The Mays

The Mays Literary Anthology (or just The Mays) is an annual anthology of new writing by students from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

History

Anthologies of poetry by undergraduates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were first published in 1913, with Cambridge Poets: 1910–1913 and Oxford Poetry: 1910–1913 being produced under the respective Arthur Quiller-Couch and Gilbert Murray. In 1992, however, Peter Ho Davies, Adrian Woolfson, and Ron Dimant came up with the concept for the publication known as The Mays, originally split into two separate anthologies: one devoted to prose and the other to poetry. In 2003 the Mays 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

The Mays is often noted for launching the career of novelist Zadie Smith. 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 and Jon Stallworthy (1992), Michael Dibdin and Seamus Heaney (1993), Stephen Fry (1994), Ted Hughes (1995), Penelope Fitzgerald (1996), Christopher Reid and Jill Paton Walsh (1997), Sebastian Faulks and J.H. Prynne (1998), Penelope Lively and John Kinsella (1999), Paul Muldoon and Lawrence Norfolk (2000), Zadie Smith and Michael Donaghy (2001), Andrew Motion and Nick Cave (2002), Ali Smith (2003), Philip Pullman (2004), Robert Macfarlane (2005), Don Paterson and Jeanette Winterson (2006), Colm Toibin (2007), Ian Patterson (2008), Patti Smith (2009), Amit Chaudhuri, Tom Raworth (2010), , Jarvis Cocker (2011), John Darnielle, Tao Lin, Toby Litt (2012), Michael Frayn, David Harsent, Tom Phillips (2013), John Fuller, Paul Farley, Ben Okri, Prajwal Parajuly, Emma Chichester Clark and Alexander Gilkes (2014), Roger Mcgough and Rupi Kaur (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

Ruth Scurr

Juliet Lapidos

• Adrian Woolfson and Ian Critchley (1992)
• Rebecca James (1993)
• Dorothea Gartland and Jason Thompson (1994)
• Ruth Scurr and Chris Taylor (1995)
• Nick Laird (1996)
• Martha Kelly (1997)
• Adam Whitefield, Aleksander Keenan, Turin Munthe and Jonty Claypole (1998)
• Benjamin Yeoh, 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)

External links

• The Mays: a literary anthology
• Past guest-editors: The Mays: Guest Editors