OXFORD
REVIEW
of BOOKS

WINTER 2026

Our Latest Issue

Published in association with Stanford University

Our latest issue, launched at Cliveden Literary Festival in October 2026. Featuring a wide variety of on-the-ground journalism, opinion pieces, reviews and interviews with literary figures. Also featuring details of our newly announced collaboration with Cambridge, marking the first collaboration of its kind between the two universities. This edition features Martha C. Nussbaum, Vanessa Santos, Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes in review. Iain McGilchrist, Arch Hades, Asma Khan & more are in conversation.

Available to order now.

2026 ART PRIZE
Sponsored by Sotheby's
Applications open until 23rd November

The theme for our 2026 Art Prize is 'Reverence'

We find ourselves in a world burdened by insincerity and cynicism. Reverence is the enemy of detachment. It requires us to constantly seek value in the world, to feel awe, to engage in the ageless search for meaning. We therefore invite you to help us in our struggle against indifference. To show us what and how you worship. To respect, to care and to revere.

Applications for the ORB Art Prize are open to students currently at the University of Oxford, the Ruskin School of Fine Art and Oxford Brookes. Applicants are asked to send through examples of three of their artworks and an artist statement of a maximum of 50 words explaining why their submission relates to our theme. All art forms and mediums are accepted.

The shortlist will be announced in December 2026. This shortlist, in its entirety, will be published in the January edition of the ORB. The winner of the ORB art prize will be announced in January 2027. All shortlisted artists will be invited to bring their works to display. The winning submission will be printed in the April 2027 edition of the ORB.

We have an incredibly exciting lineup of judges; some of the biggest names in the contemporary art world. This includes Elizabeth Bonham Carter, curator and Head of the RA schools.

The prize is £1000
Deadline: 23rd November 2026

Submit applications to: orbeditor@gmail.com

FEATURED

Necessary Estrangements

Finn Macdonald reviews Ben Lerner's Transcription and Katie Kitamura's Audition In Transcription (2026), Ben Lerner’s fourth novel, an interview is sabotaged. We meet the novel’s unnamed narrator as he travels to take the final testimony of his former mentor, Thomas. The conversation is imminent and the narrator is preparing in the Hotel Providence when he drops his iPhone, the intended recording device, into the bathroom sink. The screen goes dark and will not wake. Short on

REVIEWS

5 hours ago5 min read

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

Lydia Tadross Marks reviews Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel In a rare in-person interview with the legendary writer, the critic Merve Emre told Jon Fosse she was ‘uneasy’ at the idea that the Man and Woman in his play, Someone Is Going to Come (1996), want to be alone together. Fosse responds, in English: ‘But they share this belonging. That’s their way. [...] The world is a hard place to be. They think that they can somehow escape that.’ This exchange is a particularly illuminating r

ESSAYS & REVIEWS

4 days ago7 min read

'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'

Read two poems by Victoria Spires, 'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'.

POETRY

Jun 301 min read

Rest stop at Wheeler Ridge

Zoe Dorado's 'Rest stop at Wheeler Ridge'.

Jun 232 min read

We Were None of Us Heroes

Olivia Katrandjian interviews Alice Jolly about her recent book, 'The Matchbox Girl'.

MAIN FEATURE

Jun 238 min read

Wonderland

D.P. Strickland's prizewinning 'Wonderland'.

FICTION

Jun 148 min read

Necessary Estrangements

Finn Macdonald reviews Ben Lerner's Transcription and Katie Kitamura's Audition In Transcription (2026), Ben Lerner’s fourth novel, an interview is sabotaged. We meet the novel’s unnamed narrator as he travels to take the final testimony of his former mentor, Thomas. The conversation is imminent and the narrator is preparing in the Hotel Providence when he drops his iPhone, the intended recording device, into the bathroom sink. The screen goes dark and will not wake. Short on

REVIEWS

5 hours ago5 min read

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

Lydia Tadross Marks reviews Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel In a rare in-person interview with the legendary writer, the critic Merve Emre told Jon Fosse she was ‘uneasy’ at the idea that the Man and Woman in his play, Someone Is Going to Come (1996), want to be alone together. Fosse responds, in English: ‘But they share this belonging. That’s their way. [...] The world is a hard place to be. They think that they can somehow escape that.’ This exchange is a particularly illuminating r

ESSAYS & REVIEWS

4 days ago7 min read

Blue

By Meghan Miraglia Blue I’m in my Blue period – it’s Joni all the time. She’s sitting in a park in Paris, France. I’m sitting on the edge of your bed. The premise is the same: the news sure looks bad. When the courts overturned Roe, you were holding another woman, a woman who you loved once and then didn’t. She cried in your arms. You told me how you touched her hair until she was calm again. Like a horse left in the rain, I thought. I picture your hand over mine i

POETRY

Sep 241 min read

REVIEWS

Necessary Estrangements

Finn Macdonald reviews Ben Lerner's Transcription and Katie Kitamura's Audition In Transcription (2026), Ben Lerner’s fourth novel, an interview is sabotaged. We meet the novel’s unnamed narrator as he travels to take the final testimony of his former mentor, Thomas. The conversation is imminent and the narrator is preparing in the Hotel Providence when he drops his iPhone, the intended recording device, into the bathroom sink. The screen goes dark and will not wake. Short on

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

Lydia Tadross Marks reviews Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel In a rare in-person interview with the legendary writer, the critic Merve Emre told Jon Fosse she was ‘uneasy’ at the idea that the Man and Woman in his play, Someone Is Going to Come (1996), want to be alone together. Fosse responds, in English: ‘But they share this belonging. That’s their way. [...] The world is a hard place to be. They think that they can somehow escape that.’ This exchange is a particularly illuminating r

In Review: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land

Eleanor Davies reviews Maggie O'Farrell's latest release, Land.

'Bearing News from the Land of the Dead'

Liam Gornall on the poetry of medieval Wales.

ESSAYS

Bear Consideration

E. GRANT - Paddington Bear, the quintessential immigrant.

Mapping Knowledge in Damascus

SELINA CHEN - The bus ride was bumpy and the Syrian sunset was molten gold.

Jonathan Miller: a tribute to my mentor

DARIUS SANAI - For a mentor, Jonathan Miller could give some pretty damn terrible advice.

Behind the scenes of one of London’s great hotels

ALBERT WARD reports from the underbelly of the Hotel Grand on the labourers who make it possible.

IN CONVERSATION

In Conversation with Alice Hattrick

Ella Sperling interviews Alice Hattrick on their latest novel released by Fitzcarraldo, Fancy Work.

The Oxford Review of Books

We Were None of Us Heroes

Olivia Katrandjian interviews Alice Jolly about her recent book, 'The Matchbox Girl'.

The Oxford Review of Books

In Conversation with Erica McAlpine

Poet-professor Erica McAlpine on her upcoming collection, 'Small Pointed Things'.

The Oxford Review of Books

FICTION

Wonderland

D.P. Strickland's prizewinning 'Wonderland'.

Haunted Alexandria

Her breath is heavy, heavy heavy, and when she bends over to pick the okra she can hear it loud.

Lunch's Apples

'Lunch's Apples', runner up in the ORB's short fiction prize.

MELTED SUN

By Linden Hibbert Honourable mention in the ORB's MT25 Short Fiction Prize, judged by Laird Hunt. Photograph by Linden Hibbert He wanted the dog, his mother always reminds him, so he can fucking walk it. And he does walk it, though he nips out early so not to give her the satisfaction of seeing him do as he’s told. This time of year, it’s dark when he leaves, flat light all day at school and then dark when he gets home. Today he feels like bunking off, him and the dog. It’s m

POETRY

Blue

By Meghan Miraglia Blue I’m in my Blue period – it’s Joni all the time. She’s sitting in a park in Paris, France. I’m sitting on the edge of your bed. The premise is the same: the news sure looks bad. When the courts overturned Roe, you were holding another woman, a woman who you loved once and then didn’t. She cried in your arms. You told me how you touched her hair until she was calm again. Like a horse left in the rain, I thought. I picture your hand over mine i

'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'

Read two poems by Victoria Spires, 'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'.

'Pale Ails' and 'Foxes'

Read selected poems by Ben Harding, 'Foxes' and 'Pale Ails'.

AKATALĒPSIA

ALICE WEATHERLEY - I was stuck to garden stones when you read to me

INTERVIEWS

Fictions of Friction

CATHERINE BORTHWICK on the rapid dissolution of aesthetic mediation.

Healing in the Fault Zone: Talking to Eleni Stecopoulos on Illness, Poetics, and Collective Impasse

MANDY QUAN and DIEGO MARTINEZ MENDIOLA in conversation with Eleni Stecopoulos on illness, poetics and collective impasse.

Classically Trained

JUAN FUEYO-GOMEZ - Daniel Mendelsohn on relating to and reworking Ancient Greece.

States of Disrepair

CATHERINE BORTHWICK - Vincent Bevins on participatory political reporting.

MAGAZINE

OXFORD
REVIEW
of BOOKS

Published in association with Stanford University

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OXFORD REVIEW of BOOKS

OXFORD REVIEW of BOOKS

WINTER 2026

Our Latest Issue

Published in association with Stanford University

2026 ART PRIZE Sponsored by Sotheby's Applications open until 23rd November

FEATURED

Necessary Estrangements

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'

Rest stop at Wheeler Ridge

We Were None of Us Heroes

Wonderland

Necessary Estrangements

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

Blue

REVIEWS

Necessary Estrangements

In Review: Jon Fosse’s Vaim Hotel

In Review: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land

'Bearing News from the Land of the Dead'

ESSAYS

Bear Consideration

Mapping Knowledge in Damascus

Jonathan Miller: a tribute to my mentor

Behind the scenes of one of London’s great hotels

IN CONVERSATION

In Conversation with Alice Hattrick

We Were None of Us Heroes

In Conversation with Erica McAlpine

FICTION

Wonderland

Haunted Alexandria

Lunch's Apples

MELTED SUN

POETRY

Blue

'Wheat' and 'Out of a balloon'

'Pale Ails' and 'Foxes'

AKATALĒPSIA

INTERVIEWS

Fictions of Friction

Healing in the Fault Zone: Talking to Eleni Stecopoulos on Illness, Poetics, and Collective Impasse

Classically Trained

States of Disrepair

MAGAZINE

OXFORD REVIEW of BOOKS

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OXFORD REVIEW
of BOOKS

OXFORD
REVIEW
of BOOKS

2026 ART PRIZE
Sponsored by Sotheby's
Applications open until 23rd November

OXFORD
REVIEW
of BOOKS