About this event
The Bodleian Libraries are pleased to announce a special event with Philip Pullman.
Eight years after Philip launched the first book in his The Book of Dust trilogy – La Belle Sauvage – at the Bodleian, we are delighted to host him again to celebrate the publication of The Rose Field, the
highly anticipated conclusion to the sequence.
Join us at the Weston Library to hear Philip Pullman in conversation with Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian, discussing The Rose Field, the trilogy, and his storytelling.
About The Rose Field
'When readers left Lyra in The Secret Commonwealth she was alone, in the ruins of a deserted city. Pantalaimon had run from her – part of himself – in search of her imagination, which he believed she had lost. Lyra travelled
across the world from her Oxford home in search of her dæmon. And Malcolm, loyal Malcolm, too journeyed far from home, towards the Silk Roads in search of Lyra...
In The Rose Field, their quests converge in the most dangerous, breathtaking and world-changing ways. They must take help from spies and thieves, gryphons and witches, old friends and new, learning all the while the depth
and surprising truths of the alethiometer. All around them, the world is aflame – made terrifying by fear, power and greed. As they move East, towards the red building that will reunite them and give them answers – on Dust, on
the special roses, on imagination – so too does the Magisterium, at war against all that Lyra holds dear.'
Marking 30 years since the world was first introduced to Pullman’s remarkable heroine Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights (1995), The Rose Field is the culmination of the cultural phenomenon of The Book of Dust and His Dark Materials.
Speakers
Philip Pullman is a renowned author and illustrator, recognised around the world for his fantastical storytelling for both children and adults. He began publishing fiction while working as a teacher in Summertown,
north Oxford, a job he left after the success of Northern Lights, the first book in his epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. Together, the trilogy and the first two volumes of The Book of Dust have sold more than 49 million copies in over 35 territories, and inspired adaptations across stage and screen. Pullman is the winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies, the Whitbread Award and
the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. In 2019 he was knighted for services to literature. He lives in Oxford.
Richard Ovenden is Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University of Oxford Libraries, as well as Head of Gardens, Libraries & Museums (GLAM), University of Oxford.
Event information
- Tickets for this event are £15 (general admission) or £5 (concessions, including students and Bodleian Libraries staff).
- Information on book signing and pre-signed copies will be available closer to the event date.
- This event takes place in person, in Blackwell Hall at the Weston Library. How to get here.
- The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible. More about accessibility at our site.
