Oxford Poetry Internship

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Professor Matthew Bevis, Fellow in English, writes:

Various developments in recent years have helped to enhance Keble’s international reputation as a thriving centre for the study and practice of poetry. And now, thanks to a generous donation, the College and Oxford Poetry have embarked on an exciting new collaboration: The Oxford Poetry Internship.

Founded in 1910, Oxford Poetry is the oldest poetry magazine in the UK. Previous editors include Aldous Huxley, Vera Brittain, WH Auden and Geoffrey Hill (himself one of Keble’s most renowned alumni and a former Oxford Professor of Poetry). Among the authors to have appeared in the magazine’s pages are JRR Tolkien, Fleur Adcock, Seamus Heaney and Philip Larkin, and the magazine is also truly international in reach, having published poets such as John Ashbery, Anne Carson, James Merrill, Jorie Graham and many more. More information about the magazine is available at Oxford Poetry.

The internship, available exclusively to students of Keble, offers hands-on experience in the internal operations of a successful literary magazine. The intern is given the opportunity to make valuable connections within the literary world, deepen their understanding of literature and literary production, and develop skills which equip them to work in the publishing industry in the future, should they wish.

The first year of the initiative was a huge success, with the editors reporting that the successful candidate, Isobel Brewer (2023 English Language and Literature), made an invaluable contribution to the magazine: “Isobel has been hard at work researching copies of the magazine held within the Bodleian and college libraries, meticulously documenting publication details and contents from 1910 to 1960. Where certain copies of the magazine were unavailable, Isobel has been able to track down issues in institutions as far afield as the University of California! This has been a great help in securing the digital footprint of the magazine for many editors and readers of the future.”

Isobel herself commented: “I’ve had a brilliant time in the internship! The editors have been kind and encouraging and have involved me directly in parts of the publishing process too. Gaining experience working for a literary magazine while still at university has been really valuable. It’s absolutely something I’d like to pursue in the future, so I feel very lucky.”

For information on any of the poetry initiatives at Keble, please see this webpage, or feel free to contact Professor Matthew Bevis.