Artist of the Week: Max Morgan
Max Morgan is a writer and director. Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m a second year at Christ Church where I study English. Since arriving at Oxford I’ve ADed two plays and directed Jez Butterworth’s Mojo and Fêtid, both produced through Nocturne Productions which I co-founded
Birth of the Reader
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT PERDITION. / LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOW THOSE BURROWING UNDERNEATH TECTONIC PLATES / SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED WHEN THE UPHEAVAL CAUSES EARTHQUAKES. / LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT WRITERS PRETEND NOT TO KNOW FOR PEACE OF MIND. / WRITING IS DRESSING UP YOUR WOUNDS AND PARADING THE
What Remains
A pink scarf he bought that first Christmas together. Not that she ever wore scarves, which was why he’d bought it in the first place, and why he shouldn’t have bothered. (It snowed that January – more sludge than snow, really, the kind that produces muddy, misshapen snowmen – and sh
Finding my way back to the nightingale
The exalted song of the nightingale has long haunted the poetic imagination. Though I have never heard a nightingale sing, I have read its lamenting melodies in the lines of Ovid, Keats, and Coleridge. The real song remains elusive, yet somehow still a familiar refrain, and I wonder whether it is po
Prison Pen Pals
Entering the WriteAPrisoner.com website, the user is greeted by a seemingly endless list of prisoners. Advertising to potential penpals with a photo and a short biography, these inmates are looking to bridge the gap to the outside world and stave off feelings of isolation. Unable to reach out themse
Interview with Torrey Peters
It is a warm summer day in Oxford and I wake up to find myself in the armchair where I’d been reading late into the night before. Initially, I had planned to only flick through Detransition, Baby once more so that it would be as clear in my mind as possible before the interview. However, […
The Changing Face of Poetry
Mukahang Limbu is explaining to me why he writes poetry. “It can make you feel like you’re being heard. Coming from a marginalised background, and not having much representation in the literary canon, that can make you feel invisible. But being able to write yourself into that canon is reall
Cyril Connolly and Horizon Magazine
Back in September, I was browsing The Last Bookshop on Walton Street when I came across a sun-damaged stack of Horizon magazines. The covers were simplistic; only the colour of the logo changed with each issue between brilliant greens, blues, pinks and purples. The economical design seemed
Far Away
What are you doing just now? Perhaps you’re rinsing a coffee cup Warm water caressing your hands Sea waves lap over ankles Deliberately digging your toes into the sand Speaking with a relative And something they say confirms that hope or fear you have about these days. Sunk in the sofa with siblin

