The Oxford Literary Scene
As well as giving you the latest news about Smaller Sky Books we'd like to introduce you to the broader Oxford literary scene. We'll also be posting information about forthcoming events and providing links to other key Oxford literary sites.
Although any summary of literary Oxford has to start with the University, it's our aim to focus on working writers and events, not just the groves of academe. But without the University, with its romantic colleges and world-class status, Oxford would not be a vibrant literary city. Its academic reputation as well as the mystique that has been built up around it by such novels as Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited mean it attracts the best international writers. At set-piece events held at the Oxford Union leading authors address audiences of several hundred students. Recently Martin Amis gave a moving talk about his autobiography Experience and his complex relationship with his late father, the novelist Sir Kingsley Amis (both Amis father and son were, incidentally, undergraduates at the University).
But there are also smaller scale meetings. Each term notices are posted at the Bodleian Library announcing that big names such as say Seamus Heaney, Vikram Seth or Timberlake Wertenbaker will be discussing their work with one of the more esoteric societies. The University boasts a distinguished list of novelists, poets and critics among its teaching staff, including John Bayley, Tom Paulin, John Carey, Valentine Cunningham and John Fuller. Both Oxford University and the newer Oxford Brookes University are now beginning to enter the world of creative writing courses - though as yet these tend to be either informal seminars, or part-time adult education initiatives such as that run by the Australian novelist Kathryn Heyman at Kellogg College.
Each spring the University plays host to what is fast becoming an internationally renowned public literary event, The Oxford Literary Festival, which takes place at the Oxford Union towards the end of March. This showpiece brings together writers and critics from within the University, from around the world and from the living day-to-day literary life of the city itself.
Outside the University, Oxford and its neighbouring villages are home to a dazzling array of famous contemporary working writers. Booker prize-winner, Ian McEwan lives close to the city centre, as do Tim Pears (whose splendid family saga, In a Land of Plenty, has just been serialised on BBC television), crime writers Colin Dexter and Iain Pears (no relation to Tim), and sci-fi novelist Brian Aldiss. The poet Craig Raine is a neighbour of Ian McEwan's and the American travel writer Shelby Tucker lives one street away from Smaller Sky's Frank Egerton. Just a few miles outside the city is the home of another travel writer, the internationally acclaimed Redmond O'Hanlon, as are those of among others, the poet and former Oxford Professor of Poetry James Fenton, and the successful thriller writer Veronica Stallwood (who used to work at the Bodleian Library). Local authors play a prominent part in the city's cultural life, giving talks to societies, appearing at public readings and signings organised by the three big Oxford bookshops (Blackwell's, Waterstone's and Borders) and discussing their work with the local press.
It's worth noting that The Oxford Times is one of the few regional weeklies in the UK which still runs a thriving Books section. The paper and its daily sister-title The Oxford Mail can also boast some well-known former contributers, including Julian Barnes, Martyn Bedford, Adrian Mitchell and Barbara Pym. Recently The Oxford Times has featured a monthly series on how to write a novel by the best-selling Oxfordshire author, Valerie Blumenthal.
A major literary phenomenon of recent years has been the founding of the society, Writers in Oxford, which was originally set up by local members of the national writers' umbrella organisation, The Society of Authors, but has broadened its membership to included working writers from a wide variety of disciplines. Throughout the year the group arranges parties, talks and expeditions to places of literary interest. Its members include the award-winning children's writers Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon, Matthew Kneale whose novel English Passengers has just been named Whitbread Book of the Year, novelists Ross King and Amanda MacAndrew, and Norman Painting the playwright and actor who is perhaps best known to British radio audiences as Phil Archer in the world's longest running soap The Archers.
An enviable appointment made recently to another member, Janie Hampton, was that of writer in residence at the Marsh Harrier pub in the east of the city. As well as the supping of a few pints, her duties included chatting to the local drinkers about the pleasures of creative writing. Which is just one of many literary associations between writing and Oxford pubs - which provides us with a suitably convivial conclusion (and a chance to blow Smaller Sky's own trumpet!) . Most famous of all is The Turf which appeared in both Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. The Trout at Godstow also featured in Waugh's novel, as well as being Morse creator Colin Dexter's favourite watering hole. The Waterman's Arms on historic Osney Island not only plays a key role in Smaller Sky's The Lock but was the centrepiece of former Angry Young Man John Wain's trilogy Where the Rivers Meet.
Cheers!
Copyright Frank Egerton 2004
Will Wain adds : since Frank's guide was written, Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" has become so popular that any new look at the current Oxford scene would almost inevitably start with a mention of him. Coincidentally, both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis's works have reached an even wider audience thanks to the production of Hollywood blockbusters based on their fantasies. As I write a Radio 4 Programme by Michael Rosen has just been aired, delving into the reasons why Oxford has produced so much children's fantasy literature. It is a subject we hope to address in a future article.