Epigram

Epigram is an excellent source of many journalistic and thought provoking endeavours by fellow students, and possesses the considerable benefit of being supported by the University. It has given rise to twenty-five years of talent-producing articles, and is a place for budding journalists to hone their writing skills before replicating them in prof... essional positions. The various alumni of Epigram include - amongst esteemed others - its founder, the now prominent BBC journalist, James Landale. The success of Epigram in carrying student opinion raises the question as to why no other outlets for students to flourish creatively have opened in a similar fashion, or indeed as part of Epigram itself. The lack of an independent journal dedicated to the publication of creative writing pieces produced by the student body is a huge deficiency for the University, which is missing a valuable opportunity to be part of the UK's thriving literary scene. For example, Oxford and Cambridge's joint Mays Literary Anthology, which was founded in 1992, is considered to be the broadest literary outlet for these Universities. The success of Mays can be measured by the achievements of those who were first published in its pages. For instance, the acclaimed 'Orange Prize for Fiction' winner Zadie Smith is one of those writers, partly due to the attention of literary agencies and publishers she attracted with a short story she had published in Mays in 1997. Several Universities have followed suit, for example the University of Brighton has launched its brightONLiNE student literary journal, and the University of Nottingham are encouraging students to take up their pens for their literary journal The Letters Page, launched in October of last year. These examples demonstrate that Bristol is missing out on fostering its own literary talent at home, through its own platform, and is instead leaving it up to the likes of other Universities to produce the future writers of contemporary literature. The lack of such a platform in Bristol is even ...Read More