The best new poetry, prose, and art from the students of Oxford and Cambridge.
The anthology for new writing & artwork from the universities of Cambridge & Oxford
02/10/2025
The Mays, our annual book of the best of new student poetry, short stories, creative photography and art from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford is recruiting! We are look for a student Editor in Chief (or joint Editors in Chief) for our 33rd edition out in 2026!
09/09/2025
Just a quick reminder that the latest edition of The Mays, our book of poetry, short stories, art and creative photography by the students of Cambridge University & Oxford University, is available to order from our online shop here: https://shop.varsity.co.uk/shop/
26/06/2025
Check out this review of The Mays 33 from our big sister publication Varsity!
Heather Leigh explores the poetic worlds within the recently published student anthology The Mays 33
14/06/2025
๐ EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ๐
We are delighted to announce that our launch event will be taking place on the 21st June from 2-4pm on Pembroke College's beautiful Red Buildings Lawn! This is a chance for writers and contributors to as well as readers of The Mays to meet one another, mingle and celebrate this wonderful anthology together!
There will be readings from student writers, refreshments, a chance to pick up a copy if you haven't already and, most likely, sun! :)
We can't wait to see you there! In the meantime, happy reading ๐๐
๐จ: Daisy Cooper
20/05/2025
We are still so excited that The Mays 33 is out in the world! In anticipation of our book sale today, here's a sneak peek into the book at Daisy Cooper's beautiful internal art 'A Penny for Your Thoughts' ๐จ๐๏ธ
Join us for our English Faculty Book Sale (in Cambridge) shortly! We can't wait to see you there, and will be around from 1-4pm ๐
We're still so excited about The Mays 33 launch, and can't wait for you all to see it in person! Join us this coming Tuesday for our book sale where we will be selling copies of the anthology by card :)
We are so thrilled to reveal the beautiful cover of The Mays 33 - illustrated by and with huge thanks to the amazing Jessica Leer ๐
When asked about her inspirations for this year's cover, Jessica responded: "I am so excited for everyone to see this cover. I feel like I put a lot of myself in it: the colours, the dancers and stars all feel like a piece of me that I'm giving to The Mays."
Pre-sales will be opening soon. We hope you are all as excited as we are to read and enjoy all the wonderful student writing and art within this issue of The Mays. Our team has worked so hard on it, and we cannot wait for it to be out in the world with you all! ๐
20/04/2025
33 years, 33 covers... What will this year's Mays look like? ๐๐
๐๏ธ: by the fantastic Daisy Cooper !
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The Mays, published by Varsity draws together some of the best poetry, prose and visual art that the students of the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have to offer.
Notable guest editors of our books in recent years have included Stephen Fry, Kate Bush, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Patti Smith, Sir Quentin Blake, Rupi Kaur, poet laureate Ted Hughes, Louis de Berniรจres and many, many more! Check out the full list here: https://www.themaysanthology.co.uk/previous-editors/
World famous novelist Zadie Smith was first noticed by literary agents after her short story appeared in the 1997 edition of The Mays.
Though that said, to get a real idea of the impact of these publications for the students of Cambridge and Oxford - those with a dedicated interest (or moreover, those with just too much time on their hands!), may just want to Google โThe Maysโ, โThe Mays Anthologyโ and the โThe Mays Anthologiesโ and marvel (as we did) how much new talent weโve given a helping hand to, over all these years! Thereโs just too many to mention!!