In April 2019 we began a search for young writers. The idea was to give them a chance to see the publishing process at work and give them the opportunity to have their voice heard in the form of a book. Five young people undertook the programme. Despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, we have finally produced that book. You can buy A New Hope here.

Becoming a published author is a transformational experience for many, opening doors, establishing or raising profiles, boosting confidence, connecting with peers and generating an income stream. We launched Calum’s Legacy to enable young people, who may be otherwise lacking in creative and entrepreneurial opportunities due to their situation or responsibilities, to experience that positive transformation at first hand. With the support of our community, through Calum’s Legacy we will create a lasting impact on young lives in Scotland.

Calum's LegacyFAQs
Information for Supporters
Calum's Legacy logo

Calum’s Legacy Writers

Will Maslen | 23

What kind of things do you write about?

Fantasy, scifi, the strange, often stories about people in the outskirts of reality as use understand it.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Drawing, Art, petting dogs in KG

What does coming to Calum’s Legacy mean for you?

Calum’s Legacy is strong evidence that we as humans are made to love and communicate with each other. Seeing a group give so much time, effort and resources for the purpose of helping people through sharing stories is genuinely wonderful and means a lot to me.

Neve McRavey | 17

What kind of things do you write about?

Growing up in today’s society, I am keen on writing about feminist issues in a contemporary setting in fiction form. I believe every story should have a deeper meaning for a wider issue, therefore I love including symbolism within my stories. I also have a love of poetry.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

I am still at school, studying my advanced higher in my final year before I head
off to university. I have a passion for music and love singing and playing guitar
with my dad. I am a film fanatic with a love for acting and cinematography.

What does Calum’s Legacy mean for you?

Calum’s Legacy has allowed me to have a creative outlet and helped me improved as a writer. Writing has always been my biggest passion in life. This project has become what I most look forward to each month, I’ve met some of my closest friends. It has inspired me to dream big and work hard to meet my goals. I feel as though I have found a purpose. I am so grateful that I have been given this opportunity and I am so happy to be a part of it.

Emma Taylor | 21

What kind of things do you write about?

I tend to write about simple things with a twist. With current technology it is not possible for a person to venture to each planet in our solar system, I like to imagine what it would be like even if it isn’t physically possible.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

I never tend to sit in silence I usually always have music playing. I love socialising with everyone from family, friends to strangers. My best friend is my bouncy Border Collie, Peach. We often venture out for hours as a time in all kinds of weather.

What does coming to Calum’s Legacy mean for you?

Calum’s Legacy has given me the freedom to explore my imagination and the confidence to put my thoughts onto paper. This may seem like the obvious answer however as I have struggled immensely all my life to read and write coming here has made me feel relevant and important. I started writing as a coping mechanism though the legacy team have encouraged me and helped me realise I don’t need to be scared or shy away from reading and writing, and that actually I’m really good at it!

James McGunnigle | 17

What kind of things do you write about?

I’ve been working on this series that I want to bring to life called “The Forteenyon Gang”. This is a more adventure fantasy rather than Sci-fi, technically. I have been developing this upcoming series of stories for well over seven years and it continues to grow with me as I expand my imaginativeness today. The reason I bring up this series of upcoming stories upon Calum’s legacy is because my aspiration is to take this incredible opportunity and show this creation to the world, therefore they all can get inspired. The aspects it made me create this series of mines in the first place is evolutionally childhood ingenuity brainwaves and the reminiscence of great memories and friends, it sparked my mind to making these characters that were meant to represent individuals of my personality.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Well routinely, I read books for the most part whenever I’m doing a quarantine away from social media to make myself feel refreshed. I also have a desirable relish on coding as a hobby, I learn a lot by problem solving any critical issues or perhaps using it as a tool to create various projects. I’ve got a competitive spirit for games, specifically chess is one of the examples, its strategy gets intense throughout the game, I think that’s the beauty of my likings when it comes to that. Now, observing space has been one of those pastime desirable things I will never stop doing, I have immense ambitions exploring our universe that made my heart feel that strong confidence inside of me, I look out on my telescope every night when it’s clear exquisite.

What does coming to Calum’s Legacy mean to me?

Calum’s legacy is the vacuum of solutions to all of my problems that I could not see that was hidden from me throughout about 20% of my life. It completely obliterated the wall of doubt making me see it’s possible to think, it’s possible to do anything I wish to desire. I think in every situation good or bad there is always a lesson at the end of all troubles or pleasure. It revolutionised my whole primitive way of thinking senses to its full form of initiative infinite capacity!

Gabriel Gontor | 18

Anything that my imagination can accept.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Watching anime or using my imagination. I also like guessing the culprit in detective shows

What does coming to Calum’s Legacy mean to me?

It is the best time of my month I get to talk with people with similar interests and get to share my ideas with the group and enjoy the wonderful food and stories.

Calum’s story

For those who don’t know, Calum was our son. He was born on 8th December 1994.

Calum was only 12 when he was taken from us by meningitis, within touching distance of being a teenager.

He was a kind, considerate and intelligent lad who loved to have fun.

He loved his little sister, Kirsten, from the moment he first met her at the maternity hospital. His relationship with his three cousins Morven, Isla and Emma was also strong and he liked to make them laugh. He was loved greatly by his Gran & Papa, Grandad, and all his uncles and aunts. He enjoyed being with Jane, Robert and their two sons Andrew and David as he grew from a baby in their tender care while Mum and Dad were at work.

He was comfortable in anyone’s company from the youngest to the oldest. He never failed to impress his teachers with the way he conducted himself in class. He enjoyed maths, science and history. He was the focal point and organiser for a group of wonderful friends. He loved music, playing games on the Wii and PS2, but most of all he loved to laugh.

His death devastated our little family but we were determined that the memory of who he was would last. That the impact he made during his life should continue. That began with Sinclair’s books. He decided to remember Calum by writing The Reluctant Detective. He finished and published it because life was too short to put off his dreams any longer. The success of his books (all dedicated to Calum) was what began the process that ended with the creation of Indie Authors World.

Now with Calum’s Legacy, we are creating a project that reflects the best of Calum. He loved to bring people together, he had so many diverse interests that many of his friends only knew each other through him. We hope that by bringing young people from different backgrounds and experience together we will create new friendships. One of Calum’s defining characteristics was kindness, he would never hesitate to offer a helping hand. With this project, we wish to give young people a helping hand to find their voice, creativity, self-belief, confidence and a sense of entrepreneurship.

We know that Calum would have loved to have been part of this project, we hope there are many of you out there who would like to do the same as a participant, mentor or sponsor.

How you can help

Mentoring

Throughout the process we will need some of our authors to help us by mentoring the young people involved. If you've published a book and think that you can help to guide, encourage and support a young person, we would like to hear from you.

Supporter

We will be contributing money from every publishing package we sell but if you would like to help that would be great. Whether it's time, money or equipment we would be delighted to receive any help you can offer.

You can also nominate a young person that would benefit from the course.