Sharing Stories - The Well at the Worlds End

Part of our role in the Sharing Stories project was to find Scottish stories which complimented or echoed the stories we had heard from Syria or Sudan. We chose The Well at the Worlds End, because we heard a few different variations of the story in which a young woman is sent into the woods to fetch something - a sieve, some water -usually from a magical source.

This story also blends in elements of the more familiar Frog Prince story, but with something much more unexpected than a kiss to break that spell...

A version in Arabic is available on youtube.

Sharing Stories

For the last year, as part of my work with Magic Torch Comics CIC, I've been working with Inverclyde Community Development Trust on their Sharing Stories project – which is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. Our part in the process, was to create a book of illustrated folk tales with stories from Scotland, Syria and Sudan.

The project developed directly from a comic we worked on a few years back, which had young people from recently arrived Syrian families, learning about the myths and legends of their new home town and creating a story and a learning resource related to Children’s Rights.

At the time that project felt like the first part of a conversation; we’d told our stories, and now, it was time for us to listen and hear stories back. We all know that stories, folklore, heritage – culture, can be lost during displacement, and we all felt this was one way of keeping elements of culture alive, and finding out more about one another in the process.

One of the things that worked well about the Sharing Stories project was it being housed within an organisation which was already running some services with Inverclyde’s New Scots community, in particular, a befriending programme – so we were able to tap into that. For example, Roijin invited us along to her house a few times for amazing coffee, to tell us all about Newroz and Kurdish culture. Eventually she chose the story of Shengay and Pengay, two sheep who are left alone in the house when their mother goes out. It’s a “wolf at the door” style story, where a character, is trying to trick their way into a house. We heard a few different variations.

And what we had set out to do, was hear as many stories as possible, find some with some common themes or symbols and then find a few Scottish tales that would also echo those themes. Because there’s a universality to stories, symbols and archetypes obviously repeat across cultures and we wanted to produce a book that reflected that.

Obviously, the language differences were a challenge in the project – that was almost the whole point. We spent a fair bit of time with an ESOL group supported by Inverclyde Community Learning and Development - and the first few weeks were just polite chaos, but gradually we established a rhythm. Members of the group would come in with written down texts of stories, which they would read and then another member of the group would translate into English and I would scribble it down, or we’d use google translate to try and figure it out, and all the while, Mhairi would be sitting sketching the characters we were talking about and checking if this is how they should look in our story book.

Eventually we whittled the group of stories down to 8 – which was tricky, because towards the end we were suddenly getting more and more suggestions. And the stories we chose all feature water or rivers in some way, which seemed fitting given that we’re down in Greenock, right on the banks of the Clyde.

I think genuinely my favourite day in the project, was when we finally convinced Tamadour and Amal to record their stories. You can hear their versions of The Old Man and The Apple Seller and Fatima on soundcloud.

The book was due to launch in April at our local library at an event with families of everyone involved – of course, that’s been put on hold for just now. Hopefully we’ll get that happening later in the year. 

Meantime, The Trust’s project worker Ilona proposed getting them online in a few alternative formats, so for the next two weeks, we will be sharing a story each day in two different versions – one read by me in English and the other read in Arabic or Kurmanji. Here’s the first one below, from Sudan, the story of Lion and Rabbit.

Ito the rabbit is a trickster, often associated with Anansi and Brer Rabbit, and there was certainly a lot of chat and laughter about how Assad the Lion was the typical arrogant leader who values strength and fear above leadership. I think you can maybe guess who comes out best...

Be Your Own Audiobook - Tell A Story

The other day, I received an email from a Scottish teacher currently teaching English in an international school in China. In her message, Joanna explained that before the school broke up for New Year holidays, she had been reading my book The Superpower Project to her class. Of course, school did not return after the holidays; instead, pupils found themselves stuck indoors due to coronavirus quarantine measures. Joanna and teachers like her, have been making the best of the situation, trying to keep pupils upbeat and focussed, by teaching online as best they can. Joanna had been recording herself reading chapters of The Superpower Project and sending them to the class – a chapter every day, read aloud. She wondered if I would be able to send an email to the class, wishing them well and encouraging them to keep listening and reading.

Writers are often delicate folk and everyone writes in different ways about different things for different reasons. However, the one thing I would say most writers have in common is that they like to know people are enjoying reading their stories. And not just in the traditional “please leave an amazon review” way. You made something, someone likes it. That’s nice.

More importantly though, if I take myself out of the situation, Joanna’s email was just this brilliant reminder of how important books and reading can be in times of crisis. And how fortunate for writers and readers alike, that there’s this incredible world of people, booksellers, bloggers, librarians and teachers, who can help you find just the story you need in those moments.

It’s been four years this month since The Superpower Project was published, five years this month since I finished the first draft and entered it in the Kelpies Prize. That’s a long time in books. And though I never did quite get my proposed sequel together, it’s delightful to know that people are still reading my book, and that it’s providing some comfort. (For the record, the sequel was going to have Antarctic explorer Birdie Bowers discovering a spaceship during the Terra Nova expedition, a collection of musical superweapons designed by James Watt, plus all our heroes developed more superpowers and also there was an alien spider queen. I’ll be the first to admit it was a bit messy.)

So, I recorded myself reading a few chapters of The Superpower Project and sent them on to Joanna, and we’ve agreed that the class are going to send me some questions to answer. Sort of a long distance Live Literature session. We’ll keep in touch. These days, it feels good to make connections like that.

As we head towards World Book Day, with all the costumes and additional activities that can sometimes entail, its definitely important to remember that the thing children will respond to most – is being read books. The research proves it. And it’s not just children and young people, you can read to grown ups too. You can even just read out loud to yourself. It's not weird, it's fine. In fact. there’s lots of accessible ways to tell stories for all audiences.

This world book day, if you can, read someone a story– it might just make their day.

Here’s one I read earlier, Superhero Supermarket, which originally appeared in Storytime Magazine Issue 34.

2020 Visions

At this particular point in my life, I'm extremely lucky, because everything I do is about stories. And in addition to my own writing, and work with digital storytelling, I also run Magic Torch Comics CIC, which works with schools, community groups and organisations, to tell stories using comics.

Magic Torch Comics are looking forward to a busy 2020, and it’s off to a flying start, as we were named one of The Big Issue’s Top 100 changemakers for 2020. It’s a great list, full of amazing people and projects, and we are delighted to be a part of it.

Magic Torch Comics have lots of projects happening and comics launching in the first half of 2020, and I thought we would share them with you now, so you know what to look out for. 

In March, we have two books launching on World Book Day (Thursday 8 March) – a collection of Gaelic Folktales created with the Callander’s Landscape project, and a story book of Syrian, Somalian, Kurdish and Scottish folktales produced with Inverclyde Community Development Trust and local ESOL learners supported by Inverclyde Community Learning and Development. And later that month, we'll be showcasing the work of the young people we've worked with on Inverclyde Libraries Making Waves project.

In April, we’ll be launching 1820 – The Paisley Radicals at Paisley Comicon. The book is illustrated by Dylan Gibson and the project was funded by Paisley CHEF fund. It will be previewed at Paisley Book Fest at our Make Comics History workshop on Sunday 23rd February.

In July, we will be at Glasgow Comicon, launching the first of our Outside The Box anthologies. Outside The Box works with marginalised young people in the Inverclyde community, to create comics which share their ideas and lived experiences. The project is supported by National Lottery Community Fund and you can see a promo video for the project below.

Back in 2018, we lost our colleague, Andy Lee, who had worked with us since we started making community comics. We had completed a comic with Andy about the life of Scottish Pirate Captain Kidd, but decided to shelve it. However, with the blessing of Andy’s family, we will be releasing the book, I Thought I Was Undone later this year as a charity publication. More details soon.

We will also have a huge range of information comics releasing – created with schools and community groups and sharing information and stories from the Scottish Parliament, Health and Social Care Partnerships and the Poverty Truth Community. We are so delighted with the diversity of projects that we are asked to get involved with. Please keep them coming!

And in the unlikely event that’s not enough comics for you, Magic Torch Comics also hope to launch our first Kickstarter this year, for a comic which explores the story of The Stone of Destiny, released in time for the 70th Anniversary of the theft of the stone this Christmas. Fingers crossed.

There’s more on the slate, but that’s what we can tell you for now. As ever, if you are interested in getting involved in our projects, would like to know more about what we do or even have a potential idea for collaboration, please get in touch.

We'll share lots more on the projects over the next few months, so keep an eye on the blog, twitter and our facebook page to stay up to date.

Magic Torch Comics - Community Comics

Magic Torch Comics Team delivering on Project 22 last year

I'm so pleased to be able to say today that Magic Torch Comics CIC have received support from Young Start (National Lottery Community Fund Scotland) for our Outside The Box - Community Comics project, which will be delivering across Inverclyde from 2019 - 2021. To find out more about the project contact Magic Torch Comics or follow on twitter. I'll be sharing a few bits and pieces from the project on here as well. Read all about the projects supported by Young Start below...


YOUNG SCOTS DANCE TO THE TUNE OF £1.3 MILLION FROM THE YOUNG START FUND 

An intergenerational dance company that helps young people creatively connect with older generations through dance is amongst a number of groups sharing in 1.3 MILLION of dormant bank account funding. 

Across the country 19 youth-led projects are celebrating £1,334,561 from the Young Start fund, which aims to help young people build confidence, skills and take an active role in realising their own potential. See a full list of projects here. 

Young Start is delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund and awards dormant bank and building society cash to projects led by and for young people.

One of the groups celebrating today is Barrowland Ballet, based in Glasgow, which receives £98,314 to deliver intergenerational dance workshops and performances. The project, which is called ‘Wolf Pack’ will also provide three young associates places to volunteer and gain group facilitation and leadership experience.

Natasha Gilmore, Artistic Director of Barrowland Ballet, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded three-year funding from the Young Start Fund. We passionately believe that dance is for everyone and Wolf Pack is a celebration of different generations collaborating. We provide a chance for young people to creatively engage alongside other members of their local community, develop new skills and create dance performances that give each of them an opportunity to express themselves.”

Also welcoming the funding is Isaac, 10, whose confidence has come on leaps and bounds since joining the dance company in 2017, he said: "Before I started in Wolf Pack, I didn’t really think I could dance but now I know I can. I have so many good friends too. I feel much more confident than I used to. Last week I stood up in front of 100 children at my school and gave a speech because I wanted to be house vice-captain of my school house. I was up against seven others and I won the vote! Without the confidence gained at Wolf Pack I wouldn’t have gone for it.”

Also sharing in today’s cash boost are Magic Torch Comics in Inverclyde. Their £62,708 award will enable them to run Outside the Box – Community Comics, which will empower young people from marginalised groups to create comics that reflect the imagination, lives and stories in their community. The young people will design, create and distribute their comic books at this year’s Comic Con.

Paul Bristow, Director of Magic Torch, said: “Magic Torch Comics are absolutely delighted that we have this new opportunity to provide free comics workshops across the Inverclyde community. Over the next two years our Outside the Box - Community Comics project will work with young people to help them share their stories, life experiences, hopes and ideas using comics. We're looking forward to discovering lots of new writers and artists - everyone has a story to tell."

Announcing today’s funding, National Lottery Community Fund, Chair, and Maureen McGinn, said:
“Young Start aims to support projects that are led by, and for, young people, giving them the best possible start in life. All of today’s projects share an ambition to help young people grow in confidence and play an active part in realising their potential, and so it is with great pleasure that we announce this latest investment totalling £1,334,561.

Groups wanting to know more about Young Start should visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/young-start or contact 0300 123 7110.

Haunted Voices Anthology

I'm delighted to be part of the extremely diverse team of writers and storytellers included in Haunted Voices - An Anthology of Scottish Gothic Storytelling.

The project is led by Rebecca Wojturska of Haunt Publishing, and is on Kickstarter now.

There are many awesome backer options for print, ebook and audio versions...but only one of them nets you AN ACTUAL GHOST IN A JAR.

You can head over to twitter to hear excerpts from the audiobook should you need any further convincing. Though I honestly don't know why that would be when I already told you there's a ghost in a jar.

Support new indie publishing and support storytelling by backing Haunted Voices on Kickstarter today.

Digital Storytelling

Over the last 9 months, I've had the privilege of being the Digital Storyteller in Residence for Inverclyde Libraries. The project was supported by the Scottish Book Trust and the Scottish Governments Digital Inclusion strategy.

So what is a Digital Storyteller? It's certainly been fun to enjoy the many polite smiles and blank nods over the last year as I've told people what I do. But it's actually really simple. A digital story, is usually an audio recording of a personal story or memory, told in the person's own voice, accompanied by pictures they have selected. It's all edited together by the person involved and then, sometimes, shared with others, My job has been to enable people to tell and share those stories, helping people discover new digital skills along the way. And it's been one of the best jobs I have ever had in my life.

What a joy, to have the luxury of time, to listen to people, to be there as people find their voice or reclaim their own story. We tell stories to ourselves all the time, reworking and redrafting our own history and memories as time moves on - we are all made of stories, and it's been wonderful to hear so many.

The Scottish Book Trust supported five digital storytellers across Scotland, and you can see all the stories collected on the project website. You can also view all the Inverclyde stories on Vimeo.

Here are a few of Inverclyde stories to give you a better idea of what a Digital Story is...

Alistair's Story from Digital Storytelling Residencies on Vimeo.


Falling in Music from Digital Storytelling Residencies on Vimeo.


The Weeping Animal and the Ugly Wee Snowman from Digital Storytelling Residencies on Vimeo.