Utopia Reading Group

If you’re interested in utopia (or simply looking for a reason to read more fiction), join the Oxford Utopia Reading Group. We read one novel over the course of each term, discussing a few chapters every week. So far, we’ve read More’s Utopia, Bogdanov’s Redstar, Abdelhadi’s and O’Brien’s Everything for Everyone, and Bellamy’s Looking Backward. This Trinity we’ll read William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890). We’ll meet Friday afternoons at 4 pm in Brasenose College to discuss a few chapters of News From Nowhere. Weekly discussions will be supplemented with short readings by Morris, his contemporaries, and present-day political theorists on topics drawn from the novel. These topics include child liberation, prison abolition, work, revolution, art, and love. Each session will conclude with a reading of one of Morris’s Chants for Socialists. There will also be opportunities to visit local sites decorated by Morris & Co. and to view some of Morris’s illuminated manuscripts held in the Bodleian Library archives. Anyone is welcome and no prior knowledge is expected or required.

View reading list at tinyurl.com/nowhereTT25

Send a blank email to utopia.reading.group-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk to subscribe to the Utopia Reading Group mailing list.

Email the convener, Sophie Cardin, at sophie.cardin@politics.ox.ac.uk
Type: Seminar Series
Series organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Timing: Fridays at 4pm

Talks:

Friday 2 May 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week One: Beginnings
Date: 2 May 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Old Library
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 9 May 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Two: Child Liberation
Date: 9 May 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Old Library
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 16 May 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Three: Prison Abolition
Date: 16 May 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Old Library,
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 23 May 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Four: Work
Date: 23 May 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Lecture Room VII
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 30 May 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Five: Revolution
Date: 30 May 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Lecture Room VII
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 6 June 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Six: Art
Date: 6 June 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Lecture Room VII
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 13 June 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Seven: Love
Date: 13 June 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Platnauer Room
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Friday 20 June 2025

William Morris's News from Nowhere - Week Eight: Home
Date: 20 June 2025, 16:00 - 18:00
Speaker
Venue: Brasenose College, Radcliffe Square OX1 4AJ
Venue Details: Old Library
Organiser: Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Editor: Sophie Cardin