Martin Stepek

Martin Stepek (born 19 February 1959) is a Scottish mindfulness teacher and campaigner, poet and author.

Martin Stepek

Early life and education

Stepek was born in Cambuslang and attended St. Mary's Roman Catholic Primary, in Hamilton and St. Joseph's College, a boarding school run by the Marist Brothers. He went to the University of Strathclyde where he received a law degree and post-graduate diploma in legal practice in 1981.

Career

In June 1987, Stepek began working in his family business J. Stepek Limited as a trainee marketing manager. He became a company director in 1990, of J Stepek Ltd and its subsidiary, Stepek Travel.

In summer 1998, Stepek began to practice mindfulness. From 1999 he began attending a Tibetan Buddhist meditation classes and in 2004 was asked to become a teacher of Buddhism and its practice despite his doubts in some of the traditional teachings.

Stepek had written poetry and at his first public reading in Glasgow in 2009, Etta Dunn, the entrepreneur and owner of publishers Fleming Publications, was amongst the audience. She approached Stepek about the possibility of a book on his father's life and the poems he had written on the subject. This became his first book, For There is Hope[1] / Bo Jest Nadzieja. The book won the NABE Pinnacle Prize in 2013[2] in the USA and runner up in the UK's People's Book Prize[3] the same year.

Stepek had started writing a weekly newsletter on mindfulness, which was compiled in 2014 and 2015 to form the book collections Mindful Living[4] and Mindful Living 2.[5] The former was a finalist in the People's Book Prize.[6] Fleming Publications also released Mindful Poems,[7] a short collections of verse. In November 2017, Stepek's fifth book, and his third volume of poetry, Waiting for Guzlowski, co-written by John Guzlowski, was released.

In 2013 Stepek was invited to perform two events at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As part of this a film, later titled The Poetry of Hope, was commissioned and made, directed by Etta Dunn and produced by Stepek.

In 2013 he produced another film, about his father's life before he settled in Scotland, with the help of the Polish-Scottish Heritage project, called For There is Hope. It was directed by Pawel Nuckowski and was shown in Warsaw as part of a lecture and talk tour Stepek made in 2015.

In January 2017, Martin Stepek became the Sunday Herald Columnist on Mindfulness and now writes a column each week for them.[8]

Political activity

Stepek joined the Scottish Green Party in 2001 and the following year was co-opted onto the party's national Council that year at the party's annual conference. The following year he was asked to stand as a candidate for the position of Convenor of the Council. Stepek stood down at the end of his first year in office. In 2008 to 2010 he was co-opted as Convenor of Operations in the party. As of 2017 he remains a member of the Scottish Green Party.

Personal life

Stepek's Polish-born father Jan was relatively famous in local circles as the founder of a chain of electrical stores and served as the chairman of the football club Hamilton Academical for several years.[9][10] One of ten siblings, Martin married Christine McAra in March 1988 and they have two children.[11] He lives with his wife in Hamilton, Scotland.

Awards

Bibliography
  • (2009) Contributed six poems and the Afterword to Waiting to be Heard: The Polish Christian Experience Under Nazi and Stalinist Oppression 1939-1955 by Bogusia J Wojciechowska
  • (2011) Contribution to anthology - Family Legends, Luath Press[16]
  • (2012) For There is Hope / Bo Jest Nadzieja, Fleming Publications[17]
  • (2013) Contribution to anthology – Treasures, Scottish Book Trust
  • (2014) Mindful Living: Positive Steps to Manage Stress and Achieve Peace of Mind, Fleming Publications[4]
  • (2015) Mindful Poems: of Hope and Experience, Fleming Publications[7]
  • (2015) Mindful Living 2: Positive Steps to Manage Stress and Achieve Peace of Mind, Fleming Publications[5]
  • (2017) Waiting for Guzlowski: On War and Peace – with John Guzlowski, Fleming Publications
gollark: But I'm actually quite low on health.
gollark: I can only buy 1 HP.
gollark: I do first aid again.
gollark: Anyway, I don't think we can get into level 2 without probably dying.
gollark: ++roll d20

References
  1. Martin., Stepek (2012). For there is hope. Glasgow: Fleming. ISBN 9780955650734. OCLC 829055007.
  2. "Pinnacle Awards Spring 2013". NABE PINNACLE AWARDS.
  3. "Peoples Book Prize Winners, 2013". People's Book Prize. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  4. Martin, Stepek. Mindful living : positive steps to manage stress and achieve peace of mind. Glasgow. ISBN 9780955650796. OCLC 913850651.
  5. Martin, Stepek (2015). Mindful living. 2 : positive steps to manage stress and achieve peace of mind. Glasgow. ISBN 9780993051425. OCLC 935456272.
  6. "People's Book Prize, 2016". People's Book Prize.
  7. Martin., Stepek (2015). Mindful poems. [Place of publication not identified]: Fleming Publications. ISBN 9780993051432. OCLC 927382175.
  8. "Living for Today, the Sunday Herald New Columnist Martin Stepek on how Mindfulness Changed his Life". Sunday Herald.
  9. "Businessman and former Hamilton Accies chairman Jan Stepek dies aged 90". Daily Record. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  10. "From Soviet gulags to Scotland: Son unearths Stepek family story". BBC News. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  11. "Genealogy Christine Stepek". Genealogy.com.
  12. "ISUUU RED RIBBON AWARDS".
  13. "For There is Hope Prize". For there is Hope.
  14. "People's Book Prize". People's Book Prize.
  15. "Our Mindfulness Man Gets Top International Award". The Herald.
  16. Scottish family legends. Scottish Book Trust. Edinburgh. 2011. ISBN 9781906817930. OCLC 776756732.CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. KASIA., STEPEK, MARTIN. DUNN, ETTA. KOKOWSKA (2015). FOR THERE IS HOPE. [S.l.]: FLEMING PUBLICATIONS. ISBN 9780993051418. OCLC 975993201.
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