A FLY Girl’s Guide to University

A FLY Girl’s Guide to University is a collection of memoirs, essays, poetry and prose from four women of colour – Lola Olufemi, Odelia Younge, Waithera Sebatindira, and Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan – who studied at the University of Cambridge. It is a multifaceted calling out of the wrongness underpinning their shared experience at Cambridge, and the experiences of others in similar institutions throughout the UK. But they describe it best: ‘The purpose of our book is simple: we believe that our lives, our experiences, and our voices matter, especially in a place of power, pervasive whiteness and exclusivity. Our voices not only deserve to be heard but must be because the ‘Cambridge experience’ of a middle-class, white, cisgendered, able-bodied man is not the only one. Ours cannot be silenced.

— from Verve Poetry Press

This collection of essays was deeply impactful in helping me better understand the often unseen, everyday struggles of living as a racial minority x woman. The authors' courage to speak vulnerably and honestly creates a raw and sincere reading experience that stayed with me. I hope this book inspires you - as it has me - to reflect on how we can build more racially- and gender-equitable social spaces.

— Li Lin, SD