writing Archives - Cherwell

In defence of academic writing

In my year out before my postgraduate degree, I made the momentous decision to start writing fiction. I’d recently got back into reading novels, and thought becoming a novelist would be an ideal way to commit my name to posterity.

Periodisation and the problem of now

Periodisation is the act of dividing literature into eras like Romanticism, Modernism, or Postmodernism – neat, bounded categories based on unifying characteristics, themes, or historical...

Ocean Vuong on kindness, Buddhism, and the limitations of writing as a medium

A queer Vietnamese refugee who fled to America with his family, Vuong has won acclaim for his novels, poetry, and essays.

The Pasts Contained in Preloved Books at the Oxford Premier Book Fair

Although post-collections celebrations usually involve nights out, followed by long, long lie-ins, I spent Saturday morning taking the bus to the Oxford Brookes Headington...

Writers on Writing: Reflections on the 2025 Oxford Literary Festival

The Oxford Literary Festival is one of those events I hear about every year, mark out on my calendar, and never end up going...

War, Peace and Writing

Throughout history, art has left an indelible cultural impact on humanity’s collective understanding of war. Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ is perhaps the most famous manifestation of...

Is an essay crisis preventable?

Every evening at dinner many students stress over their uncompleted work. The term ‘essay crisis’ encapsulates the impending doom of an essay that is...

P.S. I still love writing letters

"In searching for an activity to keep away the boredom, it was during lockdown that my love for letter writing was reignited."

Creative Pursuits

Drama Oxford student drama is probably pretty different from drama at school — there’s a really exciting atmosphere, you can try new things, and there...

What Makes A Great Writer: A Biblio-Biography

'What makes a great writer? Practice, of course, and undoubtedly that unique spark called talent or inspiration. But as every writer, great or otherwise, knows, the whole business of writing is built on reading.'

Student Profile: Luke Bateman

Joining this zoom call, Luke is sat in his childhood bedroom with a bookcase overflowing in the background. Luke immediately starts chatting and smiling,...

Journals or diaries? The value of inward reflection

The boundaries between diary and journal are blurry, with the terms frequently being used interchangeably. Little attention is paid to the differences between the...

Thoughts on Literary Awards

Literary awards and prizes have been around for centuries, with the first British Award for Literature established in 1919 (The James Tait Black Memorial...

Magazines: a media migration

In a world where relaxation takes the form of 6 second Vines and temporary Snap stories, and where we are used to having our entire culture and news filtered through to us in carefully curated 280-word tweets, how can traditional print press compete?

Tag: writing