Anna Kostyrina

Freelance Journalist writing about Community, Lifestyle and Culture

Featured Articles

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
The Bristol Cable •

My journey into journalism

Jenny Stringer played the long game on her journey to becoming a journalist. Instead of betraying her morals to work for a publication she didn’t respect, she interned at a local paper before embarking on a mission to educate herself about the world she wanted to write about. She’s worked in multiple sectors including homelessness, sales and recruitment.

Eventually landing in Bristol (she’s originally from Newcastle), Jenny came across a poster advertising the Cable’s Media Lab – a six month
Metro •

A month without waste

The brief was simple: I was to spend one month living without waste. The average British household produces about a tonne of waste each year and we each throw out our own body weight in rubbish every two months.I wanted to see if I could reuse or recycle everything.

The first week was a bit of a nightmare; I kept forgetting my portable ashtray, ‘Stubby’, a small fireproof pocket that slips easily into your handbag. I got over its absence by putting my roll-up ends in an empty tobacco packet.
Medium •

Doing these nine things saved my relationship during life in close confinement

I live in a van. It’s big enough to stand up in. Just. My bedroom is also my living room, kitchen and toilet. A random assortment of shelves and cabinets contains all my belongings. I share this tiny space with a man and a dog.

It’s true that I brought this on myself. For years, seriously about ten years, I fantasised about living the #vanlife dream. I yearned for waking up every morning in a new exciting location, by rivers and forests and mountains. I dreamt of impossibly healthy breakfasts a
The Upcoming •

Trout Stanley at Southwark Playhouse

The UK premiere of this award-winning Canadian gothic exploration of obsessions and limitations gives a hilarious insight into the world of twins Sugar and Grace as they celebrate lucky 30 – the year the annual deaths that have plagued their lives are surely going to end.

Sinéad Matthews gives a fantastic performance as Sugar Ducharme – the sometimes-agoraphobic, (apparently) ugly duckling who dreams of falling into a handsome doctor’s arms when the inevitable disaster finally strikes their sma
The Big Issue Foundation •

Activists' Corner

John Bird, our founder, campaigns
tirelessly to dismantle poverty. In
June, he launched the Credit
Worthiness Assessment Bill for fair
access to credit. The bill seeks to
ensure that lenders and other credit service
providers are obliged to take rental and
council tax payment data into account
when assessing a person’s credit
worthiness. The bill is about fairness and
inclusion, with the potential to support the
UK's 11 million private renters.
“Generation rent has been hit hard and
they deserve fair access to credit,” he says.
The Big Issue Foundation •

Bill's story

The journey to becoming a Big Issue vendor is seldom straightforward. Few of us expected we’d be selling the magazine. I’m so very grateful for the big hand up that’s been extended by people like you. Can you offer a helping hand to more Big Issue vendors today?

My Name is Bill. I was a Big Issue vendor in Bournemouth for six years. But my journey started long before then. I’d been running a pub in Kent when I had a nervous breakdown. I’d worked four years without any time off and I just couldn’t take it anymore.
The Big Issue Foundation •

The Big Push

The Big Issue Foundation supports
vendors from all walks of life. The
vendors we work with are aged from
17 to over 70, male and female, and
from every background imaginable.
Many have suffered abuse, been victims of
trauma, been failed by the education and
the care systems, and have experience of
the criminal justice system.
Some have multiple university degrees, a
successful career to look back on, or
extensive travelling experience; Big Issue
vendors can suffer with mental health
difficulties, physical health difficulties,