GW PROFESSOR CO-AUTHORS 3^rd EDITION OF
"NEWCOMER'S HANDBOOK FOR WASHINGTON D.C."

English Professor Chansky Expand Chapter on Cultural Life in the District

WASHINGTON – The 3^rd edition of the "Newcomer's Handbook for Washington, D.C.," written by Mike Livingston and GW Professor Ricia Chansky, covers 35 neighborhoods and includes more than 200 pages of advice on finding a home, choosing schools and child care, getting around the Washington area, and taking care of every administrative detail from driver's licenses to dog vaccinations.  The 3^rd edition is also the first to include Web site addresses for community organizations, government agencies, newspapers, utility companies, and other resources.  Unlike a travel guide, the Newcomer's Handbook assumes the reader is coming here to stay.

"The new edition, which is more than twice as long as the previous one, is filled with important information for people new to the city and for those trying to better familiarize themselves with D.C. and the greater metropolitan area," Chansky said.  "At each new place that I covered for the text, I felt as though I was discovering rarely seen treasurers and couldn't wait to rush home and write them up for the book."

Since 1980, the "Newcomer's Handbook" series of city guides has offered readers a unique guide to moving to and living in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and other major cities.   

Professor Ricia Chansky graduated with an interdisciplinary Master's degree in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College with a concentration in poetry.  Her poetry has been published in such journals as Many Mountains Moving, The Baltimore Review and Spinning Jenny.  In addition, she has been awarded artists' residencies for poetry, and has been nominated for the University's Bender Teaching Award and Advisor of the Year.  Having taught in GW's English Department for six years, Chansky also serves as a freshman and Living and Learning Community advisor.  She teaches "at risk" youths in a teen writing program that she designed at The Smithsonian Institute and is a writer for the Education Department of The Kennedy Center. 

"I hope that people reading 'The Handbook' will be inspired to roam off the tourist path and become true Washingtonians."

For more information on "The Handbook" visit www.firstbooks.com.

-- GW --

©2002 The George Washington University Office of University Relations, Washington, D.C.
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