New College Festival 2025

This year's book festival kicked off with Biblical Time Machine podcast co-hosts Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Professor Helen Bond. Both speakers took us on a journey through time, exploring Lloyd's most recent book ‘The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt’ as well as looking at his forthcoming book, 'Babylon: the Mother of All Cities'.

Progressing into the afternoon, we were able to welcome Abi Millar in conversation with her sister, our very own Dr Suzanna Millar, as they focused on the ever-present topic of what spirituality looks like in the modern world. Abi's book, 'The Spirituality Gap' asks how people might embrace ritual and spirituality even if they are wary of religion.

As the sun started to set, we welcomed Mustafa Briggs back to New College after his popular 2022 appearance, this time to speak about his highly anticipated book ‘Islam & The Making of The Modern World’. Speaking with Dr Shadaab Rahemtulla, Briggs explored the legacy of Muslim civilizations on science, culture, trade, and politics across the world, and the importance of highlighting these interconnected histories in order to resist Eurocentric accounts.

We closed out the first day of the festival by welcoming Shannon Vallor to speak on the endlessly fascinating and daunting topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Vallor joined Professor Jeremy Carrette to discuss her astounding book 'The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking', and the range of moral and ethical questions connected to this topic.

We opened the second day of New College Festival of Books and Belief with a festival first: our very own Creative Writing Workshop. 20 people were welcomed into the Rainy Hall for this workshop guided by author, theologian and poet Liz MacWhirter. Attendees were able to work towards a poem, prose, a manifesto, lament or prayer; aiming to use language as an act of self-care, resistance and hope. MacWhirter then returned in the afternoon for an engaging conversation with fellow poet Jane McKie and a performance of her beautiful long prose poem ‘Blue: A Lament for the Sea’.

The afternoon also saw readings and discussions with author and poet Nadine Aisha Jassat, who spoke with Prof Emma Wild-Wood about a heritage that can only be told in stories. Jassat’s storytelling has been described in the Guardian as ‘enchanting’ as it transcends boundaries and allows young people to see themselves on the page.

Our last speaker of the day was Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, who spoke with Dr Benjamin Bateman about her award-winning début novel 'Ordinary Saints'. Attendees were invited to explore identity, belief and human connection as Ní Mhaoileoin focused on how we can be remembered and who we will become, drawing on her own experiences having grown up in a devout Catholic household in Ireland.