BBC journalist Emily Maitlis has been chosen to front Kingston University (KU)'s latest Big Read campaign for prospective students.

The campaign hopes to get freshers reading and interacting with one another off the bat by giving out free copies of a selected book before the start of the first term.

For 2020, Maitlis's book "Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News" was chosen by the KU team behind the campaign.

Maitlis has been recognized as Network Presenter of the Year at the RTA Television Journalism Awards for two years running, and said it is was a huge honour to be chosen for the Big Read:

“I wrote the book partly because I wanted to share my mistakes,” the Newsnight presenter said.

“I wanted to share the things that go wrong as well as the things that go right and that seems, to me, particularly important when you’re starting out – to know that we’ve all done it wrong so many times before it goes right.”

Through the initiative, Maitlis said she hopes to learn from students themselves in this next chapter of her book’s success with readers.

“I think I have got so much to learn from all of you now, embarking on your courses, your studying – and your careers,” Maitlis said.

This year, as students and staff are working remotely during the coronavirus lockdown, copies of an eBook version of Airhead, in addition to the copies being sent to prospective freshers, will be available to existing students and staff to download, with the option of a printed copy once they return to KU.

MA Publishing student, Klara Armstrong, 25, was one of the publishing and creative writing students to welcome having something in common with staff and students when she started at KU last September.

“I felt relief at having an instant conversation starter with both students and lecturers alike,” she said.

“I was touched that the University had sent copies to all new students to welcome them into its diverse and creative community – a kind gesture to kick start our Kingston journey."