Welcome!

Roger Wagner is an artist and poet who teaches at the University of Oxford in the Ruskin School of Art. He has translated and illustrated the psalms, produced several books of poetry, painted the Archbishop of Canterbury’s portrait, and has work in collections around the world. His book The Penultimate Curiosity written with Andrew Briggs, won the 2019 Aréte award and was awarded an honourable mention in the 2019 Joseph Ratzinger Expanded Reason awards. He is currently writing a sequel The Penultimate Image, which explores the connections between art and religion. Among current artistic projects is a 15 foot mosaic for St Matthews Bayswater.

My Books

The Nearer You Stand

Poems and Pictures

 This collection combines poems and paintings in pairs to explore specific places and familiar biblical narratives, inviting us to see them from new and unexpected angles.

The Curious Science Quest

Meet Harriet, Darwin’s pet tortoise, and Milton, Schrodinger’s indecisive cat, on a time-travelling quest of discovery.  First Stop, the cave paintings drawn by our human ancestors.  Did these pictures mean anything and what can they tell us about our ancestors?

Werner Herzog discusses The Penultimate Curiosity with Andrew Briggs and Roger Wagner at Chapman University