Mike Findlay introduces a new charity to Glasgow that has the ability to transform lives through writing.

Us Scots like our literature. We can also boast about our number of well-kent writers: A L Kennedy, Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh, to name a few. But the publishing industry can, at times, be dominated by an elite class of people with a good level of education and affluence who do not necessarily represent the whole picture of our diverse population. This is where the Arkbound Foundation comes in.

The Arkbound Foundation is a unique charity that supports diverse and ‘disadvantaged’ authors get published, focusing on work that covers important social justice issues and the environment. It works with people and groups who are socially excluded, including those who have experienced poverty, or have faced adversity due to their mental health, disability, race, gender or sexual orientation. Arkbound supports them, encouraged them, and guides them through the process of book publishing.

I came across Arkbound almost by accident last year. I noticed an advert for a trustee based in Glasgow and was intrigued by their mission. With some trepidation, I made contact. Having never been a trustee before, I wasn’t quite sure what they were looking for or what to expect. Would I be able to juggle the commitment with full-time work? What realistically could I offer? To cut a long story short, I am glad I laid my initial nervousness to rest and made contact. I am now involved getting this exciting venture off the ground in Scotland.

The charity was founded in Bristol in 2017 and has since set up its Scottish office in Glasgow: great news for us! Arkbound Foundation is the charitable branch of Arkbound Publishing, which has its main operations running from Glasgow. This has enabled the charity to fund, edit and print books for authors from disadvantaged backgrounds as a charitable publisher.

The charity has a small office in the east end of Glasgow at the Rogart Street Campus, but its reach is citywide, with plans for world domination in the future.

Since setting up in Glasgow, creative writing workshops have taken place in the Govan Community Centre involving volunteers from the University of Glasgow in support of aspiring authors.

At the start of the year, Arkbound put a call-out to invite more Scottish authors to come forward and publish books over the next year, and the charity is currently working with a number of emerging Scottish writers. In particular Arkbound is looking for authors who can provide insights and real life experience of some of the issues that are often looked in today’s world including social justice, the environment and politics.

This June sees the launch of ‘The Gods of Frequency’ by Shane Johnstone, which is the story of a working-class Glaswegian musician struggling to make a career in the Celtic folk scene.

Scotland is a hotbed of talented contemporary writers who come from tricky backgrounds. If you look at writers such as Kerry Hudson (see Jan/Feb edition of Westender for her interview) or author of Poverty Safari Darren McGarvey (aka the rapper Loki) whose BBC series last year unearthed the gritty reality behind Scotland’s poverty gap.

What is really exciting about Arkbound is its commitment to breaking down the barriers that are associated with getting into journalism and publishing.

It is as much about getting into journalism and the media as it is about publishing. Arkbound is seeking new partnerships with media organisations, magazines and newspapers around the Glasgow area over the coming months who are supportive of the charity’s aims of making the industry more accessible to all.

Val Pospischil, Chair of the Arkbound Foundation, explains: “Being situated in Glasgow creates numerous opportunities for us to get projects underway. We have a small number of staff members and volunteers but our ambitions are big. We really want more people to get involved. This could be anything from volunteering to help at our events, becoming a trustee, or supporting us to reach out to potential partners and funders.

“Our charity believes everyone has the right to tell their story and publish their words. We use writing and storytelling for bringing people together, so we can understand, learn and share from each other. Whatever a person’s background, situation or income Arkbound can support them in writing their stories, and perhaps being published.”

Arkbound’s success in Bristol is something it is keen to replicate in Scotland. Recent publications include Roofless by Stewart Harvey, a compelling anthology of real life stories of homelessness in the UK; and Bury Me Where They Fall, a dark fantasy book by Jonathan Watts.

The charity is making meaningful and lasting change to the lives of people who have experienced adversity.

Arkbound’s free service can fund publishing, networking, signposting, education and training; employment opportunities and facilitating writing events and workshops for any hard to reach groups and individuals.

Steve Mcnaught, Editor in Chief at Arkbound Publishing, comments: “Glasgow has a very rich literacy culture. The fact that we decided to set-up up our Scottish headquarters here is no coincidence. We have the advantage of the close proximity of the city’s universities and colleges, cultural centres, and also major events and festivals such as Book Week Scotland and Aye Write.

“Glaswegians are also well known for their friendliness and this, coupled with the accessibility of the major organisations throughout the city, means there will be plenty of opportunities to create new partnerships.”

Not only are the books that Arkbound publish transformative in terms of turning round the lives and fortunes of the authors that are supported, but they are also powerful in changing public narrative and assumptions around some of the most important issues of the day. Who knows in the future we could be creating the next generation of Hudsons and McGarveys!

Get involved

Westenders take note – Arkbound needs you! There are a number of you can get involved with Arkbound, from submitting story ideas to volunteering or becoming a trustee. Please email Mike Findlay, Arkbound Foundation Vice-Chair, for more details: mike@arkfound.org.

Got a story idea?

If you have a story idea, please do sent on directly to Arkbound: info@arkfound.org

For more details on Arkbound Foundation see: www.arkfound.org and www.arkbound.org.

Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm

Alastair Chisholm is a children’s author and puzzle creator from Edinburgh and ‘Orion Lost’ is his first novel. The premise is the transport ship Orion which is on its way to Terraform a distant planet at the other end of the galaxy when it encounters ‘an event’. The children of the senior officers are the only ones to be woken by Ship after this event and are subsequently tasked with running the ship with only their rudimentary skills and the help of Ship, the ship’s hologram. They manage to navigate their way through space for a time, jumping from one sector to another, encountering an alien race and dealing with a series of technical malfunctions. However, there are twists and turns aplenty apart from this. Is the heroic Captain Kier, lost in his scout ship during the event, all he seems to be? Is Ship really telling them everything?

I found this novel absolutely enthralling. I’m a big fan of Star Trek, Farscape and Babylon 5, and I think the author is too, for you can detect traces of all three in this novel. This is a real page turner for teenagers who will all find one of the teenage crew with whom they can identify. As well as the action, there are plenty of personality clashes, moral dilemmas and philosophical questions around themes such as xenophobia, power, control and the greater good to keep all readers engaged. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

We all want the ideal work/life scenario which can often end up more of a juggle than a balance, but we are living in a time where there are many options available to us for flexible and home working, or even running our own business. This is only likely to increase this decade as we move away from the traditional working week structures, and the concept of a ‘job for life’ becomes more alien.

There are numerous success stories of friends joining forces to create small businesses from ideas brainstormed around the kitchen table, which then take off and become hugely impactful, think of businesses like ‘Notonthehighstreet.com’ which have inspired many to realise that they can create something from nothing without massive premises. We have more opportunity to develop career portfolios, which can sometimes take a process of exploration and building either in a freelance or contract capacity, while possibly also running a small business from your home. This is a great way to spend bursts of time doing different roles focussed around your strengths, rather than the repetition sometimes associated with a traditional 9 to 5 function.

So, to bring this back into the world of homes and interiors, how can you best arrange your surroundings to enhance your creative flow? Where, how and when do you work best? Do you need a comfy corner with a laptop for the odd few emails, or a dedicated home office where you will spend considerable time?

If it’s the former, perhaps you could invest in a solid statement snuggler sofa tucked into a quiet corner. Add a full size angelpoise lamp to offer you the directional light you may need in the evening, or find a spot near a window if you are to work mostly in daytime. Keep in mind practicalities such as making sure you have a few electricity sockets close by for all your chargers, and a neat storage system for your bits and bobs. Buildable cube shelf designs are great for storing laptops and files, but you can also dedicate some space to books that will inspire you so you can take a mental break if you need it, without leaving the comfort of your position.

If you need a bigger space, you may have the luxury of a home office. If you’re starting from scratch and have budget available, this is a great room to get an expert eye for, as you can really set up foundations of energy flows and colours that will inspire you, or you can inadvertently create the opposite effect. I know myself the difference in how you feel about your work depending on how well your space works for you, and whether it empowers you or depresses you is going to reflect in your output. Sometimes home offices can inadvertently become bland hotchpotches of beige and the ubiquitous black leather desk chair on wheels. Spend some time and money on carefully selected seating so that you are comfortable and well-supported. I can testify that upcycling a lovely wooden chair to type in seemed a great idea at the time and looks lovely, but I’m restricted to short stints of discomfort as I wriggle around trying to get comfy when I should be taking some of my own suggestions on board!

Work around the practicalities by planning out your light and electricity sources, and make sure you have plenty of flexible storage to keep files and paperwork in order. This is such a practical room, and also an emotionally connected one, an interior designer can help you to get the balance of these things right, and will probably help you consider elements that you wouldn’t otherwise think of yourself so that you can proactively create the ideal functional space as opposed to allowing it to organically and illogically evolve around you.

Identify the best space and position for your work, and if you’re short of room at home, perhaps it’s time to invest in building an outdoor office. You can source these locally for surprisingly reasonable time and cost investments.

Pull it all together with some careful thought on colour. Minimal looks work well with warm whites and pale wood, this is great for creating calm thinking spots. Depending on your own personality you might like to add a statement piece of furniture to brighten up your day, or treat yourself to a big inspiring artwork where you can let your eyes linger when looking for inspiration.

This is a great time to set up a working space that works well for you and your lifestyle, which will also help as you grow into achieving your goals for the coming decade.

Images on this page of products available at Hoos.

Mike Findlay meets an inspiring community group in Glasgow who are supporting addictive eaters on the road to recovery.

The current lockdown is exacerbating some people’s behaviours, for better and for worse. If you are an obsessive or addictive eater, this is a particularly prickly time. The temptation to eat even more, may be greater than before. If you are bulimic or anorexic, you may slip into old habits doing both your health and mind a lot of damage.

The chances are that each one of you readers will have experienced, or know someone else that has, struggled with addictive eating.

According to NHS Inform, around 1 in 250 women and 1 in 2,000 men will experience anorexia nervosa at some point; Bulimia is around five times more common than anorexia nervosa and 90% of people with bulimia are female; whilst binge eating usually affects males and females equally.

Dealing with your own addictive behaviour is often done in private. If, however, you are serious about tackling your eating behaviours head on, then you may need to rely on your fellow addictive eaters to see you through the darker times.

And the good news is, help is here.

Addictive Eater Anonymous (AEA) is a friendly community-based support group helping people struggling with their addictions. Describing themselves as a ‘fellowship’, AEA follows a similar model to Alcoholics Anonymous. Although not a religious group, AEA members are encouraged to follow The Twelve Steps, allowing them to acknowledge their struggles and create a way forward.

AEA is a truly global network – with meetings taking place in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In Glasgow, AEA has been in existence for the last three years.

During ‘normal times’, the group has been having open meetings for anyone at Woodside Halls on a Tuesday night at 7pm. During lockdown, this is taking place online instead.

Founding member of AEA in Glasgow is Beth*. She describes herself as a former binge eater, and during the peak of her eating she weighed 23 stone. She relates much of her relationship with food back to her own childhood:

“My parents were immigrants. They came to the UK is the 1950s hoping the streets would be paved with gold. As a child I was full of anxiety, stress and I never thought I was ‘good enough’. It was easy to abuse food in my family home. If you ever came to our house, you never left without eating a great big fat meal. Food was just piled-high on the plate! Now imagine that child, uncomfortable in her own skin, and how easy it would be to abuse food. I used food to anaesthetise these feelings and push them down.

“I had a sister who was morbidly obese who tragically died at 38. I have absolutely no doubt I would have died if I had continued eating the way I did. With lockdown if I was still eating, heaven knows how I would cope right now.”

Beth says her path to recovery came when her doctor referred her to a mental health nurse, who told her about the Twelve Step programme. She has been involved in the programme for around two decades now and describes herself as being “sober from eating for twelve years”.

AEA in Glasgow has moved its activities and support networks fully online. This has gone down well with its members, allowing them to tap into the international AEA network, which runs an average of eight meetings per week through Zoom.

Each meeting provides members with the opportunity to talk about their daily lives and talk through strategies for overcoming addictive behaviours.

Members also have daily contact with each other, and can also ask for a sponsor, which is a powerful way of supporting people through their daily struggles.

Beth is just one of a number of inspiring people who are part of the AEA movement in Glasgow.

Jo* has struggled with addictive behaviour for most of her adult life. She describes herself as having had bulimia and a reformed compulsive exerciser. It wasn’t until she reached her early 40s that she realised the extent of her problem and reached out for support. She has been involved with fellowships for the last five years and says her involvement with AEA in Glasgow has been “a lifesaver”.

Jo says: “On paper I was very successful. I looked well. I had achieved a lot in life materialistically – moving to a more affluent part of Glasgow. However, behind this, I didn’t know how to eat safely. I was binging and I was purging food, most days.

“It was the same with my exercise habits. I was attending half a dozen gyms around the city each week. I was one of these people when I did something, I did it to the extreme. A school friend of mine commented that I never seemed to sit still.

“I didn’t know how to deal with the pain of life without substance or some kind of physical activity. I needed a power that was greater than myself to help me recover. And for me that has been AEA.

“My sponsor is in a different country, but we manage to phone each other each day. AEA is the only thing that has worked for me personally. I see people who are happy that are part of the network and that’s what’s attracted me to stay. I am free from the binging and the purging – I was coughing up blood most days – and that is not a part of my life anymore.”

AEA in Glasgow describes its members as being from “all walks of life” including both males and females, people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, people with different stories to tell. The network is open to anyone to join at any time and often friends and relatives of people with eating disorders attend in support of their loved ones.

Beth comments: “We are a small group and are looking to grow. The fellowship is about reprograming. I have had to learn new ways of living and reacting to life. And that has been taught to me by the other members, which is why we keep in constant contact. Feel free to come and talk to us anytime.”

For more details see:
www.addictiveeatersanonymous.org

*Please note names have been changed to protect identities.

The West End has recently enriched its selection of top restaurants with a Glaswegian/Italian institution: Celino’s. The family run business since 1982 – renowned for its Italian Deli in Alexandra Parade – now has a Partick branch.

When you step into Celino’s what will immediately strike you is the stunning deli counter full of delicious delicatessen from all over Italy. A shrine offering every precious kind of cured meet, olives, artisan cheeses and handmade street food and pastries from Celino’s own Italian chefs.

Inside the Trattoria, the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly thanks to the staff’s typically Mediterranean approach, warm and stress-free. It will embrace you as if you were strolling around the streets of an Italian historical city, popping in for dinner in a typical Trattoria.

Moreish Grande Antipasto (minimum for two persons) is sure to catch your eye. This selection of cold and warm dishes titillates the senses and will have you staring longingly at the server bringing the tagliere (literally, the wood chopping board). It offers a delicious taste of the finest Italian cured meats, freshly sliced from the counter, Celino’s own homemade Porchetta and a selection of artisan cheeses and vegetables.

Warm options complete the offer with fried calamari, crispy seasoned polenta and small handmade arancini and an incredible breaded buffalo mozzarella. It’s so stretchy and warm, it will melt in your mouth – all served with their home-baked bread. This option offers an incomparable combination of great taste and food quantity. Rest assured you won’t regret it.

Afterwards, we shared a ‘della casa’ (homemade) pasta dish. Caserecce with Gorgonzola, castagne e funghi (gorgonzola cheese and chestnuts in a rich, creamy mushroom sauce) was too much of a temptation to consider any lighter option.

We refreshed ourselves with a pint of the Italian lager beer Menabrea, but surely, the vast selection of regional Italian wines will push you to become a real wine connoisseur.

From a light, zesty Pinot Bianco D.O.C. from Friuli, to a full-bodied red Barolo D.O.C.G. from Piemonte you will begin your quest for the perfect wine match for the food selected.

Ending this experience, I am caught by a deep nostalgia of my time in Florence, so my dessert of choice naturally falls onto Tuscan Vinsanto and home-baked cantucci (almond biscuits people often dip into sweet Vinsanto wine). What truly special treat!

Celino’s deli and trattoria offer a choice for everyone, as its motto ‘Tutto per tutti’ proclaims. You can either indulge yourself at the counter for the best food ‘il bel paese’ has to offer, or as an option for takeaway. For a quick breakfast or lunch, or sit in, relax and enjoy the experience of an authentic Italian trattoria in the heart of the West End.

Celino’s
235 Dumbarton Road G11 6AB
0141 341 0311
celinos.com