Two creative writers from the University of Glasgow have been shortlisted for the prestigious Channel 4's IDEASFACTORY Write Away Travel Competition.

Fiona Parrott, a PhD Creative Writing student at the University, and Mandy Haggith, a second year MPhil student of the same discipline, have been selected alongside 14 other candidates to take part in a series of masterclasses led by some of the country's most successful travel writers, publishers and commissioners from print and the media. Four finalists will then go on to professional writing industry placements with a chance to turn their dream into reality and see their writing translated into print or moving image.

'For the University of Glasgow's Creative Writing course to have 2 out of the 16 shortlisted candidates put forward for this competition is phenomenal,' explains Professor Willy Maley, Head of Creative Writing. 'This reflects well on the breadth and diversity of students in the department, and the opportunities that present themselves upon graduating.'

IDEASFACTORY: WRITE AWAY, which was officially launched at the Inverness Book Festival in October this year aims to find young writers who want to develop their writing skills. With a particular focus on the concept of travel, Write Away is a new creative career development initiative targeted at young people who want to make a career in writing for print, the internet, and film.

Originally from San Francisco, California, Fiona Parrott has been living in Glasgow for the last 5 years. Having graduated with an MLitt in Creative Writing, a joint course between Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, she is currently undertaking study towards in PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. She explains:

'My PhD is a travel narrative based on the lives and works of three Latin American writers: Victoria Ocampo, Alfonsina Storni and Gabriela Mistral. Two years ago, I went to Argentina and Chile to research these women - my narrative is based on my journey through both countries with these women's lives and work interwoven into my own text. The working title is, 'Three Women and an Unmarked Map', and should be complete by next month.'

Fiona's poems, short stories and articles have previously been published in New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland, Nerve, STAR, Confluence, eSharp and Burning Bush. In 2005, you will find her work in 'France and the Americas: Culture, History, Politics' as well as in two Multilingual Matters publications.

Mandy Haggith is writing a novel about the last bear in Scotland. She writes poetry mostly about land and nature. She explains:

'I'm really excited about being shortlisted and getting the chance to learn more about travel writing. As a writer and an environmental activist I am obsessed by paper. My travel dream is to do a 'paper trail' to bear witness to the impact of the UK's paper consumption on the world's forests and the people who live in them. '

After studying philosophy and maths at the University of Oxford, Mandy Haggith became an academic in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. In the mid-nineties she decided to spend the most of ten years campaigning to save the world's forests. She currently lives in woodland croft in Assynt, in the Highlands, where she works as a freelance writer, researcher and global forest activist. She is currently in her second year of the Glasgow Creative Writing MPhil, which she claims is: 'the best thing I've ever done, the highlight being the chance to learn from Tom Leonard.'

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

For more details contact Mike Findlay the University Press Officer on 0141 330-3535.

For more details on the Ideasfactory, see: Ideasfactory Scotland Website.

First published: 20 December 2004