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📚 Congratulations to Mukahang Limbu (English & Modern Languages, 2019), winner of The Borough Press’ non-fiction open submission competition with his forthcoming memoir Egg-Fried Rice, to be published in 2027.

Selected from over 250 entries, The Borough Press said: "We are so excited to have found Mukahang Limbu’s writing. Egg-Fried Rice is a gorgeous coming-of-age memoir with such lyrical and evocative prose."

In a recent interview with us, Mukahang shared his insights into:

🖋️ Shifting from poetry to prose — “If poetry is a room, writing prose is like building a house.”
📖 Writing as catharsis — “A memoir forces you to take out the dirty plates you’ve shoved under the bed and give them a good wash.”
🌍 Representing the Nepali diaspora in Oxford — "In the underbelly of Oxford, there is an entire Nepali community that makes the ancient and limestoned world go around.”
✍️ Advice to writers — “Don’t think, just do. Time spent thinking is time not writing.”

Mukahang’s voice is bold, thoughtful, and refreshingly honest — we can’t wait to see what he writes next.

🔗 Read more about his writing process: ow.ly/OJuK50VOgpA

#AlumniVoices #MemoirWriting #NepaliDiaspora #NonFiction #EmergingWriters ... See MoreSee Less

Former bell-ringer’s inscription in the College's Bell Tower marking VE Day, 1945.

In the 1945 College Record, Provost Hodgkin wrote:

"My letter this year must begin by telling you how we in Oxford have given thanks and rejoiced for the great deliverance. On VE Day we joined with the others employed here, both by the College and by the Ministry of Home Security, in a short service in Chapel. In the evening the last barrel of ‘Chancellor,’ kept since 1939 for the occasion, was broached; wine was also served, and we drank the ancient College toasts.

We connected the words ‘In memoriam absentium’ with those of you who are still overseas, especially those who have formidable campaigning ahead of you before the Japanese war is won. I need scarcely add that we also had specially in mind the 60 Queensmen who have given their lives for our deliverance. "

📷 Klara Zhao (current bell-ringer)

#VEDay ... See MoreSee Less

The College warmly congratulates Dr Christopher Metcalf, Lobel Fellow in Classics, on receiving the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Awarded in recognition of his outstanding academic contributions, Dr Metcalf will use the award to deepen international collaborations and pursue new research on ancient literature, mythology, and religion.

“The study of the ancient world feels to me like a never-ending journey of discovery...” – Dr Metcalf

#ClassicsatOxford #HumboldtFoundation #ResearchExcellence #AncientWorld #AcademicAwards ... See MoreSee Less

👻 Haunted Queen's 👻

Did you know that the College has its own ghostly legends? One tale tells of Cuthbert Shields, an eccentric historian who renamed himself after St Cuthbert. After his death in 1908, he left a sealed box to the College library, instructing that it should not be opened for 50 years. When finally unsealed, a mysterious figure resembling Shields was spotted in the Upper Library.

Explore this haunting story in our blog
🔗 If the Dead Can Haunt Us: ow.ly/zzpb50VLarr #NationalParanormalDay #HauntedOxford #QueensCollegeGhosts ... See MoreSee Less