Unhoused – Yearning for Home has been released.
I have this BIG book in my hand and I feel small, a blessed kind of small.
With diverse Voices from:
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, The Philippines, South Africa , Tunisia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and MORE…
May you be blessed when you hold this BIG book in hand and step into the inner world of the authors.
🔥Hot off the press🔥 Now released on Amazon.com
I am incredibly grateful for Candice L. Daquin’s mentorship in my first anthology editing experience, and for Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld giving us the opportunity to put this anthology together.
UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home is a powerful and deeply human anthology exploring the realities of homelessness, displacement, migration, statelessness, and the universal search for belonging. Through evocative poetry, poignant flash writing, true stories, and compelling artwork, this collection gives voice to those who have experienced the loss of home—whether through war, poverty, immigration struggles, discrimination, economic hardship, or social instability—and to those who bear compassionate witness to these experiences.
Far beyond politics and headlines, UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home focuses on the emotional truths behind displacement: the grief of losing safety, the ache of isolation, the resilience required to survive, and the enduring hope of finding connection, identity, and peace. The anthology shines a light on the invisible struggles faced by unhoused and marginalized individuals around the world while honoring their courage, humanity, and determination to endure.
Editors Jia-Li Yang and Candice Louisa Daquin are both immigrants with extensive experience working in homelessness and crisis support services. It was their inspiration that drew the interest of Prolific Pulse Press LLC. This collection continues the press’s tradition of publishing meaningful social justice anthologies that amplify underrepresented voices. All four editors offer a glimpse of their experiences in the foreword.
Raw, compassionate, heartbreaking, and hopeful, UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home invites readers to look beyond stereotypes and statistics to witness the deeply personal realities of what it means to search for safety, stability, and a place to call home.
A portion of the UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home proceeds will benefit The Women’s Center of Wake County, Raleigh, North Carolina.
We are sending acceptance letters as we go. For last-minute submitters like myself, HURRY up. 😀
Social Possibilities Poetic Voices of Hope is available now on all major book retailers.
My three poems are included in this incredible timely anthology.
Please consider purchasing a copy to read and pass on to others to read to bring hope to our brothers and sisters.
The call for submissions is coming up soon…
I am working with Candice Louisa Dequin to co-edit this anthology, and it will be published by Prolific Pulse Press.
UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home shines a light on: Migration, asylum-seeking, illegal-and-legal-immigration, and other factors resulting in being without a home, national-identity, country, or security net. Whether you have immigrated and found yourself isolated and unable to fit into your adopted country’s identity, or lost status in a country you identify with, been out-of-status, living-below-the-radar, a Dreamer or undocumented, or forced to flee your homeland because of discrimination, war or other destabilizing forces, this is your opportunity to share your experiences on the hardships and often invisible struggles so many endure.
Prolific Pulse Press’s background in publishing social justice anthologies, continues with ‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ – an anthology of poetry and flash-writing on the current epidemic of unhoused, homeless, stateless, and country-less people and how this lack of safety affects generations. We seek to highlight the writer’s resilience and determination to survive and thrive whilst sharing their truth and experience(s).
‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ will be edited by Carrie Yang and Candice Louisa Daquin. Carrie Yang works in the Homelessness and Employment services in Australia and is herself an immigrant. Candice Daquin is also an immigrant, currently in America, and has worked in crisis centers in the US/Europe and Canada. Their combined professional experience, alongside having produced over twenty anthologies, is the pulse behind this project. The editors are fortunate enough to work with Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld, Manager of Prolific Pulse Press LLC. Given Prolific Pulse Press’s history of publishing exceptional anthologies, including Cadence (finalist in the American Writing Awards), Social Justice Inks, Dear Heart, and Heartbeats, our goal is to be a powerful platform for erased voices on this neglected and often inaccurately understood subject.
‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home,’ doesn’t seek to become mired in politics, but rather through the lens of human experience, help others comprehend the unique social and physical challenges surrounding this kind of limbo. Poetry and creative writing is an ideal vessel for this and we welcome all forms of poetry, flash-fiction and accompanying artwork. ‘Unhoused – Yearning for Home’ is scheduled to be published in early 2026.
My collection of micro fiction The Scars We Don’t See has been out for a year. I have no idea how many copies have been sold and how many people have read it. If you are interested, get a copy now.
Paperback:
Amazon UK
Amazon Australia
Amazon US
Barnes and Noble
Lulu
eBook:
Lulu
It started as an intention to leave something for my son to keep when I am gone (a bit morbid, I know). Then through the process of being guided by my publisher Tara and my editor Candice, to put this book together, I felt inspired by the joy a completed book brought to all parties involved. I am eternally grateful for Tara and Candice, deeply encouraged by Benjamin , without them, this book would not become a reality.
With love and respect, Cassa
Safety Or Anxiety It’s getting harder to murder someoneand get away with itCitizens feel safer It’s impossibleto keep any secretswhile the tech giants are watching The anxiety of being stalkedis real The Chapel She wore a black dressto his funeralOutside the chapelthe wind shook the pear blossomscovering her hair and backShe walked that walk againwearing a wedding veil […]
Jia-Li Yang (aka Cassa Bassa)
Dear Heart: Expressions from within
How frightened were you when you witnessed your protectors’ laying hands on each other? How helpless were you when you realised you couldn’t defend grandma from grandpa’s beating? How scared were you when your friends were punched and robbed right before your eyes? Violence made you timid and quiet, and your screams came out in all the wrong places. You walked with a hunched back as a teenager because of the weight of suffering in silence.
You loved strangers, they posed less threats than people who were close to you. You preferred distance than intimacy. You felt safe with your loved ones when there was a wall between you. You dared not to let them into your heart otherwise they would break into pieces as history had proven itself. You were filled with longing and yet so alone.
I know you danced alone, sang alone and cried alone. I know the trees knew your sorrow, the river carried your sadness, and the sky held your secrets. Before you met your Maker, you gained life from your Maker’s creation. The wind raised you to be strong as a tree; the rain nourished you to be healthy as a flower; the sun shined upon you to be blessed as the favourite one.
It was your Maker who loved you and granted you the ability to love. You were held by your Maker’s hand and travelled back to those violent memories. You no longer faced them alone with weak knees, instead, you rose in your Master’s strength, with humility and compassion. You came to understand that violence was the outwork of human’s corruption, and there was nothing you did to cause that. You were created in your Master’s image, pure and blameless.
There is so much I want to say to you. There is so much absence I want to make up for. There is so much love I want to express. And yet, without all these, you stand tall and beautiful. What’s there left for me to say except ‘I am so proud of you.’?
Thank you for your existence. Thank you for reuniting with me. Thank you for making us whole again.
Love Always,
Now
Virginia Bucknell and Cassa Bassa Book Launch 7 December.
Virginia and I are having our book launch for “A Collection of Poetry and Paintings” next month in a local library. And our book will go into the library catalogue. We are both very excited.
Flicker of Thoughts 