Here is a selection of the fascinating fiction and non-fiction written by Univ alumni published recently.

Dr Alex Antoniou (2018, DPhil History), Lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow, published his first monograph, Roman Priests from Republic to Empire (Oxford University Press, 4 December 2025). More…

This book reconstructs the values, expectations and representations of priests and priesthoods in ancient Rome from the republic to the early empire.

Dan Corry OBE (1979, PPE) published a collection of short stories based on his time as a special advisor in the last Labour government, titled, Tales of the Unelected: “Empty Boxes” and other short stories from the world of the special adviser (Bridge House Publishing, 29 August 2024). More…

“There are so many tensions and emotional conflicts in being a special adviser and Dan Corry takes you into that world through this fascinating collection of stories.” Ed Balls (former special adviser, minister and Shadow Chancellor)

Dr John Lidwell-Durnin (2008, BPhil Philosophy, DPhil History of Science and Medicine) published his first book, Explaining Famine in the British Empire: Agricultural Science, Food Security, and the Rise of Statistics (Oxford University Press, 2026), an academic monograph in the history of science published Open Access thanks to a Leverhulme award. More…

This book is about the famines and food shortages that struck India and Britain at the close of the eighteenth century, and it explores how these crises and episodes of scarcity gave rise to scientific efforts to explain and quantify “famine.”

Comedian Ivo Graham (2008, Modern Languages) published his first book, Yardsticks For Failure: Adventures in Friendship and Fluster (Headline, 22 May 2025). More…

According to fellow comedian Sophie Duker, “His writing is as unpredictable and brilliant as he is.”

“A gleeful glimpse behind the grubby curtain of stand-up comedy, via friendship and films, fatherhood and Funkytown, this book is a feast for anyone who’s ever been enthralled or appalled by Ivo’s cursed politeness, squandered promise, or serial prank-victimhood; for anyone battling to get their own life inbox to zero; for anyone who’s ever set fire to a diary, lost their mind over a quiz, or pegged it through a station for the last train home.” goodreads

Professor Dr Maarten Hajer (1988, Politics) published, Captured Futures – Rethinking the Drama of Environmental Politics (Oxford University Press, May 2025). Professor Hajer is Professor of Urban Futures and Futuring, Urban Futures Studio, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. More…

“Powerful, timely and consequential. It is arguably the most important book on environmental politics in the past decade.” Philip Macnaghten, Nature

Dr Matthew Innes (2016, History) published a monograph: Politics, Polemic, and Political Thought During the French Wars of Religion: The Life of Pierre de Belloy, c.1550–1611 (Oxford University Press, 12 February 2026). More…

“This book identifies Belloy’s engagement with thinkers, such as Marsilius of Padua, Charles Du Moulin, and Jean Bodin, but it also looks to the strengths, shibboleths, and inconsistencies of Belloy’s rhetoric in those debates to develop our understanding of the political and social attitudes of his readers.”

Louise Radnofsky (2001, History) published, with Christopher Stephens, The Light of Day: The moving true story of the first man to come out as gay (Headline Press, 22 May 2025). More…

“‘Your book is the ‘really good book. Just one’ that Roger Butler would have wanted” Sir Ian McKellen

Professor Frank Thurmond (1990, English) published (as Editor) Tales of the Arkansas Frontier by the late Jon Cash (Parkhurst Brothers Publishers, 2025).

“Start with some stabbings, bear hunts and duels and you’ll get the kind of history that ought to regale any reader. Seriously folks, you couldn’t make this stuff up about life on the American frontier and you sure won’t find a better storyteller than Jon Cash.” Rod Lorenzen, journalist and former director of Butler Center Publishing

Professor Raymond Wacks (1971, Law), Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory, published The Rule of Law Under Fire: Will it Survive?, Second Edition (Bloomsbury, February 2026) (more…) and Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory, Seventh Edition (Oxford University Press, March 2026). More…

“This is a valuable addition to the burgeoning literature on the rule of law. Wacks explores the subject from a fresh perspective.” Patrick Elias, Former Lord Justice of Appeal (on The Rule of Law Under Fire)

Writer and poet Dr Jennifer Wong (1998, English) has published a new collection of poetry, Light Year (Nine Arches Press, 19 February 2026). Light Year is a meditation on time. These poems delve into the mind of a poet crossing spaces of deep wounds, love and healing: a constellation of friendships and love as she moves through upheaval, transformation and change. More…

“These poems map the echoing distances between interplanetary bodies, between moment and memory, between home and homeland, between two figures reaching across time and space. With the effortless precision of falling snow, they limn the contours of negative space and negative capability, rendering forms both ephemeral and indelible, both delicate and inevitable.” Monica Youn

N.B. There is a discount code (which will take 25% off the cover price) for Univ College members and friends who would like to buy Light Year through Nine Arches Press. Please email communications@univ.ox.ac.uk for details.

Published: 7 April 2026

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