Culture

The midterms and the YA novel: Impossibly happy endings

Given its intense media coverage and everything that seems to be on the line, I feel as though I have been anxiously awaiting the results of the 2026 US midterm elections for weeks, months – maybe years.

How books are burned today

It is a worrying thought that what sits on your bookshelf today could be...

The burden of the face: Why are so many singers wearing masks?

We can all name at least one musician who has performed behind a balaclava, helmet, or hood. Whether to preserve anonymity, cultivate mystery, or construct an entirely new artistic identity, masking the face is common among those under the limelight.

New Oxford Windrush generation exhibit opens for Black History Month 

Amidst recent political tension provoked by the government’s refusal of slavery reparations to the...

Review: The Rain Starts A-Fallin’

Will Tummon can't find a flaw in Rory Platt's piece of new writing

An author of our own

Interview with Samantha Shannon Jones

Oxford Revisited

An exploration of literary works based in Oxford

Profile of Writing Students # 2

Amy Blakemore, a student at Oxford, answers a few questions about her poetry

Profile of Writing Students #1

Clarissa Pabi, a student at Oxford, answers a few questions about her creative writing

Voyeurs to man’s vulnerability

W J Humphries finds Lucian Freud's exhibition an affecting experience.

The Phoenix and the Red Carpet

Nick Hilton visits Jericho's finest independent cinema in search of a better class of movie

Review: King Charles – LoveBlood

Olivia Stiles thinks she may have found the soundtrack to the summer in King Charles' LoveBlood

Review: Ren Harvieu – Through the Night

Patrick Scott finds Ren Harvieu to have come back from injury to deliver an album that feels free while maintaining its classic touches

Interview: Dry the River

Olivia Arigho Stiles talks neo folk and religion with Dry the River

Are you a creative writer?

Viccy Ibbett surveys a few of the opportunities available to creative writers in Oxford.

More Short Stories…

Two rich and powerful short stories by Anahita Hoose

Short Stories….

A trio of short stories by Calypso Blaj, Failed Novelist extraordinaire.

A Bluffer’s Guide to: George Bernard Shaw

Our weekly guide for the theatrically illiterate talks you through the great socialist writer

Review: Killing Hitler

Despite a patchy production, Angus Hawkins is impressed by a fascinating story

Settling the Score

Christy Edwall talks with Dario Marianelli about the art of composition

A Bluffer’s Guide to: The New Wave of Hip Hop

Matt Jones walks you through some of the biggest names in the latest resurgence of US hip hop

Album Review: Europe – Allo Darlin’

Tom Hoskins finds that Allo Darlin' balances pain with euphoria to good effect

Review: The Tempest, Magdalen

Constantine Fraser laments the rain, as a high-spirited production of The Tempest is forced inside

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