Down and Out

Winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness

“Lavelle's ruthless and raw expos”

é fills me with rage, but also with hope - underneath this harrowing story of injustice lies a lyrical longing for a more compassionate and caring future David Lammy, Labour MP and author of TRIBES
Daniel Lavelle is a vital voice on one of the most pressing scandals facing Britain today. A book for every politician, policy maker and reader who wants a fairer and kinder country Frances Ryan, author of CRIPPLED
Part memoir, part howl of fury GUARDIAN
Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination. [Its] case studies are as bleakly memorable as Raymond Carver stories TLS

Daniel Lavelle is a freelance feature writer from Manchester. He left care at nineteen and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. He graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a BA in History while he was living in a homeless hostel. He writes regularly on topics such as mental health, homelessness and culture for the Guardian (for whom he co-authored the series 'The Empty Doorway' with Simon Hattenstone) and has written for New Statesman and the Independent. He has an MA in Journalism from Goldsmiths and in 2017 he received the Guardian's Hugo Young award for an opinion piece on his experience of homelessness. 'The Empty Doorway' won Feature of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2019 and was shortlisted for a National Press Award. He lives in London.

At once a powerful memoir, unflinching polemic and probing investigation into modern homelessness in the UK, by award-winning investigative journalist Daniel Lavelle Daniel Lavelle left care at the age of nineteen, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks.In Down and Out , Daniel draws on his own experiences - as well as those of the witty, complex, hopeful individuals he has encountered who have been shunned or forgotten by the state that is supposed to provide for them - in order to shine a powerful light on this dire situation. Down and Out is a true state-of-the-nation examination of modern homelessness: assessing its significance, its precursors and causes, as well as the role played by government, austerity, charities, and other systems in perpetuating this crisis. Ultimately, it seeks to ask how we as a society might change our practices and attitudes so that, one day, we can bring this injustice to an end.

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