SayersSomerville alumna and award-winning novelist Michèle Roberts returned to the College earlier this month for a reunion of those who came up in 1967. Speaking about fellow writer and Somervillian Dorothy Sayers (above) who came up to Somerville in 1912, Roberts reflected in particular on the themes and images of ghosts in Sayers’ Oxford 1935 detective novel Gaudy Night, and on how Somerville gave her ‘a community of friends; a community of sister readers’. Read the full text of Michèle’s talk.

Further reading?

Introducing Somerville’s Newest Fellows

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12 October 2026
Introducing Somerville’s Newest Fellows

Esther Rantzen (1940-2026)

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01 October 2026
Esther Rantzen (1940-2026)

A Lifeline for the Humanities: Introducing Somerville’s Early Career Fund

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24 September 2026
A Lifeline for the Humanities: Introducing Somerville’s Early Career Fund