Hertford student wins Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award

24 June 2024

Hertford undergraduate Iseult de Mallet Burgess (BA Japanese, 2020) has won the prestigious Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award for her piece Jellyfish, which the judges praised for “its atmospheric setting and profound exploration of human experiences within a concise narrative.”

Jellyfish is about complex relationships and liminal spaces, and what may be resolved—or dissolved—within them. It explores a growing chasm between a pregnant woman and her jaded husband and plays with time and transformation.

The Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award was launched in 2021 by the Mo Yan International Writing Centre. The centre is based at Regent’s Park College, and aims to facilitate international and cross-cultural diversity within the global literary community. It is named for 2012 Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, who is an Honorary Fellow of Regent’s Park College. The Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award is organised in parallel competitions, held simultaneously in Oxford and Beijing

Iseult said: “I’m honoured to have received the Oxford-BNU Creative Writing Award 2024 from Nobel laureate Mo Yan. I have great respect for the award and for the work of the judges, and I was humbled by their kind words. ‘Jellyfish’ was a joy to write, and the award feels like a timely encouragement ahead of starting my MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in 2025. I also hope the award may help in my search for an agent. I look forward to continuing my career as a writer and observer of human behaviour. We need our storytellers now more than ever.“