Award-winning author to host book launch in York

An award-winning author will launch a new book in York called Homeless – with many of the stories written by people with personal experience of living on the streets.

The book is an anthology of the winning stories entered into a competition run by youth homelessness charity SASH.

It attracted 120 entries from across Britain, including many from people with personal experience of homelessness.

The competition was supported by Ross Raisin, author of God’s Own Country, which was shortlisted for eight literary prizes. He was also named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 2009.

The hero of his latest book Waterline is a former shipbuilder from Glasgow who finds himself homeless in London.

Ross has chosen the top three entries from a shortlist and will be announcing the overall winner at an Homeless launch event on Friday (January 30) at the Belfrey Hall.

The anthology contains 22 shortlisted entries, a mixture of short stories, poems and plays, and is published by Stairwell Books.

‘Suddenly adrift’

The evening will include refreshments, live music from local musician Harrison Rimmer, a performance by poet and rapper Laurence O’Reilly and an art exhibition.

It is open to anyone who is interested in the work SASH does to prevent youth homelessness and its approach to raising awareness of the problem.

The aim of the writing competition was to highlight the many different issues surrounding homelessness and raise funds for SASH’s work.

It has also given a voice to those who had experience of the grim reality of being homeless.

SASH director Peter Robinson said:

This is where SASH comes in, Peter said.

The charity’s volunteers help young people by giving up their spare-room, whether in an emergency or for the longer-term, “so that we and our partners can provide the help and support they need to avoid the devastating effects of homelessness so graphically described throughout the anthology”.