University of Exeter MA students publish book about UNESCO Cities of Literature

University of Exeter MA publishing students have been working collaboratively since September to produce their new publication, UNESCO Cities of Literature”.

The book is a collection of short fiction, articles, reviews and interviews, grouped into four chapters. Each chapter explores a theme: Heritage, Survival, Connection, and Community.

Through the book, the students aim to raise awareness of Exeter’s status as a City of Literature – a title the city has held since 2019. 

Exeter’s label as a UNESCO City of Literature makes it part of a network of 53 cities and spanning across six continents. While a large goal of the publication is to spread awareness of Exeter’s City of Literature status, they also hoped to highlight the diversity of meaning that the title has when attributed to each awarded city.

One publishing student described the book being able to “enable those in Devon to connect to and better understand what it means to be a City of Literature and part of this global network.”

She continued by saying: “During the process of researching for and creating the publication, I have gained a greater awareness of the kinds of worldwide literary relationships that Exeter is a part of which led to amazing opportunities for transnational collaboration.”

The process of producing the publication began in September 2024 as the cohort pitched concepts for pieces to be included. Students then independently attended events to review, researched global traditions and organisations to write articles about, and interviews contributors.

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With talks from guest speakers and industry experts, the students developed structural and copyediting skills which were applied to the drafted pieces. The publication was also proofread by students, and the entire process has been overseen and supported by the expertise of Dr Kate Wallis and Dr D-M Withers.

As the separately researched pieces began to be woven together into a cohesive publication, the design team were able to begin considering colour palettes and illustrations to be combined during typesetting stages.

Aarya Shetty drew the illustrations used within the publication, and when asked about the process for this, Aarya told The Exeter Tab: “Illustrating was a nice break from working with words. I could just throw on my headphones, get lost in Illustrator, and let my mind relax. As a visual reader, each piece felt like a snapshot of what was going on in my head while I was reading”.

After the release of the publication, the cohort hosted two launch events, one online and one in person, which gave the opportunity for contributors to celebrate their finalised work, and to encourage those who were interested in the publication to connect with others and share ideas.

Speaking on the process, a participating student explained: “A huge amount of work has gone into creating this publication, and I am so proud of how it has turned out. I’m really excited to keep spreading the word and introducing people to our wonderful book”.

UNESCO Cities of Literature is available as an EPUB to read for free.