Weinrebe Lecture: Richard Ovenden in Conversation with Hermione Lee
A Joint Event with the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing and the Friends of the Bodleian Library

Join us for a conversation between Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, and renowned biographer Hermione Lee. Hermione will talk to Richard about his life and profession, his education and his roots, his passion for books, his experience in libraries and archives, his relationship with the Bodleian Library and his views about the future of books and archives.

About the Speakers

Richard Ovenden is the Bodley’s Librarian at the University of Oxford, where he oversees the Bodleian Libraries, one of the world’s most significant and comprehensive library collections. He has led initiatives to preserve and protect the institution’s collections and has been a prominent advocate for the digitisation and accessibility of library resources. Ovenden is an expert in archives, their preservation, and the evolving challenges faced by libraries in the digital age. His works include Archive Fever: A Liberating History of the Archive (2019), which explores the vital role of archives in contemporary society, and Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge (2021), which examines the history of intellectual destruction, from the burning of the Library of Alexandria to the destruction of books in more recent conflicts. He has served on various national and international advisory boards dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage and the future of libraries. Ovenden is a passionate advocate for free access to information and the protection of digital resources, regularly speaking on the importance of preserving the integrity of knowledge in the face of technological advances. He has been instrumental in several high-profile initiatives for the Bodleian, including the establishment of the Oxford University Press Archive and the continued expansion of the Bodleian’s digital archives.

Hermione Lee was President of Wolfson College from 2008 to 2017 and is Emeritus Professor of English Literature in the English Faculty at Oxford University. She is a biographer and critic whose work includes biographies of Virginia Woolf (1996), Edith Wharton (2006), Penelope Fitzgerald (2013), and Tom Stoppard (2020). She has also written books on Elizabeth Bowen, Philip Roth, and Willa Cather, an OUP Very Short Introduction to Biography, and a collection of essays on life-writing, Body Parts. She was awarded the Biographers’ Club Prize for Exceptional Contribution to Biography in 2018. From 1998 to 2008, she was the Goldsmiths’ Professor of English Literature at Oxford. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature, and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023 she was made GBE for services to English Literature. She founded OCLW at Wolfson College in 2011. She is currently working on a biography of Anita Brookner.

This is a free event that is open to all. Registration is required. This event will be recorded and will be available soon after.

After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception and purchase a copy of Richard Ovenden’s Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge (2021) from the Caper (@caperoxford) pop-up bookshop.