Student Goes off the Beaten Track
University College Falmouth press release
A former MA Professional Writing student at University College Falmouth has edited a new guide to London aimed at helping people dig beneath the surface of the city to find its hidden treasures. Over 500 people crammed Bar Kick in über-hip Shoreditch High Street for the launch of the Not For Tourists Guide to London last week.
Jen Wight's research for the book took in everything from the best Hoxton diner in which to enjoy blueberry pancakes to celebrity grave-spotting in ivy-wreathed north London cemeteries.
London is the first city outside the United States to be covered in the highly successful Not for Tourists series. The aim of the map-based guides is simple: to enrich the daily lives of residents, commuters, business travellers, and (even) tourists, giving them all the practical information they need to make the most of their time in a city.
The handily portable format crams in listings and commentary on restaurants, nightlife, shopping, sports centres, museums and much else, all written by residents with a real passion for the city they call home.
Jen Wight said: "I had a huge amount of fun working on the book - in fact I fell in love with my home town again. I hope Londoners (those born here as well as those perching here) will find it useful and that it might even give them the odd laugh. It was satisfying being able to use the skills and confidence I developed on my MA course in Falmouth, particularly on the creative non-fiction and reviewing modules."
The book has an accompanying website at http://www.notfortourists.com and Jen's website is at http://www.jswight.co.uk.
For further information about MA Professional Writing at University College Falmouth visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/professionalwriting, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01623 214374.
In April 2008, University College Falmouth merged with Dartington College of Arts to create a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing.
The merger will pave the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall in 2012, creating a Higher Education institution unique to the South West.
University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.