Joining the MLitt Publishing 2015-16 class in the University of Stirling is a fulfilled dream for me, basically owing to the fact that I can finally put the little practical knowledge that I have acquired into building a successful publishing career.

I am looking forward to finally becoming a professional publisher, with the knowledge and experience I am receiving here in Stirling; and I hope to return to Ghana to impact the Ghanaian publishing industry positively.

I trust that with this qualification, I can significantly influence the Ghanaian educational system through publishing, because I still believe that publishing is a tool for educational and economic development for any country especially a developing one like Ghana.

My dream of change starts here in Stirling with an MLitt Publishing Studies degree.

Having graduated from the University of Oldenburg (a lovely city in the north of Germany) with a BA in English Studies and Politics and Economics in Summer 2015, I was delighted when I received my acceptance email from the University of Stirling. My friends in Germany said it was only “natural” that I would end up in the UK – I like to think this reflects my interest in other cultures, and my desire to take on new challenges…

I had struggled with finding “the right career choice” for a long time. After studying Japanese Studies at the University of Düsseldorf for one semester, I realized that I instead wanted to do “something that has to do with literature” (wow, so specific!). After some consideration, I decided to pursue a degree in English Studies with a focus on literary and cultural studies. I was (and still am) especially interested in pop literature and its representation of contemporary discourses, a fact that was reflected in the choice of my bachelor thesis topic “We Are the Inquisition! (Are we not?): The Representation of Female Warriors and Leaders in Bioware’s Dragon Age: Inquisition.”

I worked for Professor Martin Butler at the Univeristy of Oldenburg, which gave me the opportunity to be involved in the copy-editing and proofreading process of an academic edited volume and several papers and bibliographies. This sparked my interest not only in academic publishing, but in the publishing industry in general. Finally, my original plan to pursue a career that has “something to do with literature” took a more precise shape!

I believe that with my great attention to detail, ability to critically reflect my own as well as others’ work, and skill set I developed through my undergraduate studies, an editorial position might best suit me in the future. However, I am also interested in the design aspects of the publishing process and know a thing or two about Adobe software, so I am excited to see where my journey during and after the MLitt will take me!

My name is Lara Gascón and I’m a Spanish, responsible and active girl who is very eager to work and learn new things. Having concluded my last year in the Faculty of Humanities at Pompeu Fabra University, I recently started a Master Degree in Publishing Studies at Stirling University.

During my previous studies, I had the opportunity to benefit from a syllabus based on knowledge of history, thought and aesthetic experience. Upon completing the training process, I acquired competences that made me suitable for being a critical reader.

On the one hand, the large amount of multicultural readings I worked with made me an open-minded person, an essential ability to take into account any proposed project without being influenced by the literary genre, the author or the manuscript source.

On the other, I learnt to appropriately summarize and integrate information contained in written texts, oral discourses and visual documents. Efficiency in finding and comparing information that reinforces the meaning of a text is important in documentary and graphic research, as well as an essential requirement for ensuring project success.

Particularly interested in marketing management, I want to focus my professional career in the publishing industry. Personally I’m really interested in becoming a publisher since I was an intern at Ara Llibres. Throughout my internship, I had the opportunity to take part in various stages of the editorial process (design, layout, correction, editing). The Master covers all the publishing procedures in a practical and specific way, which is another reason why I choose Stirling’s MLitt in Publishing Studies.

In a future, I would like to have the opportunity to contribute to the creation, design, editorial realization and production of reference works in the field of culture, history, territory and gastronomy, as well as the development of digital projects. And realizing this Master will be ideal to complement my acquired knowledge and work experience which will provide a great value to my professional career.