Author and former English teacher Naseem Ahsun tells SARAH SINGLETON why we need more good news

FORMER English teacher and author Naseem Ahsun – known as Naz – has launched the Good News Show on Swindon community radio, to celebrate positive stories from the town.

Naz, who lives in Faringdon, has already been a volunteer presenter at Swindon 105.5FM on the late night show, The Outer Limit – but now she is at the helm of her own show.

“This new show is very exciting for me,” she explained. “It’s to promote positive and inspirational stories, projects and people from the local community. It’s so easy to be worn down by negative and bad news, yet there’s so much going on in the town which is worth celebrating.”

The Good News Show is aired at 11am every Monday morning, and will cover a variety of positive news stories, including a regular feature from the Liden Writers’ Group. Her first show was all about promoting literacy, and the second featured the Olive Tree Café, and its work supporting people in mental health recovery.

Naz, 47, grew up in London and studied English and sociology at St Mary’s University in London. As a youngster, she always loved reading and writing.

“My mother could not pull the books out of my hands. I was reading all the time,” she smiled.

After graduating, Naz married and moved to Worcestershire in 1993. She had two children and worked for five years at the Worcestershire Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, firstly as a volunteer and then as a member of staff. After, she worked for the Maggs Day Centre for the homeless for two years – an experience which revealed to her just how important literacy was.

“A lot of our clients could not read, which made it difficult for them to access services. That drew me into teaching,” she explained. In 2004, Naz did her PGCE at the University of Worcester and then spent 12 years as an English teacher, working at five different schools.

“I loved the students and teaching the lessons, supporting students and learning from them. That’s what I really, really liked about it. Young people have a passion for learning – not just academic students, they all have a passion for learning, whatever it is – like sports or new skills.”

It was the experience of her own children stressing about exams, as well as her perspective as a teacher, that inspired Naz to write her book, the Laid Back Guide to Exams and Stress, which was published in 2016. Her collaborator Jennie Caswell is a psychotherapist, and the they wanted to share practical ideas for dealing with stress in a healthy way.

“Stress is part of our daily lives, but our young people do not always have the tools to manage these levels of stress,” she said. Drawing on various schools of thought, including ideas from Jung, Humanistic Theory and the Enneagram, the writers attribute an animal guide for each of nine personality types – with ideas on dealing with stress for each one. They published the book through the Motivational Press.

Naz moved to the Swindon area in August.

“It offered an opportunity to look at life afresh,” she said. “Both my children have now finished their education, so it was time to follow my passion.”

She began volunteering for the radio station, joined the Mum’s the Word writing group, started work on a new book – and set up a new, independent publishing company called Vision Maker Press.

“The more I read, the more I realised stories can teach others in such a way it inspires them,” she said. “It’s a way to communicate with others. Words have power.”

Her second book is called the Little Book of Animal Wisdom, and she plans to publish it in May.

“I set up Vision Maker Press to give people a platform to share their story,” she explained, “because often they do not get shared. This will be an independent company that will help you to self-publish a book, and to support you with the writing process. It is a collaboration.”

Naz’s fledgling career as a radio presenter began with her taking a course at Swindon 105.5, then co-presenting the Outer Limits show.

She is planning features on mindfulness, nutrition and well being, as well as the contribution people make to the community, and shows on writing.

Naz, whose favourite writers are Menna Van Praag, Robert Jordan and William Shakespeare, said the Mum’s the Word writing group was also proving a supportive environment for her creative projects.

“I’ve listened to different styles, and it has inspired me to get back into fiction,” she said. “My next writing project is a radio script.”

Anyone interested in featuring on her new radio show should contact Naz using the email info@swindon1055.com or call the radio station on 01793 611555.