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Martin Stepek

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Contact: [email protected]
Local authority: South Lanarkshire
Languages: English
Martin Stepek's headshot

I focus on three main areas in my writing: mindfulness, poetry, and Polish heritage in Scotland.

I have taught mindfulness since 2004 and was a Sunday Herald columnist on the subject. I have written and published six books reflecting on how to live mindfully.

I am the author of five volumes of poetry, including a collaboration with a renowned Polish-American poet.

My most recent book, published in 2024, is a biography of the early life of my father and his family through pre-war Poland followed by the family’s deportation to a slave labour camp in Soviet Russia in WW2. Three of the main characters, including my father, are teenagers during the war years, making the book particularly relevant for high school pupils studying history or literature, including Holocaust studies.

Local authorities will visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events will deliver

Chairing events; Panel event; Professional development, CLPL or CPD; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop

Audience will work with

Adult learners; Care-experienced people; Carers; Outdoor learning; People experiencing mental health problems; Prisoners & young offenders; Vulnerable young people (under 18); Vulnerable adults; Vulnerable older people; Young people in the community (e.g. Youth clubs, Guides, Scouts)

Topics of work

Activism & protest; Ageing; Biography & memoir; Care experience; Death, grief & bereavement; Drug addiction, alcoholism & substance abuse; Emigration & immigration; Environment & climate; Food; Health including mental health & wellbeing; History; Loneliness & isolation; Music; Nature; Politics; Poverty; Religion & beliefs; Science; Wars & conflicts; World War 1; World War 2

Age groups published for

Adults

Age groups will work with

15-18; 18+

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+