Literary Links
Where to start? Literary links abound all over Oxfordshire, focused, of course, on Oxford, the setting and inspiration for literature of all kinds - poetry, novels, detective stories, fantasy, essays, translations, plays and children's stories.
Follow in the footsteps of your favourite author or character at these literary locations:
Christ Church College
Visit Christ Church's Great Hall and imagine yourself at Hogwarts.
See Christ Church college where the real Alice in Wonderland lived.Binsey
St. Margaret's well at Binsey, the model for Lewis Carroll's "Treacle Well" from Alice in Wonderland.Oxford Botanic Garden
Sit under Tolkien's favourite tree or on the bench where Philip Pullman's Will and Lyra vow to meet up.Magdalen College
Stroll round Magdalen College cloisters whose stone carved creatures perhaps inspired CS Lewis' Narnia.Oxford University Press Museum
Arrange a visit to the Oxford University Press museum to hear how the great King James Bible was produced and printed (2011 is its 400th anniversary). There will be an exhibition in the Bodleian Library during summer 2011.River Thames
Take a boat trip along the River Thames like Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat or Mole and Ratty in the Wind in the Willows.Cottisford to Juniper Hill
Walk from Cottisford to Juniper Hill, then maybe continue to Fringford to see the villages evoked in Flora Thompson's Larkrise to Candleford.Swinbrook Churchyard
Visit the graves of the Mitford sisters in Swinbrook churchyard - it's in a beautiful Cotswold village amid rolling green hills.Thames Path
Stroll along the Thames Path to William Morris' Cotswold home, the idyllic Kelmscott Manor and admire the embroideries, crafts and paintings on display.
To name but a few..
If Literary Links interest you, the Oxford Official Guided Walking Tours programme of Themed Tours are for you. Look out for the following, at intervals during the year: CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, Alice; Pottering in Harry's Footsteps, Oxford Children's Stories, Literary Tour, William Morris and Victorian Oxford. You can also book them as private tours.
Excellent guides to Oxford's Famous Faces and Oxford Rogues (some literary, some not) are available in our online shop, together with publications on Alice in Oxford, Alice in Waterland, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. The Oxford Town Trails series also has many literary trails to follow.
If you like to meet writers in the flesh then don't miss Oxford's Sunday Times Literary Festival and the Independent Woodstock Literary Festival.
You may also be interested in our literary itinerary which can be found on our suggested itineraries page, or the information sheet on Alice Liddell in Oxford.
