Master's in Creative Writing

Welcome to Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing blog, a resource for Oxford events, calls for submission, competitions, news and interviews where you can keep in touch with our community of tutors and alumni.

Month: February 2013

  • MSt tutor Jane Draycott in Poetry & Medicine, 4 Mar 2013, London

    “exploring the rich connections between poetry, medicine and health, featuring acclaimed poets John Burnside, Jo Shapcott and Jane Draycott.”

    Tickets are £9.50 online at the Kings Place website or £11.50 at the Kings Place box office on 020 7520 1490

    Venue:
    Hall One at Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG
    Doors open 6.30pm, event begins at 7pm.

    The event is a partnership between Poet in the City, and Medicine Unboxed, which is curated by Dr. Sam Guglani, consultant in clinical oncology at Cheltenham General Hospital and Hereford County Hospital (and doing the MSt at Oxford).

  • Mst alumnus James Benmore at the Historical Fiction Festival, Sunday 14th April 2013, Edinburgh

    MSt alumnus James Benmore will be taking part in a Historical Fiction Festival on Sunday 14th April at Summerhall in Edinburgh. He will be talking about Dickens with the author Ronald Frame, who has recently published a novel called “Havisham” about the Great Expectations character.
    James’ book Dodger, about the adventures of the Artful Dodger, comes out in April. For more information about the fiction festival see http://www.historicfictionfest.com/dickens-updated/

    To pre-order copies of James’ book, contact your local bookshop or go to Amazon.

  • Poets for PEN, Oxford. 2nd March 2013

    Saturday 2nd March, 2013, 7.00pm
    New College Cellar Bar
    Suggested donation £2 

    Hosted by Oxford Student PEN

    Featuring poets, Luke Kennard, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and David Sergeant and  poems by imprisoned Cameroonian poet, Enoh Meyomesse.

  • MSt staff and alumnus at Blackwell’s Literary Rising Stars: Part III, Tues Apr 6, Oxford

    An evening with three of Oxford’s Rising Literary Stars. With MSt alumnus Prajwal Parajuly, MSt tutor Sam Thompson, and Patrick McGuinness.

    The three authors will be in conversation with Dr. Clare Morgan, Director of the MSt.

    Tickets: £3 (available from  Customer Service Department, Blackwell’s Bookshop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford. Telephone: 01865 333623).

  • Yeovil Literary Prize 2013, Prose and Poetry. Closing date 31 May 2013.

    There are three categories:

    The novel:  Short list judge Tracy Chevalier
    Synopsis and opening chapters (up to 15,000 words in total)
    Entry fee – £11 for each novel submitted

    The short story:  Short list judge Julia Churchill, The Greenhouse Literary Agency
    Up to a maximum of 2,000 words.
    Entry fee – £6 for each short story submitted

    Poetry: Judge Neil Astley, Editor and MD Bloodaxe Books
    A poem with a maximum of 40 lines.
    Entry fee – £6 for one poem, £9 for two, £11 for three

    Closing date:  31st May 2013, 23:59

    Full information and details at www.yeovilprize.co.uk

    (Postal address:  Yeovil Literary Prize, The Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil, BA20 1UX)

  • Cheshire Prize for Literature (poetry). Closing date 1st September 2013.

    The 2013 Cheshire Prize for literature has now opened. The prize is for poetry.

    Note that this open only to writers with a Cheshire connection:

    “The writer must have been born, live or have lived, study or have studied, work or have worked, in Cheshire. For the purposes of the Prize, Cheshire is deemed to include the Wirral, as well as Warrington and Halton. Documentary evidence of eligibility may be required.”

    Closing date 1st September 2013.
    For details see http://www.chester.ac.uk/literatureprize

  • MSt Alumnus James Benmore’s novel “Dodger” out on 11 April 2013

    MSt alumnus James Benmore’s  novel Dodger, an amusing novel about the life and (mis)adventures of the Artful Dodger (from Dickens’ Oliver Twist) after he returns from deportation to Australia, will be published on 11 April 2013 by Heron Books.

    Available at all good bookshops. More information at the book at the Heron Books website.

  • Clare Morgan, Director of the MSt, “The Ruffian in the Market Place” at the Oxford Literary Festival, 21 Mar 2013

    Clare Morgan (Director, MSt) and Susan Sellers (Professor, English, St Andrew’s University) on

    The Ruffian in the Market Place: What Do We Read Fiction For?

    “Drawing on literary predecessors as varied as Jane Austen, Henry Miller, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka and P. D. James, Morgan and Sellers will share with the audience the challenges, the solutions, and the excitements of writing such fiction, in relation to their own published and forthcoming work.”

    Thursday 21 March 2013, 4.00 pm

    Venue: Bodleian, Convocation HouseMore information at the Oxford Literary Festival event page.

  • MSt tutor George Szirtes: new work, 2012/13

    MSt tutor George Szirtes has several recent publications:

    Poetry

    Bad Machine (UK Bloodaxe, 2013)
    Bad Machine (UK Sheeps Meadow, 2013)

    Poems for Children

    In the Land of the Giants (Salt 2012)

    Translation

    Yudit Kiss: The Summer My Father Died (Telegram)
    László Krasznahorkai: Satantango (New Directions, US, TuskarRock, UK)

    Co-edited collection
    In Their Own Words: Contemporary Poets on the Poetry, co-edited with Helen
    Ivory (Salt, 2012)

  • MSt student Prajwal Parajuly’s short story collection: The Gurkha’s Daughter

    MSt student Prajwal Parajuly’s  The Gurkha’s Daughter: Stories (Quercus, 3 Jan 2013), a collection of stories about Gurkhas, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and the world, was number four on the Amazon “Hot New Releases” on 13 November 2012.

    Update: Prajwal will be reading at the Albion Beatnik Bookshop on 7th February 2013.

    The Lady describes his collection as

    “A collection of finely crafted, vibrant stories that focus on the minutiae of the life of the Nepalese community in their homeland and abroad. Stylistically reminiscent of Raymond Carver, while at the same time opening a door on to an unfamiliar world.”

    The Guardian review speaks of its “energetic play of perspectives” and reviews have appeared in a number of other newspapers and journals.

    Read an interview on Republica with Prajwal while he was doing his MSt.

    Prajwal’s book is available  in bookshops and on Amazon.