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Dr Laura Varnam

@drlauravarnam

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Tutor at Univ, Oxford. Poet. Medievalist. She/her. Books: Church as Sacred Space, Encountering Margery Kempe, Primers 7. Next bks: Du Maurier, Beowulf

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2 years ago

✨ Well this is exciting! Primers Volume Seven has a cover and is available to pre-order! ✨ Poems by @antoniataylorpr @jadecuttle and me! 🔗 in my bio. Thanks so much to @katiescribbles and @commajane for choosing my Grendel’s Mother poems and for the fantastic mentoring- it was inspirational and invaluable! So excited for the publication next month and to read my fellow poets’ work! (And keep your eyes peeled for launch details! 👀) #primersvolumeseven #mybeowulfpoetry #ninearchespress #katiehale #janecommane #antoniataylor #jadecuttle #lauravarnam by @drlauravarnam

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2 years ago

This may be one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done!!! It was an enormous privilege and a pleasure to write the afterword to this special collectors edition of Rebecca, hand crafted and letter press printed by fine press publisher @suntupeditions, with incredible illustrations by @ivatroj 🌺 Link in my bio for all the details and some wonderful photos of the gorgeous printing, binding, and artwork! #rebecca #dumaurierrebecca #manderley #suntupeditions #ivatroj #dumauriermonday by @drlauravarnam

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3 years ago

I finished Rebel Angels, the first book in Davies’ Cornish Trilogy, and I have to say that it took a turn I wasn’t expecting!! 😳 After most of the novel was motivated by scholarly research, there was definitely a plot twist!! 😆🥴 I have to say that my reading of the novel was definitely enhanced by the fact that we read Rabelais in the #univteamenglish breakfast reading group a couple of years ago, so I felt quite smug to be able to catch the references when the graduate student and her supervisor were talking about his work! 😁 Looking forward to the next book in the trilogy and to seeing how Davies responds to the first novel (- the strength of the Deptford Trilogy for me was the rewriting and recasting of the first novel in the subsequent two). Are you reading anything good at the moment? #robertsondavies #rebelangels #thecornishtrilogy by @drlauravarnam

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7 hours ago

At the Gender & Creativity conference #GMS2026 back in September, @hellomizk & I ran our MODULAR HAIKU COMICS workshop, a fast, fun, and low-stakes pair of creative activities using words & images to help you encounter your research topic afresh. We’ve now written up the workshop on the @guildmedmak website for FREE personal AND classroom use! No experience of poetry or drawing is necessary, and participants during the conference said that they thought we had given them a new tool for their critical thinking toolbox! Plus it was fun! And we’re all about the value of ✨CREATIVE PLAY✨ in the Guild of Medievalist Makers 🥳 Pop over to the blog tab of www.guildmedmak.com to have a go! #guildmedmak #gummies #modularhaikucomics by @drlauravarnam

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7 hours ago

Action shot! 📸 Such a thrill to interview Daphne du Maurier’s grandson Paul de Zulueta today, in front of a lovely (sold out!) audience at Cheltenham Literature Festival. We had a wonderful & wide ranging conversation about Daphne as a grandmother & a writer, inspired by Paul’s brilliant new book LAST NIGHT I DREAMT: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE DU MAURIERS ✨ There were some wonderful audience questions too. Thanks for having me, Cheltenham, @cheltfestivals, it was a dream come true, and thank you, Paul, for your fascinating insights & book! #daphnedumaurier #lastnightidreamt #pauldezulueta #dumauriermonday by @drlauravarnam

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2 days ago

First day of teaching- complete! ✅ I decided on something new for my start of term Study Skills classes with my #UnivTeamEnglish freshers. I asked them to read Virginia Woolf’s 1926 essay ‘How should one read a book?’, to get them thinking about what reading means and how we might practice it, and I decided to give them each a little notebook as a study skills diary for the term (with a dragon sticker on the front, of course! 🐉🔥). Because I want them to get in the habit of reflecting on their learning, as well as identifying passages of text that feel meaningful to them, I am asking them to note down three things in the book on a week basis: 1. Quotation of the Week (one primary and one secondary). 2. Skill or Practice that they learned that week. 3. Word of the week! (Which could be a new medieval word that they’ve encountered or it could be a word they already knew but understand in a new way- for example, today we talked about the etymology of ‘essay’ meaning to try, test, or prove. I like the provisional and experimental nature of the essay as a testing ground!). I’ll look forward to seeing whether this weekly reflection proves useful across the term! #universitycollegeoxford #englishatoxford by @drlauravarnam

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4 days ago

Absolutely delighted to be hosting former #UnivTeamEnglish student @phillymalicka at the Univ Shakespeare Society on 3rd November for an ‘in conversation’ event about her brilliant debut novel IN HER DEFENCE! ✨ Univ members & OMs sign up via the link in the college comms email (friends of Univ drop me a line, we may be able to squeeze one or two more in!) ✨ I can’t wait to talk to Philly about her journey from Team English to published novelist, and to explore her debut, which was chosen as a Reese Witherspoon book club choice! 👏 #proudtutor #universitycollegeoxford by @drlauravarnam

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5 days ago

My 20th freshers dinner at Univ!! 😳 I don’t know where the time goes! ✨ A pleasure to meet the new students and to get to know them a little before the real work starts in earnest next week!! #univteamenglish #universitycollegeoxford #univ_life by @drlauravarnam

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7 days ago

Finished spring-cleaning my office yesterday ahead of teaching starting (though that should be autumn-cleaning, I suppose! 🍁) and it’s now so spick & span, a little friend moved in 😉 Glad to see he’s already doing the reading… by @drlauravarnam

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8 days ago

🚨 Wed 28 October at 5pm at University College, THE FORMS OF CRITICISM with @susiecampbellwrites @nik_gunn & Esther McManus. Free sign up via the eventbrite link in my bio! 🚨 So looking forward to the first event in my ‘Creating Medieval Criticism Now’ seminar series, funded by Oxford University’s John Fell Fund. Susie, Nik, and Esther will be reflecting on how their particular mode of creative practice benefits their encounters with the Middle Ages in their work. Join us! Thanks to @hellomizk for the artwork and @guildmedmak for the co-sponsorship. #creativecriticism #englishatoxford #universitycollegeoxford by @drlauravarnam

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9 days ago

I enjoy the early evening light in #Oxford, when you can peek into the #Bodleian library reading rooms. Always makes me curious about what books people are reading and what thoughts they are thinking! (No thoughts here, only start of term admin and battles with the photocopier 🤣) by @drlauravarnam

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10 days ago