Author, Journalist, Editor for books, articles, magazines and organisations
Stephen M. Bland Writer’s Résumé
www.stephenmbland.com
Books: • Does it Yurt? Travels in Central Asia or How I Came to Love the Stans, Hertfordshire Press, November 2016 (Author)
Awards: • Winner of the Eurasian Literary Award, Moscow, September 2018 • Recipient of the Society of Authors’ UK Foundation Grant, July 2017 • Winner of the “Breakthrough of the Year” Category at the Open Eurasia and Central Asia Book Forum and Literary Contest, London, November 2016
Features: • Feature published in Perceptive Travel: ‘Tanna: The Isle of Curious Cults’ August 2018 • Feature published in The Diplomat: ‘The Case of the Khrapunovs: International Institutions Fail to Measure Up to the Task of Tackling Globalized Financial Crime’ July 2018 • Feature published in IndraStra Global: ‘Kazakh Nuclear Fallout: The Case of Mukhtar Dzhakishev’ July 2018 • Feature published in Perceptive Travel: ‘Sulfur Clouds and Sacred Sites: A Journey through the Debed Canyon’ May 2018 • Feature published in IndraStra Global: ‘Case of Ablyazovs’ Highlights ‘Lack of Political Will’ to Tackle Kleptocracy in the UK’ March 2018 • Feature published in The Diplomat and EU Reporter: ‘The Ablyazov Affair: ‘Fraud on an Epic Scale’ - New rounds of litigation add to the opaque case of fugitive ex-Kazakh minister Mukhtar Ablyazov’ February 2018 • Feature published in Eurasian Perspective: ‘Trade and Transgression - From Almaty to the Khorgos Free Trade Zone’ February 2018 • Feature published in Open Central Asia Magazine Winter Edition: ‘Back in the USSR: The Spirit of Beatlemania in Kazakhstan’ Winter 2017 • Feature published in EurasiaNet: ‘Karabakh: De-mining Continues Amid Rising Tension’ August 2017 • Feature published in Il Polo: ‘Il Lago Più Profondo Del Mondo è Gravemente Malato’ June 2017 • Feature published in IndraStra Global: ‘Welcome to Turkmenistan - Konye-Urgench: The Ruins of Khorezm’ March 2017 • Editorial published in Open Central Asia Magazine: ‘An Introduction from the Guest Editor’ Winter 2016 • Feature published in Open Central Asia Magazine: ‘The Shadow of History – The Last Emir of Bukhara’ Autumn 2016 Edition • Feature published in Vice: ‘Tajikistan's Rappers Are Forced to Suck Up to Politicians If They Want to Have Their Music Heard’ September 2016 • Feature published in Vice: ‘Uzbekistan’s Dictator is Dead - What Happens Next?’ September 2016 • Feature published in Caravanistan: ‘Ashgabat – The Marble City of Love’ August 2016 • Feature published in IndraStra Global: ‘The Museum City of Khiva’ August 2016 • Feature published in Open Central Asia Magazine: ‘Dreaming of the Sea (Moynaq and the Large Aral)’ Summer 2016 Edition • Feature published in Vice Motherboard: ‘The Man Trying to Save the Philippine Tarsier from the Black Market’ March 2016 • Feature published in Vice Motherboard and presented in Daily Vice Video: ‘Earth’s Deepest Lake is “Seriously Ill”’ December 2015 • Feature published in Vice: ‘Meeting the Laotians Clearing Their Country of America's Unexploded Bombs’ June 2015 • Feature published in EurasiaNet: ‘Kazakhstan: Measuring the Northern Aral’s Comeback’ January 2015 • Feature published in EurasiaNet: ‘A Letter from Stepanakert: A Weary Calm amid War - Footing’ October 2014 • Feature published in Registan: ‘Road of Sorrow – Trafficking and Ethnicity on the Pamir Highway’ September 2014 • Feature published in Stephenmbland.com: ‘Sportsman Strongman – The Sporting Adventures of Dictators’ September 2014 • Feature published in Vice: ‘I took a trip down Tajikistan’s Heroin Highway’ June 2014 • Feature published in Caravanistan: ‘Bishkek’s Independence Day Celebrations - Ulak Tartysh, the Art of Dead Goat Grabbing’ May 2014 • Feature published in Vice: ‘The Toxic Uzbek Town and its Museum of Banned Soviet Art’ April 2014 • Feature published in Vice: ‘Turkmenistan Has Its Very Own 'Gate To Hell' April 2014 • Feature published in WSG: ‘How the General Became King – Part Two’ 2013 • Feature published in WSG: ‘The Fixer’s Son: An interview with Sousath Phetrasy’ 2012 • Feature published in WSG: ‘How the General Became King – Part One’ 2012 • Feature published in WSG: ‘The Last of the Elephant Kings’ 2012 • 1995-2012 Numerous journals: Still, Rising, The Telephone Book, Laughter in the Midst, Wayfarer, Springboard etc.
News Stories & Reviews: • News story published in Stephenmbland.com: ‘Kazakh Authorities Address Case of Moukhtar Dzhakishev’ April 2018 • Review Published in Open Central Asia Magazine: ‘Celebration Marks Quincentenary of Belarusian and Eastern European Book Printing’ Spring 2017 • Review published by the Eurasian Creative Guild: ‘Extremists Club March 2017 Review’ March 2017 • Review published in Open Central Asia Magazine: ‘Guildhall Sparkles Again to Kazakh Classics’ Winter 2016 • News story published in EurasiaNet: ‘Video Commemorates Turkmenistan’s “Disappeared”’ November 2014 • News story published in UzNews: ‘Kazakh Uzbek Summit concludes with veiled threats amidst fears over Afghanistan’ November 2014 • News story published in EurasiaNet: ‘Rights Activists Knock on Uzbek Embassy’s Door But Get No Answer’ September 2014 • News story published in UzNews: ‘Russia Refuses to Extradite Crime Lord Batukaev’ September 2014 • News story published in EurasiaNet: ‘Russian Interior Ministry Seizes 250 Fake Passports in Raid on Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Cell’ September 2014
Other Literary Work:
• Editor of Gulsifat Shahidi: Tales of Grandma Gulsifat, pending publication by Hertfordshire Press, November 2018 • Guest Appearance on Radio Programme, Dr Alan Cox, October 2018 • Guest Speaker at the Eurasian Literary Week, 'The Final Years of the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara Before They Fell Prey to Russian Imperialism’ London, October 2018 • Guest Appearance on Radio Programme, THA Talks: ‘Kleptocracy in the U.K. and Russian Money Laundering’ September 2018 • Editor of Shahzoda Nazarova: Motherland, pending publication, 2018 • Editor of Bubaisha Arstynbekova: Queen Kurmanjan of the Mountains - an Epic Poem, pending publication by Hertfordshire Press, November 2018 • Editor of Communiques and Press Releases, Insights into Developments Conference, Almaty, Kazakhstan, April/May 2018 • Host of Eurasian Creative Guild meeting, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Guest Speaker at Eurasian Creative Guild meetings in Minsk, Belarus, Geneva, Switzerland and London, April/May 2018 • Guest Speaker at the Academy Book Series event, Minsk, Belarus, April 2018 • Researcher for the BBC, April 2018 • Guest Speaker at the Free Speech Club, London, March 2018 • Guest Speaker at Meet the Author: Creativity and Consciousness, London, March 2018 • Judge and Guest Speaker at the Open Eurasian Literature Festival and Book Forum Literary Contest and Translation Contest, Stockholm, November 2017 • Editor of Gulsifat Shahidi: Sentimental Journey or All in Good Time, Cambridge International Press, October 2017 • Editor of Gulsifat Shahidi: I am Looking Towards the East, Cambridge International Press, October 2017 • Editor of Shahzoda Nazarova: Stockholm Syndrome, Hertfordshire Press, October 2017 • Board Member of the Eurasian Creative Guild • Author and Narrator of the VoiceMap Audio Tour: ‘The Golden City of Samarkand’ September 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, London, June 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Central Asian Spring Festival, UCL, March 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Eurasian Creative Guild, Dublin, March 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Gruntler’s Poetry Festival, London, March 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Extremists Club, London, March 2017 • Guest Speaker at the Bangkok International Travel Group 24th International Travel Meet-up, Thailand, January 2017 • Editor-in-Chief for Open Central Asia Magazine, Winter 2016 Edition • Guest Speaker at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, London, November 2016 • Guest Speaker at UCL, November 2016 • Guest Speaker at the Open Eurasia and Central Asia Book Forum, November 2016 • Judge at the Open Eurasian Literature Festival and Book Forum Literary Contest, London, November 2016 • Editor of Zinaida Longortova: Blue River, Hertfordshire Press, November 2016 • Editor of Maide Akan: Aysu and the Magic Bag, Hertfordshire Press, November 2016 • Editor for Open Central Asia Magazine, Summer 2016 Edition • Sub-editor of Abu-Sufyan: Crane, Hertfordshire Press, July 2016 • Editor, Researcher and Interviewer at Artrocker, Drowned in Sound, KCLA FM & Andhow FM