{"id":2584,"date":"2026-04-22T08:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/?p=2584"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:52:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:52:40","slug":"lucy-atkins-what-im-reading-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/?p=2584","title":{"rendered":"Lucy Atkins: What I’m Reading Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Course tutor, novelist and screenwriter Lucy Atkins shares an insight into her current research and reading.<\/em><\/p>\n

I mostly read literary fiction with a sprinkling of memoir or biography, ideally author-related, so the new Deborah Levy caused me to pull on my trainers and run (not much else can do that, trust me) to my local Daunt\u2019s \u2013 and then cancel all plans. My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein<\/em> is a short, hybrid \u2018fiction\u2019 in which a character, Levy-like, is in Paris trying to write an essay on Gertrude Stein. It\u2019s a blend of literary memoir, novel, and biography – yes, all my favourite things in one book, by one of my favourite writers! The joints from \u00a0\u2018essay on Stein\u2019\u00a0 to \u2018make up stuff\u2019 to \u2018this is me\u2019 are seamless and blurry and somehow each part coheres into something whole and new. It\u2019s genius.<\/p>\n

Before that, I read two Gwendoline Riley novels back to back \u2013\u00a0 an intense activity that almost finished me. Riley\u2019s work is cold and dark, extremely so, but the writing is superb, the delicacy of the observations make it mesmerising.\u00a0 And before this – pretty much the opposite end of the human warmth scale, but equally impressive – \u00a0I was weeping over Lily King\u2019s Heart the Lover<\/em>. I don\u2019t like this title, I find it really hard to parse, but the novel is superb; true, subtle and more moving than anything I\u2019ve read in years \u2013 a masterclass in how to find a single detail that speaks volumes. \u00a0<\/p>\n

As for my own creative work, I\u2019ve been reading books on screenplay writing as I\u2019ve been commissioned to adapt my Oxford-set novel, Magpie Lane,<\/em> for TV. It\u2019s been a \u2018journey\u2019 as they say \u2013 ah, how I\u2019d love to sit in on some of the MSt screenwriting workshops.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve really enjoyed learning a new way of writing. I hope I\u2019ll be able to apply some of what I\u2019ve learned about story structure to finishing my sixth –\u00a0 as yet very much half-written \u2013 novel which has been shoved aside to make room for the screenplay, and isn\u2019t happy about it. But I\u2019m always telling my students to step back from the manuscript so maybe this hiatus, too, will turn out to be a blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Course tutor, novelist and screenwriter Lucy Atkins shares an insight into her current research and reading. I mostly read literary fiction with a sprinkling of memoir or biography, ideally author-related, so the new Deborah Levy caused me to pull on my trainers and run (not much else can do that, trust me) to my local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutor_news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lucy-atkins.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p40Qhf-FG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1523,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/?p=1523","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":0},"title":"MSt 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a guest speaker at the the opening of the new Anglo-Iraqi Studies Centre (AISC) in London.\u00a0 The AISC collection of over 2,000 books in English about Iraqi history and culture, includes several rare books and some by Freya Stark and Gertrude Bell.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MSt News"","block_context":{"text":"MSt News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"With Dr. Salah Al-Timimi, Iraqi Ambassador to UK","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/His-Excellency-Dr.-Salah-Al-Timimi-Iraqi-Ambassador-to-UK1-e1453802911720-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":752,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.conted.ox.ac.uk\/mstcw\/?p=752","url_meta":{"origin":2584,"position":2},"title":"Kellogg College Creative Writing Seminar Series: Belinda Jack, 14th May 2015","author":"MSt Creative Writing","date":"April 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cClich\u00e9: The Nemesis of 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