UCU member wins national writing competition

Esti's story was one of the winning contributions to the book Life's Too Short, which has stories from builders, bakers, care workers and the driver of a bus of unruly schoolchildren.  
 
Esti with Sarah Brown at Downing Street Life's Too Short is one of this year's special Quick Reads series of books. Quick Reads are aimed at people who struggle with reading or have fallen out of the reading habit. They are short books sold at affordable prices in bookshops nationwide and in over 800 workplaces and over 1,000 doctors' surgeries, adult education centres, prisons, hospitals, care homes and community centres. So far over 1.25 million Quick Reads books have been distributed and ten new titles have been written for 2010.
 
Esti, a student at Lancaster University who teaches at the Adult College Lancaster, set her story out as a letter and tells of her experiences finding work in England after arriving here from her native Indonesia.  She said "It's been wonderful to be able to see my work published and to know that it is helping to promote a great cause like improving adult literacy."
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'UCU members understand the power education, and in particular reading and writing, can have to transform people's lives. The Quick Reads books are ideal for people getting back into education or reading and we are delighted that Esti's story was chosen.'