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.

Category: Events

  • George Szirtes on translation at Kellogg College

    George Szirtes on translation at Kellogg College

    The latest event in the continuing seminar series at the Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing will feature distinguished poet and MSt tutor, George Szirtes.

    Foreign Man Speaks With Forked Tongue: on writing in one’s second language, translating from one’s first and what happens in between.

    George Szirtes was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to England with his family in 1956 as a refugee. He has won many prizes for his poetry, including  the Faber Prize, the T S Eliot Prize and The King’s Gold Medal for Poetry. He was jointly awarded the International Booker for his translations of Nobel prizewinner László Krasznahorkai. The Photographer at Sixteen (2019) is Szirtes’ memoir of his mother, which won the James Tate Black Memorial Prize. He has also written three books of poetry for children.

    Seminar Convenor: Dr Clare Morgan

    Mawby Room, Kellogg College, 62 Banbury Road

    5.00 pm (refreshments) for 5.30 pm

    https://www.kellogg.ox.ac.uk/kellogg-centres/centre-for-creative-writing/

    All are welcome and no bookings are necessary

  • Clare Morgan’s keynote speech in Ankara

    Clare Morgan’s keynote speech in Ankara

    Dr Clare Morgan, Director of the MSt in Creative Writing, will be giving a keynote speech at the 5th International Ankara Brand Meetings Event, held at the ATO Congresium 24-25 April 2026. 

    The main theme of this year’s event, organized by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, is “BRAIND”: Opening up discussions on new ways of thinking and technological transformation shaping the future of brands and institutions by focusing on the intersection of human intelligence and artificial intelligence.

    Dr Morgan will be speaking on Poetic Intelligence: The New Branding Frontier.

  • Chris Barkley at the Oxford Centre for Creative Writing

    Chris Barkley at the Oxford Centre for Creative Writing

    Award-winning novelist and MSt alumnus Chris Barkley will speak at the Oxford Centre for Creative Writing, Kellogg College on Wednesday, February 4th at 5pm. Please see full details below for this event:

    Creative Writing Seminar Series
    Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing
    Mawby Room, Kellogg College,
    62 Banbury Road
    5.00 pm (refreshments) for 5.30 pm


    Hilary Term Week 3:
    Wednesday 4th February 2026


    Chris Barkley
    Sharing a Mystery: The Science of Stories

    Chris Barkley’s debut novel, The Man on the Endless Stair was released in summer 2025 and
    was described in The Times as ‘An eerie, deeply atmospheric tale of hidden treasure and
    trauma.’ He was appointed Writer in Residence by the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2022 and
    has won the Oxford University Kellogg Writing Competition as well as the Bedford
    International Writing Prize. He achieved a distinction on the MSt in Creative Writing at the
    University of Oxford and has taught creative writing at Yale. Edinburgh is where he stays.


    Seminar Convenor: Dr Clare Morgan


    https://www.kellogg.ox.ac.uk/kellogg-centres/centre-for-creative-writing/

    All are welcome and no bookings are necessary

  • The Papers School Inaugural Poetry Chapbook Prize

    The Papers School Inaugural Poetry Chapbook Prize

    Submissions are open until the 20th of February 2026. Judged by Jenny Lewis, tutor of poetry at the University of Oxford.

  • Ingrid Persaud nominated for the Encore Award

    We are delighted to learn that MSt tutor Ingrid Persaud has been nominated for the RSL Encore Award for her novel The Lost Love Songs Of Boysie Singh. Awarded to an exceptional second novel, past winners of the Encore include Sally Rooney, Ali Smith and Anne Enright – it’s a fantastic predictor of literary careers, and a major achievement to be nominated.

  • MSt alum Bette Adriaanse’s new novel, What’s Mine, is coming out with US publisher Unnamed Press this August.

    MSt alum Bette Adriaanse’s new novel, What’s Mine, is coming out with US publisher Unnamed Press this August.

     

    There will be several launch events, as follows:

    AUGUST 15, 6PM UK time, ONLINE: Bette joins Caoilinn in Conversation for Chicago bookstore Exile in Bookville.

    Details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/caoilinn-in-conversation-with-bette-adriaanse-tickets-686659987507?aff=oddtdtcreator

    AUGUST 16, 7PM, LOS ANGELES, CA: North Fig Books with Gallagher Lawson.

    Details: https://northfigbookshop.com/events/?page=1

    AUGUST 22, 7PM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Interval at Long Now Foundation with Chelsea T. Hicks, Brian Eno, Aqui Thami and Margaret Levi.

    Details: https://longnow.org/ideas/radical-sharing/

    AUGUST 25, SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Internet Archive.

    Details: find details on www.betteadriaanse.nl soon

     

    “WHAT’S MINE is a surprising and deep work with a persistent quiet momentum carrying the reader back-and-forth in time and space across the slivers of four interlocking lives. It is totally engaging.”

    —BRIAN ENO

     

    “Bette Adriaanse is becoming a major literary novelist in the best European tradition. She has the down-and-out life experiences of the early Orwell, the desperate humor of Flann O’Brien, the prose immediacy of Beckett, and the avalanche of bureaucracy of Kafka. WHAT’S MINE is a stellar achievement of depicting the absurdist brutality of contemporary urban capitalism where nothing but narcissism and arbitrary outcomes rule.”

    —ALAN N SHAPIRO

  • MSt alumnus Martin Jago’s poetry collection, Photofit, is published in the UK today.

    MSt alumnus Martin Jago’s poetry collection, Photofit, is published in the UK today. More information about the book is available here: http://www.pindroppress.com/books/Photofit.html

  • Congratulations to Aisha Hassan

    Orion Fiction has acquired MSt alum Aisha Hassan ‘s début novel The Boy Who Built Lahore and one other title in a six-figure deal. Charlotte Mursell, publishing director, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Hellie Ogden at Janklow & Nesbit UK in under 24 hours. US rights have been sold at auction to Alison Callahan at Simon & Schuster and translation rights have sold at auction in Spain (Almuzara) and the Netherlands (Mosaiek). Orion will publish in May 2025.  See https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/rights/orion-fiction-pre-empts-hassans-heartbreaking-debut-in-six-figure-two-book-deal for more information.

  • 50 States of Mind

    Alum Ryan Bernsten’s book 50 States of Mind: A Journey to Rediscover American Democracy is being published in the UK and the states with Bite-Sized Books. Ryan began the work as his year two project on the course.

    50 States of Mind: A Journey to Rediscover American Democracy is a work of travel nonfiction in the style of Alexis de Tocqueville that takes readers on a long and winding journey through all 50 states to explore the complexities of today’s America. Leading with the desire to listen and overcome preconceived notions, Bernsten ultimately offers a hopeful vision for the future of America as he embarks on a search for meaning and reflects on what it means to be American. The companion podcast “50 States of Mind,” featured in Condé Nast Traveler, showcases live interviews from the journey and is available on all podcast platforms. 

    One can download the audiobook on Audible with a free trial or credit, or save 10% on Lantern Audio’s website with code ListenFirst10. One can also pre-order the US hardcover here (released June 2023) or order the UK paperback or ebook on Amazon. Visit 50statesofmind.org for more info.

  • Course Director Dr Clare Morgan appearing at the Oxford Literary Festival on 31 March 2023

    On 31 March at 6pm, MSt Course Director Dr Clare Morgan will be in conversation with fellow writer Susan Sellers, discussing how and why the radically experimental and pioneering writers Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield continue to inspire contemporary writing. They’ll be relating their discussion to their own recently published works of fiction, Scar Tissue and Firebird: a Bloomsbury Love Story.  

    Further information about this and other events taking place as part of the Oxford Literary Festival can be found here.