As a celebration of our alumni, each month we will highlight a new book written by one of
Oxford's alumni.
Our November 2024 book is "Poetry and the Language of Oppression: Essays on Politics and Poetics"
by Carmen Bugan (Balliol College, 2000).
Carmen Bugan is a poet and writer whose work explores the expressions of historical and political upheaval in literature. She is the author of nine books including poetry, memoir, and criticism. Bugan's monograph, Seamus Heaney and East European Poetry in Translation: Poetics of Exile (Modern Humanities Research Association, 2013/ Routledge, 2020), has received international praise. Some of her work has been translated into Swedish, Polish, Italian, and Chinese. Her most recent book of essays on politics and poetics, Poetry and the Language of Oppression (Oxford University Press, 2021), dealt with Cold War surveillance and considered the wider perspectives on writing in turbulent times; it was named an "essential book for writers" by Poets and Writers. Time Being, (Shearsman, 2022), her most recent collection of poems, reflected on the pandemic and the changed sense of time. Her memoir, Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police (Picador/ Graywolf, 2012), was the Winner of the Bakeless Prize for Nonfiction, was a Finalist in the George Orwell Prize and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was serialized as the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Bugan's new and selected poems, Lilies from America (Shearsman, 2019) received a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She is currently writing a memoir entitled Life Without a Country.
You can purchase "Poetry and the Language of Oppression: Essays on Politics and Poetics" here.
Are you an alumni author?
If you have written a book which was published within the last three years, or is due to be released soon, please email us the following information.
Your full name
A high-quality headshot
A short bio
Alumni number (or college/year of matriculation)
Title of book
Date of publication
ISBN
Link to purchase the book online
We thank you for sharing your books with us, and will let you know if you are selected for a feature in the coming months.
Please visit our archive page to look back at previous Alumni Authors