Hertford DPhil student shortlisted for Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award

8 May 2026

Congratulations to Hertford DPhil student Aya ambiguous.wang, whose story An Uncomfortable Dictionary has been shortlisted for this year’s Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award.

The award, organised by the Oxford Prospects and Global Development Institute (OPGDI) and supported by The Oxford Research Centre in Humanities (TORCH), highlights exceptional emerging literary talent from across the University. Founded in 2019 by Nobel Laureate Professor Mo Yan, it celebrates original short fiction and Oxford’s contribution to international and cross-cultural literary exchange.

Aya ambiguous.wang reflects:

“Aya ambiguous.wang is a nothing-special DPhil student at Hertford College. As her name suggests, she will often be successfully unnoticed, especially in English academia, where people love to cite surnames. 

Set in Oxford, An Uncomfortable Dictionary is a flip side of the romantic city, narrating the protagonist’s unutterable discomforts. Something begins to shift gradually when the protagonist meets other Chinese and Asian students, and and … 

This uncomfortable piece is intertwined with race, gender, ‘conditions,’ nonconformity, and many others, individually and collectively. It is not a DEI project. I think. 

This is the first English story Aya ever wrote. You can judge her English, and she will judge your Chinese. She often struggles to complete things because of her ‘conditions,’ but luckily she finished this one and submitted it in the last ten minutes before the deadline, as always. 

Contact her at ayayawang@proton.me to share memes you like! Or connect over trauma bonding. 

ambiguous.wang would like to thank Chinese diaspora communities of women and marginalized groups in the UK for supporting her to make sense of the uncomfortable experiences in her daily life. Thanks to Asian Solidarity and Decolonising Anthropology Collective at Oxford for tackling the collective discomforts together on campus. Thanks to everyone who is a part of this story.” 

The winner will be announced at the award ceremony on Thursday 14 May 2026 at the Schwarzman Centre for Humanities. Further information about the award and booking details for the ceremony are available here.