Russell Brand, Ross Kemp and Tamer Hassan are amongst a stellar line up supporting The Big Issue Foundation with a live book reading and talks beginning on 7th July. Funds raised via ticket sales will help ensure Big Issue vendors can return to selling the magazine safely and with the support they need.
In this exclusive event the actors will read straight from the book performing as the characters, on Zoom. You can join live and enjoy what will feel like a drama being performed just for you in your own living room. Pay what you can for a ticket with all proceeds going to The Big Issue Foundation.
The cast will be reading “Nothing To Declare” by The Big Issue Foundation trustee Mark Dempster.
Nothing to Declare is told with brutal honesty and disarming dark humour, beginning with his tough childhood in Glasgow, where he was brought up surrounded by poverty and alcoholism, the launchpad for his childhood dreams. And young Mark did have big ambitions – his goal was to become a major drug dealer. This is his journey to becoming just that; it tells of the constant desire for the next high, the eventual understanding that it was an unfulfillable quest – and the inevitable descent into oblivion and homelessness. Via the squats of London, hash markets of Morocco and ‘spiritual’ drug experiences in India, Mark builds and loses a small drugs empire and winds up in jail, then on the streets.
Mark’s story is a rare one of redemption. At a point near death, he meets someone who has escaped the circumstances he currently finds himself in – and he finds enough inspiration to start the journey back to life. Mark is now a Harley Street Councillor as well as being one of our trustees.
The event starts on 7th July which coincides with the week that The Big Issue Vendors return to selling the magazine. On this night there will be a live reading of Chapters 1&2.
