We Are Here

How can you feel anchored when you have no place to call your own?Australia has a large shadow population of people who experience homelessness – whether couch-surfing, staying in a refuge, boarding house or caravan park, or sleeping rough. Too often they are dismissed or blamed. They are spoken for, and about, but rarely get to speak for themselves.Edited by former Big Issue deputy editor Meg Mundell, We Are Here is a vibrant and moving collection of true stories showcasing the creative talents of people who have known homelessness. From cold city doorways to lonely bush camps, from a borrowed couch to a discreetly parked car, from dodgy boarding houses to the humid hell of Manus Island, these powerful, defiant and illuminating stories will make every reader question their place in the world. And the kind of place they want the world to be.All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to charities that work with people experiencing homelessness. The writers and visual artists featured in We Are Here have been paid for their contributions.This project was generously supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grant Program, with seed funding from StreetSmart Australia and Deakin University.