''The Mays Literary Anthology'' (or just ''The Mays'') is an annual anthology of new writing by students from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
.
History
Anthologies of poetry by undergraduates from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
were first published in 1913, with ''Cambridge Poets: 1910–1913'' and ''Oxford Poetry: 1910–1913'' being produced respectively by
Arthur Quiller-Couch
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse 1 ...
and
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
. Many years later in 1992, Peter Ho Davies, Adrian Woolfson, and Ron Dimant, who met while working together at the Cambridge University Student Newspaper, Varsity, independently established a totally new publication concept known as ''The May Anthology of Poetry'' and ''The May Anthology of Short Stories'', originally published as two separate anthologies: one devoted to poetry and the other to prose. The idea came about when the three friends were standing outside Queens College one evening, and realized that they all aspired to publishing books. Once they had resolved to set up the anthologies, Adrian Woolfson pulled in Ian Critchley - who was at the time a student editor on the Oxford University Student Newspaper, Cherwell - as his Oxford co-editor. The nucleus of the Cambridge team, who led the project, was Woolfson’s attic room at 5 Harvey Road, where the editorial team would meet weekly to review the submitted materials. In 2003 ''The May Anthologies'' became a single publication.
Each year, the ''Mays'' receives hundreds of submissions from students at Oxford and Cambridge. The Editorial Committee (composed of students from both universities) review the submissions.
![Zadie Smith NBCC 2011 Shankbone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Zadie_Smith_NBCC_2011_Shankbone.jpg)
''The Mays'' is often noted for launching the career of novelist
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...
. Her work appears in two of the short story editions (1996 and 1997). Literary agencies first took notice of Smith after seeing her story "Mrs. Begum’s Son and the Private Tutor" in the 1997 collection. Smith guest edited the ''Mays'' in 2001. Her quip "maybe in a few years this lot will have me out of a job" has become a catch phrase for the publication.
''The Mays'' is broader in scope than most university literary projects: it is sold in bookstores and by delivery nationwide; it is distributed to every major literary agent; and each year a guest editor — usually a prominent author, poet, or artist — writes an introduction to the anthology.
Previous guest editors include:
Margaret Drabble
Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer.
Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...
and
Jon Stallworthy
Jon Howie Stallworthy, (18 January 1935 – 19 November 2014) was a British literary critic and poet. He was Professor of English at the University of Oxford from 1992 to 2000, and Professor Emeritus in retirement. He was also a Fellow of Wolfs ...
(1992),
Michael Dibdin
Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy.
Early life
Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West Mi ...
and
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. (1993),
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
(1994),
Ted Hughes
Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
(1995),
Penelope Fitzgerald
Penelope Mary Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 – 28 April 2000) was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 ''The Times'' listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". ''The Ob ...
(1996),
Christopher Reid Chris Reid (born 1971) is a Scottish football goalkeeper.
Chris or Christopher Reid may also refer to:
People
*Christopher Reid (rapper) (born 1964), American actor, comedian, and former rapper
*Christopher Reid (writer) (born 1949), Hong Kong-bor ...
and
Jill Paton Walsh
Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford, (née Bliss; 29 April 1937 – 18 October 2020), known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated n ...
(1997),
Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – '' The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', ''Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...
and
J.H. Prynne (1998),
Penelope Lively
Dame Penelope Margaret Lively (née Low; born 17 March 1933) is a British writer of fiction for both children and adults. Lively has won both the Booker Prize (''Moon Tiger'', 1987) and the Carnegie Medal for British children's books ('' Th ...
and
John Kinsella (1999),
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon (born 20 June 1951) is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he is currently both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Pr ...
and
Lawrence Norfolk
Lawrence Norfolk (born 1963) is a British novelist known for historical works with complex plots and intricate detail.
Biography
Though born in London, Norfolk lived in Iraq until 1967 and then in the West Country of England. He read English a ...
(2000),
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...
and
Michael Donaghy
Michael Donaghy (May 24, 1954 – September 16, 2004) was a New York City poet and musician, who lived in London from 1985.
Life and career
Donaghy was born into an Irish family and grew up with his sister Patricia in the Bronx, New York, lo ...
(2001),
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio reco ...
and
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
(2002),
Ali Smith
Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting".
Early life and education
Smith was born in Inverness on 24 Au ...
(2003),
Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...
(2004),
Robert Macfarlane (2005),
Don Paterson
Donald Paterson (born 1963) is a Scottish poet, writer and musician.
Background
Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1963. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 1990 and his poem "A Private Bottling" won the Arvon Foundation International ...
and
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pola ...
(2006),
Colm Toibin
Colm is a male given name of Irish origin. Colm can be pronounced "Collum" or "Kullum". It is not an Irish version of Colin, but like Callum and Malcolm derives from a Gaelic variation on ''columba'', the Latin word for 'dove'.
People
*Colm Bro ...
(2007),
Ian Patterson
Ian Daniel Patterson (born 4 April 1973) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a central defender.
Born in Chatham, Kent, Patterson started his career at Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland before moving to ...
(2008),
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946)
is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album '' Horses''.
Called the "punk poe ...
(2009),
Amit Chaudhuri
Amit Chaudhuri (born 15 May 1962) is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer, and music composer from India.
He was Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia from 2006 to 2021, Since 2020, he has ...
,
Tom Raworth
Thomas Moore Raworth (19 July 1938 – 8 February 2017) was an English-Irish poet, publisher, editor, and teacher who published over 40 books of poetry and prose during his life. His work has been translated and published in many countries. Rawor ...
(2010), ,
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...
(2011),
John Darnielle
John Darnielle (; born March 16, 1967) is an American musician and novelist best known as the primary, and originally sole, member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist.
...
,
Tao Lin
Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment of ...
,
Toby Litt
Toby Litt is an English writer and academic in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London.
Life
Litt was born in Ampthill in 1968. He was educated at Bedford Modern School, read English at Worcester College, Oxfor ...
(2012),
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the Mo ...
,
David Harsent
David Harsent (born in Devon) is an English poet who for some time earned his living as a TV scriptwriter and crime novelist.
Background
During his early career he was part of a circle of poets centred on Ian Hamilton and forming something of a ...
,
Tom Phillips (2013),
John Fuller,
Paul Farley
Paul Farley, FRSL (born 1965) is a British poet, writer and broadcaster.
Life and work
Farley was born in Liverpool. He studied painting at the Chelsea School of Art, and has lived in London, Brighton and Cumbria. His first collection of poetr ...
,
Ben Okri
Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.[Ben Okri"]
British Council, ...
,
Prajwal Parajuly
Prajwal Parajuly (né Sharma; born 24 October 1984) is an Indian writer whose works focus on Nepali-speaking people and their culture. Parajuly's works include the short-story collection ''The Gurkha's Daughter'' and novel '' Land Where I Flee''. ...
,
Emma Chichester Clark
Emma Chichester Clark (born 15 October 1955) is a British children's book illustrator and author. She has published over 60 books and is best known for her series of picture books about a child's toy called Blue Kangaroo.Joanna CareyCroc on ice ( ...
and
Alexander Gilkes (2014),
Roger Mcgough
Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one o ...
and
Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur (born 4 October 1992) is a Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author. Born in Punjab, India, Kaur emigrated to Canada at a young age with her family. She began performing poetry in 2009 and rose to fame on Instagram, eventua ...
(2016).
''The Mays'' is associated with Varsity Publications Ltd, which publishes ''
Varsity''.
The cost of publication is funded in part by donations from various Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
Student editors
![Juliet Lapidos 1272017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Juliet_Lapidos_1272017.jpg)
* Adrian Woolfson and Ian Critchley (1992)
*
Rebecca James (1993)
* Dorothea Gartland and Jason Thompson (1994)
*
Ruth Scurr
Ruth Scurr, Lady Stothard FRSL is a British writer, historian and literary critic. She is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
She was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough; Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Eco ...
and Chris Tayler (1995)
*
Nick Laird (1996)
* Martha Kelly (1997)
* Adam Whitefield, Aleksander Keenan, Turin Munthe and Jonty Claypole (1998)
*
Benjamin Yeoh
Benjamin Yeoh (born 1978) is a British Chinese playwright.
Biography
Born near London, England, his father came from Ipoh, Malaysia and mother from Singapore. His grandfather, Datuk Yeoh Cheang Lee was the first non-European chairman of t ...
, Sophie Craig, Matt Edwards and Chris Tryhorn (1999)
* Sophy Levy, Tom Rob Smith, Catherine Shoard, and Peter Robons (2000)
* Tom Hill and Benjamin Hewitt (2001)
* Tom Hill, Benjamin Hewitt, Rachel Aspden and Tim Martin (2002)
* Jodie Greenwood and Rachael Marsh (2003)
* Mark Richards and James Purdon (2004)
* Jonathan Beckman and Arthur House (2005)
* Torsten Henricson-Bell,
Juliet Lapidos, Imogen Walford (2006)
* Catherine Duric, Iain Mobbs and Ryan Roark (2007)
* Erica Mena and Deborah Smith (2008)
* Peter Morelli and Decca Muldowney (2009)
* Lizzie Alice Robinson and Elliot Ross (2010)
* Catriona Gray and Philip Maughan (2011)
* Andrew Griffin (2012)
* Chloe Stopa-Hunt and Hugo Havranek (2013)
* Camille Ralphs and Andrew Wynn Owen (2014)
* Emily Fitzell (2015)
* Rebekah Miron Clayton (2016)
* Sabhbh Curran (2017)
* Elizabeth Huang and Eimear Ní Chathail (2018)
* Zoe Matt-Williams (2019)
* Ceci Browning (2020)
* Isabel Marisol Sebode and Nick Bartlett (2022)
References
External links
''The Mays'': a literary anthology* Past guest-editors
''The Mays'': Guest Editors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mays, The
Publications established in 1993
Publications associated with the University of Oxford
Publications associated with the University of Cambridge
Fiction anthologies
Poetry anthologies
Anthology series