Our People

Lucy Ayrton

Ordinary Fellow

Departmental Lecturer

Department for Continuing Education

Lucy Ayrton is a novelist, poet and Departmental Lecturer in Lifelong Learning (Creative Writing) at the Department of Continuing Education, Oxford University. She is author of two novels, One More Chance (Dialogue, 2018) and Things We Lose In Waves (Renegade, 2023) with a third due to be released in 2027. She has written and performed three full length performance poetry shows: Lullabies To Make Your Children Cry (Edinburgh Free Fringe, 2012), The Splitting of the Mermaid (Edinburgh Underbelly, 2014) and The Storm Torn Coast (performed as part of the Hull City of Culture, 2016).

As a performance poet, she competed in the final of the UK National Poetry Slam, the BBC National Poetry Slam, and has performed widely around the UK, including at Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall. Lucy previously hosted the monthly Oxford Hammer and Tongue Poetry slam. Lucy has a particular interest in writing about class and marginalised groups, and in inclusivity in creative writing pedagogy. She will be the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter College from September 2025.