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Homelessness survivor tweets journey from sleeping rough to writing books

A story with a happy ending.

Rachel Thompson

on November 28, 2016

LONDON -- A survivor of homelessness has shared his journey from sleeping rough in a park in London to finding success as an author.

Craig Stone on Twitter recounted the series of events that caused him to lose his home, his subsequent experiences of being homeless and how he eventually found permanent housing.

Stone set off his series of tweets with an explanation of the events which transpired shortly before he became homeless. He says he was almost 30 years old, working in the city and was "skint", single and suffering from depression.

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His landlord increased his rent to a figure he couldn't afford, prompting Stone to ask work for a pay rise. He was refused. Stone then went to his local council for help, who turned him away.

"I asked the council for help, they said talk to my landlord. My landlord said talk to the council. Bastards," wrote Stone on Twitter.

He then describes how he went to sleeping rough in the local park.

Living in the park, Stone's writing efforts came to fruition and he completed a novel.

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His book gave him a renewed sense of purpose and he grew worried that his book would get wet, lost, or burned. So he turned to his sister for help.

As he sat and waited for Amazon reviews of his self-published work, hoping for a book deal, Stone got a message from a fan.

This message turned into a relationship.

Now, Stone's life has been transformed dramatically.

Stone has also found success as a published author.

By telling his story, Stone hopes that people see that there can be happy endings to bleak situations.

Stone wants his followers to think of homeless people this winter.

"Tomorrow your rent could go up. Tomorrow inflation could rise. Tomorrow you could have an accident. All of us are one event away from ending up on the streets, looking up at passers by, wondering how did it come to this?" Stone told Mashable.

"Christmas is coming up, and it’s OK to give someone your time. And it’s OK to ask someone on the streets their story. If you ask enough, you’ll realise that the person you are talking to, is you," Stone continued.

Topics Social Good

Rachel Thompson

Features Editor

Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.

A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.

Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.