Oxford is a legendary place.  One of the world’s great universities, and the literary capital of England, rich with history, it has figured in more novels than I can count, including many classic works of fantasy.   Philip Pullman’s amazing trilogy HIS DARK MATERIAL is set there.  So is BABEL, OR THE NECESSITY FOR VIOLENCE, R.F. Kuang’s Nebula-winning bestseller.   It was the model for Hogwart’s in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and a lot of the Potter films were shot there.   And of course J.R.R. Tolkien lived and taught there.

Somehow I never made it there on any of my previous visits to the UK, but I was determined to not it miss it this time around.    When the Oxford Writers House invited me to join Pullman for a panel discussion on Writing Fantasy, I had to say yes.   I had never met Pullman … though I’m a huge fan of HIS DARK MATERIALS, with its daemons and armored bears.   (Armored bears!  So cool!!)    It would have been a thrill to share a platform with him.   I  also wanted to  pop into the Eagle & Child as well,  the pub where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and the Inklings got together to share a pint and talk about books.

Alas, it turned out that the Bird & Baby (as the Eagle & Child was nicknamed by the locals)  was closed for renovations.   And then Philip Pullman got ill, and had to cancel, so I was left to fend for myself.

Fortunately I have lots of practice with fending for myself.

Instead of panel, the event turned into an interview and booksigning.  We had a sold out crowd (about 450, they told me) lots of eager students and aspiring writers, and more questions than I could possibly answer if I had been there for a week instead of a day.    And beforehand I got a short tour of Oxford itself, which was just as magical as I thought it would be.   The library was astonishing, and they even showed me some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s working papers… including his first vision of Helm’s Deep, which he drew on the back of a student essay he was grading.

Oxford was kind enough to record the session, and upload it to YouTube.

After the questions, we moved to the side of the room  to sign books.   We had a wonderful group of fans and readers on hand.   Not all of them were Oxford students; we had people there from all over England, and some from across the Channel as well.   Several presented me with handwritten fan letters, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that.  The letters were heartfelt, thoughtful, and very knowledgeable about my work.   The sort of letters that Tolkien himself might have been moved by.

I had a wonderful time.  I only wish our visit had been longer.  Oxford was just as fascinating as I hoped it would be, and I could easily have spent days exploring it.   But the road goes ever on, and I had promises to keep, so the best we could do was spend the night, and then head off back to London…

But not before we made a stop on the outskirts of town, to visit the graveyard where Tolkien and his wife were laid to read.   I could not leave town without paying homage to the greatest fantasist of all time.

But I’ll save my thoughts about that for the next installment of my “travel blog.”

I hope I will be able to return to Oxford the next time I make it over to England.   There’s so much left to see.

Current Mood: pleased