Publishing News | In Conversation with OICP

OICP at the Oxford Literary Festival 2023

OICP participated in two events at the Festival in March 2023. Firstly the writer Rebecca Kuang, author of the Poppy War trilogy, was interviewed by Angus Phillips. She talked about the themes behind her recent book Babel, a dark academia novel set in Victorian Oxford. She also gave a taste of what readers will find in her new crime thriller, Yellowface, set in the world of New York publishing. Rebecca is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.


In a second event Angus Phillips chaired the session Literary Cats, highlighting the recently published book of that name. A must for all cat-lovers, the volume celebrates the inspirational connections between our favourite feline friends and the literary imagination. The authors, Judith Robinson and Scott Pack, gave the audience an entertaining tour around the world in 10 cats. Judith is a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University’s Business School and a PhD candidate at Humboldt University, Berlin. Scott is a writer, editor and publisher; and an Associate Lecturer in Publishing at OICP.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 13 Apr 2023 around 10am

Filed Under In Conversation with OICP | Events | Publishing

Xiaolu Guo at the Oxford Literary Festival

On 30 March 2022 the award-winning Chinese-British novelist and film-maker Xiaolu Guo was interviewed at the Oxford Literary Festival by Angus Phillips, Director of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing.

The event took place in the Weston Library Lecture Theatre at the Bodleian Library and was attended by 50 people. The interview provided insights into Xiaolu Guo’s life and works, as well as examining some of the key themes in her books, such as love, language and identity. 

A key part of the conversation focused on her latest novel A Lover’s Discourse (2020). A Chinese woman comes to post-Brexit London to start over: isolated and lonely in a Britain increasingly hostile to foreigners, she meets a landscape architect and the two begin to build their future together. The novel plays with language and the cultural differences that the narrator encounters as she settles into her new life, and the lovers must navigate their differences and their romance. The author read an extract from the book which considers the difference between authenticity and imitation through looking at a village in Shenzhen, where there is a cottage industry reproducing famous artworks for western consumers.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 13 Apr 2022 around 3pm

Filed Under Research | In Conversation with OICP | Events | Postgraduate | Publishing

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