Guiding urban explorers through Melbourne’s secrets

The four new Hide and Seek Melbourne guidebooks, titled Night Owl, Treasure Trove, Feeling Peckish? and Hit the Streets, were released in February 2011 by Explore Australia Publishing. The titles represent what urban explorers often search for in a new city: shopping, dining, activities and night life.

Dale Campisi, former lecturer at the School of Culture and Communication, was sub-editor for Hit the Streets and Night Owl. He has been reviewing bars, cafes and pubs for over 10 years, since he was a student at the University.

“When you’re trying to be published for the first time, it’s a good idea to start with what you know and love, and what is close by. I spent a lot of time writing when I was a student, and that included reviews of all the places I loved to visit. Writing reviews resulted in some of my first published works and my career has progressed from there,” he says.

He has worked on other initiatives which help people discover Melbourne, including producing large-format travel cards and co-ordinating walking tours.

Jana Raus, former Faculty of Arts student, was one of the writers of Night Owl, Feeling Peckish? and Treasure Trove.

“To contribute to these books, I was able to draw on knowledge gained as a student in Melbourne, but the city has so many secrets, so I needed to do extra research,” says Ms Raus, who completed a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Psychology and English Literature.

“I started freelance reviewing while at the University of Melbourne and was published for the first time while studying. I worked with other students on a publication called The Pundit which was a collection of reviews on the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF),” she says.

She completed an Honours degree and went on to do a Diplomoa of Publishing and Editing. She is currently employed as a publishing editor at Cengage, which is a producer of educational books.

Senior Editor of the Hide & Seek range, Melissa Krafchek of the Hardie Grant imprint Explore Australia, who completed bachelor degrees in Arts and Law with Honours in English Literature followed by a Diploma of Publishing and Editing, says the books were born from a passion for exploring.

“Melbourne naturally lends itself to the concept of the series; with its hidden laneways, eclectic foodie community, treasure trove of shops and abundance of cool drinking holes. Melburnians are spoilt for choice when it comes to unknown, funky and underground haunts,” she says.

Other contributors to the series who are former and current students of the Faculty of Arts programs included Juliette Elfick, Lior Opat, Samuel Zifchak and Oliver Driscoll.

To learn more about the series of books, visit
www.hideandseek.com.au.

To learn more about studying creative writing at the University of Melbourne, visit
www.ba.unimelb.edu.au or www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/graduate.