The Isis interviews Richard Ovenden, the 25th Bodley’s Librarian
Entering the innermost sanctum of the University – the office of the Bodley’s librarian, Richard Ovenden – Kiana and I are probably as close to Elysium as it gets for book enthusiasts. The office is perched at the very top of the Clarendon building, Oxford’s answer to Greek temple archit
Constructing Transness
I’m scrolling through Reddit (strike one). I soon find myself fighting the urge to respond to every comment written by cis people who just can’t understand (strike two). “I wanted to play with boy’s toys, so I did – it doesn’t mean I’m a boy!” I keep scrolling. “I don’t feel lik
Sally Rooney’s Musical Marginalia
Spotify is a virtual shelf-space upon which to stack year upon year of old playlists – to offer, in my case, an audible narrative to my late teens and early twenties. In the corner of Spotify occupied by the bibliophiles, I would scour for content, seeking new additions to my somewhat pretentious
Late August
Let me try again. It is cold. It is August. It is the last day for swimming so you run your hands up against me in the surf, and I laugh through a mouthful of salt, the stretch of your shoulders shining, wet with sunlight, aching my eyelids shut. The generous spill of […]
A book or a prank? My interview with a budding Canadian novelist
There was nothing particularly unusual about Terry, the cashier at my local independent bookstore. He was a lofty middle-aged man with a thick Canadian accent, and he often gave me recommendations whenever I stopped by with my friend. Last Summer, however, he suggested something a little different.
The Isis interviews Rebecca Black
“When you involve kids they will inevitably be exploited, because children can’t consent to anything in terms of working hours or signing contracts or being liable for anything… because they’re children”. Rebecca Black faced just this challenge in the entertainment industry at the
The Perfect Fit
I am pleased to advise the as-yet-uninitiated that writing a cover letter is just like writing a personal statement, except that your interests have been relegated to the bench. Don’t fret, they’re still included: it’s just time to be strategic about them, as any self-help book will tell you.
IDOLATRY (IF WE WERE MADE OF WATER)
a hunger burns – in the shade of yawning bowers bare arms slick with perspiration molten limbs in low blue light carve new skin and spread my lungs on tender soil; salt the earth idol built from nothing, will you raze the sky and ease my slumber while i am not loud you do not […]
Painting Poetry: Dia al-Azzawi at the Ashmolean
Dia al-Azzawi’s notebooks do not seem to contain notes. This is my immediate perception upon entering the intimate gallery, tucked inside the Ashmolean. I am met not with precise script in neat folios, but instead with inked pages, some reaching across entire walls, others bound into rippling conc