacy, they begin to sense that the magnetic influence of their father lives on through it. Something sinister seems to be unfolding, something related to their mother's long-ago disappearance and the strangers who have always been unusually interested in their lives. Soon, it becomes clear that the sisters have been chosen for a very particular purpose, one with shattering implications for their family and their imperilled world. About the author: Julia Armfield is a fiction writer, living in London with her wife and cat. Her work has been published in Granta, The White Review and Best British Short Stories 2019 and 2021. In 2019, she was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award. She was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Award 2018, and won the White Review Short Story Prize 2018 and a Pushcart Prize in 2020. She is the author of salt slow, a collection of short stories, which was longlisted for the Polari Prize 2020 and the Edge Hill Prize 2020. Her debut novel, Our Wives Under The Sea, was shortlisted for the Foyles Fiction Book of the Year Award 2022 and won the Polari Prize 2023. Her second novel, Private Rites, was longlisted for the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize in 2024. Tickets are £4.00. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of a book, please email events.manchester@blackwell.co.uk or call us on 0161 274 3331. Our event format is usually a 45 minute discussion between the author and interviewer, followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new. Support your local bookshop and help us keep the Manchester literary scene vibrant and exciting. You can follow us on Eventbrite and social media (@BlackwellsMCR) to keep up to date on upcoming events. Information Source: Blackwell's Manchester | eventbrite

Alice in Wonderland Festival is usually celebrated on the first Saturday in July each year. Join venues across Oxford including the Oxford Museum, the History of Science Museum, Oxford Botanic Gardens, Weston Library, Alice Shop and the Story Museum for a variety of activities including theatre, puppetry, crafts, adventures, dance, games, talks and more to celebrate one of literature and Oxford's best-loved storytelling heroes.

Alice in Wonderland Festival is usually celebrated on the first Saturday in July each year. Join venues across Oxford including the Oxford Museum, the History of Science Museum, Oxford Botanic Gardens, Weston Library, Alice Shop and the Story Museum for a variety of activities including theatre, puppetry, crafts, adventures, dance, games, talks and more to celebrate one of literature and Oxford's best-loved storytelling heroes.

Did someone say Bailey J Mills in London? And during Pride? Extravaganza Eventz is back with another unmissable evening, and this time, we’re bringing the one and only Bailey J Mills to Oxford House Theatre, London for a summer pride extravaganza! 📅 Date: Saturday 6th July ⏰ Time: From 6 PM till late 📍 Venue: Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, E2 6HG 🚨 Important Information: Unreserved seatingNo Refunds- all ticket sales are final - Please email directly for any extenuating circumstances.🚆 Closest Stations: Bethnal Green- Central Line See you there huns! xoxoxoxox Information Source: ExtravagnzaEventz | eventbrite

Men in Love There wasn’t an album they wouldn’t buy, or a drug they wouldn’t try. Then it spiralled out of control . . . They were left with nothing. Nothing but the eternal quest of all men: the search for love. Opening in the late 1980s as rave culture is born and moving into the 1990s, Men In Love reunites the Trainspotting crew for a riotous new journey. Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie leave heroin behind and seek joy, and the hope of redemption, on the dance floor. Each wants to feel alive in the closing years of Thatcher’s Britain, and they fill their days with sex and romance and trying to get ahead. Taking in Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam and Paris, the group charges towards an unexpected event: Sick Boy’s wedding day. But is falling in love the answer, or just another doomed quest? Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel,Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written thirteen further novels, including the number one bestsellerDead Men’s Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays.Crime andThe Long Knives have been adapted into a television series starring Dougray Scott as Ray Lennox. 'Men in Love' follows on directly after the end of 'Trainspotting' and before 2002's 'Porno' Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami. John Niven John Nivenis a Scottish author and screenwriter. His books include Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, and The Second Coming. Kill Your Friends was once labelled by The Word magazine as possibly the best British Novel since Trainspotting . Information Source: Blackwell's, Broad Street Oxford | eventbrite

We are delighted to welcome Jenn Ashworth back to the shop for the Manchester launch of her latest work, The Parallel Path. Jenn will be in conversation with Helen Mort Doors: 6.30pm, starts: 6.45pm Tickets are £4. Admission is free when purchasing a copy the book. About the book: Burnt out and longing for an escape, Jenn Ashworth emerged from lockdown with a compulsive need to walk - and to walk away. Armed with little more than the knowledge imparted by a two-day orienteering course and a set of maps, she embarked on the most epic of English walks: Wainwright's Coast to Coast. Guided not just by Wainwright's writing but also by daily letters from her friend Clive - facing an epic journey of his own - Jenn's pilgrimage soon becomes more than just walking: a chance to reconnect and excavate, to re-engage with the act of caring for others and for oneself. But the walk's tricky terrain is not the only thing standing in Jenn's way. As days go by, her balance begins to fail her and the act of putting one foot in front the other becomes a new exercise in caution. When a vicious heatwave forces her to pause her expedition and gives her an opportunity to investigate the new limitations of her body, Jenn is confronted with a life-altering diagnosis - and a new path of self-discovery. About the author: Jenn Ashworth was born in Preston and studied at Cambridge and Manchester. Her novels include A Kind of Intimacy, The Friday Gospels and Fell. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018. In 2019 she published Notes Made While Falling, a memoir told in a series of essays, followed by the novel is Ghosted: A Love Story which was Shortlisted for the Portico Prize in 2022. She is a Professor of Writing at Lancaster University. Tickets are £4.00. Admission is free when purchasing a copy of the book. If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of the book, please email events.manchester@blackwell.co.uk or call us on 0161 274 3331. Our event format is usually a 45 minute discussion between the author and interviewer, followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new. Support your local bookshop and help us keep the Manchester literary scene vibrant and exciting. You can follow us on Eventbrite and social media (@BlackwellsMCR) to keep up to date on upcoming events. Information Source: Blackwell's Manchester | eventbrite

Men in Love There wasn’t an album they wouldn’t buy, or a drug they wouldn’t try. Then it spiralled out of control . . . They were left with nothing. Nothing but the eternal quest of all men: the search for love. Opening in the late 1980s as rave culture is born and moving into the 1990s, Men In Love reunites the Trainspotting crew for a riotous new journey. Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie leave heroin behind and seek joy, and the hope of redemption, on the dance floor. Each wants to feel alive in the closing years of Thatcher’s Britain, and they fill their days with sex and romance and trying to get ahead. Taking in Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam and Paris, the group charges towards an unexpected event: Sick Boy’s wedding day. But is falling in love the answer, or just another doomed quest? Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel,Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written thirteen further novels, including the number one bestsellerDead Men’s Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays.Crime andThe Long Knives have been adapted into a television series starring Dougray Scott as Ray Lennox. 'Men in Love' follows on directly after the end of 'Trainspotting' and before 2002's 'Porno' Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami. Information Source: Blackwell's, Broad Street Oxford | eventbrite

My daughter has attended many of the holiday workshops run by Flintlock – they are always great fun and she has enjoyed every minute. Alison, Holiday Course Parent There is no charge at the point of booking. We will issue you an invoice by email 2-4 weeks before the start date of the course. Payment is due 14 days before the course start date. Information Source: Flintlock Theatre | eventbrite

My daughter has attended many of the holiday workshops run by Flintlock – they are always great fun and she has enjoyed every minute. Alison, Holiday Course Parent There is no charge at the point of booking (i.e. no deposit required) and we will issue an invoice 2-4 weeks before the course. Payments are due 14 days before the course start date, or at the time of booking if booked after this. Information Source: Flintlock Theatre | eventbrite

Ready to flex your funny? Improv Gym is a new single class for those with some improv experience, and is all about getting those comedy reps in. Each class, we’ll spotlight a focus area—because even comedy needs a workout plan. Whether it’s mastering the art of the unexpected or owning your character’s quirks, we’ll sculpt your skills and build your improv confidence. So, grab your imaginary dumbbells and get ready to flex your funny. ​ This is for improvisers who have completed the equivalent to an Improv 101 course. This is a workshop for adults. This event is being held at The Community Works. Please enter via Beckett Street, which is also a wheelchair accessible entrance. If you are looking at Park End Street, Beckett Street is on the right-hand side by Dominos. What3Words: https://w3w.co/bolts.pots.fills Video directions are available (with photos) at the following link: https://youtube.com/shorts/NZx_Et3XXaU Upcoming Themes: 30th July 2025: Physicality to inspire characters Information Source: Three Things Theatre | eventbrite