Dictionary People with Sarah Ogilvie

Discover the explorers, suffragists, murderers, members of The London Library, and ordinary citizens who helped to create the Oxford English Dictionary.

Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie has dug deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED, tracing the lives of thousands of contributors whose work still defines the English language as we know it today.

Sarah is a renowned linguist and writer, currently teaching at Oxford University. Dictionary People: The Unsing Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 2023 and longlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Nonfiction.

This is a London Library Founders’ Circle event. If you would like to become a Patron, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.