MSt alumna Jingan Young has written an episode of the BBC’s newly commissioned Glasgow-set legal drama, Counsels. Read more about the programme here.
Category: Alumni News
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Laura Theis publishes new collection with Broken Sleep
MSt alumna Laura Theis’ new collection Introduction to Cloud Care has just been published by Broken Sleep. The book blends lyrical precision with a deep sense of wonder, crafting poetry that invites readers into a world where the mundane and the magical coexist seamlessly. Her poems explore themes of nature’s quiet power, the enigma of memory, and the complexity of transformation. Often laced with humour and profound tenderness, they evoke both intimacy and expansiveness. With a voice both contemplative and playful, Theis reimagines self-discovery and connection in ways that are unexpectedly illuminating. This collection celebrates the beauty of what is seen and the irresistible allure of what lies hidden.
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Oxford Alumna Sylee Gore Receives National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that Oxford alumna and author Sylee Gore is one of 35 writers selected to receive an FY 2025 Creative Writing Fellowship of $25,000. This year’s fellowships are in poetry and enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career development. Fellows are selected through an anonymous review process and are judged on the basis of artistic excellence of the work sample they provided. These fellowships are highly competitive, with more than 2,000 eligible applications received for FY 2025.
NEA Director of Literary Arts Amy Stolls said, “The National Endowment for the Arts’ continued investment in contemporary creative writers preserves, strengthens, and advances our nation’s rich literary traditions. This new group of fellows is the latest in a longstanding legacy of support for poets and prose writers who—through the beauty and power of their words—inspire us, challenge us, and reflect back to us the heart and soul of America’s vast and varied cultural landscape.”
Sylee Gore is a poet who works as a translator for artists and museums. Maximum Summer, her first poetry chapbook, won the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize and is forthcoming from Nion Editions. She received her MSt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford.
Since 1967, the NEA has awarded more than 3,700 Creative Writing Fellowships totaling over $58 million. Many American recipients of the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and Fiction were recipients of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships early in their careers.
Visit arts.gov to browse bios from the 2025 recipients and past Creative Writing Fellows.
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Recent Alumni Successes
We wanted to celebrate the successes in 2024 of three MSt alumni – Christine Anne Foley, Daisy Johnson and Jingan Young. Christine’s novel Bodies was one of last year’s most acclaimed debuts; Daisy’s latest collection of short stories, The Hotel, further solidified her reputation as one of the leading writers of her generation; and Jingan’s work on the hit ITV series Red Eye saw her recognised as a major screenwriting talent. We’re proud to count them among our former students here on the MSt.
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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.
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
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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
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Congratulations to MSt alum Sam Moore
MSt alum Sam Moore’s new book, Search history, is now available from Queer Street Press (https://queerstreetpress.com/Menu).
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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.
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