Boochani, Kneen, Coleman to contribute to Affirm collection on homelessness

Friday, 7 June 2019 Books+Publishing

Affirm Press will publish a new ‘profit-for-purpose’ book, an anthology of stories by writers who have experienced homelessness.

We Are Here: Stories of home, place and belonging will be edited by novelist, homelessness researcher and former Big Issue deputy editor Meg Mundell, and will include contributions from 37 writers, including Behrouz Boochani, Krissy Kneen, Claire G Coleman, Josiane Behmoiras and Gregory P Smith, with a foreword by Tony Birch. The collection will also include work by several visual artists who have experienced homelessness. All contributors will be paid thanks to the project receiving an arts grant from the City of Melbourne.

All profits from the sale of the book will be donated to charities working with homeless communities, including the Big Issue, Roomers magazine (Elwood St Kilda Neighbourhood Learning Centre), Launch Housing (Common Ground Development, Elizabeth Street) and the Peer Education and Support Program at the Council to Homeless Persons. Profits will be used to fund creative programs for the organisations’ clients.

Affirm Press publishing director Martin Hughes said: ‘Meg Mundell and I worked together at the Big Issue so I know she has the passion and gumption to create something extraordinary with these talented writers. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of the bookselling community for these profit-for-purpose projects in the past and I’m eager to see the impact We Are Here will have.’

Last year, Affirm donated profits from the sale of another ‘profit-for-purpose’ book, The Silver Sea (Alison Lester, Jane Godwin & the children at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne), to the Education Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Hughes said earnings for the title, which is still selling, are ‘well over $50,000’.

We Are Here will be published on 29 October 2019.

Category: Local news