Writing on travel and place will feature strongly at the Oxford Literary Festival (March 25 to April 2). Speakers include Bettany Hughes, author of Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities; Madeleine Bunting, author of Love of Country: A Hebridean Journey; George Manginis, author of Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims; the explorer John Blashford-Snell, talking about his life and career; Michael Haag, author of The Durrells of Corfu; the journalist Mike Thomson talking about The Raqqa Diaries, a young Syrian’s account of life under the savagery of Isis; Nicholas Jubber, author of The Timbuktu School for Nomads: Across the Sahara in the Shadow of Jihad; and the journalist William Chislett talking about British writers who have shaped our ideas of Spain.