“I had no history of writing, nothing to bring to the publishing table. Within a couple of weeks of that article, everything changed.
“I’ll never forget buying that copy of Big Issue – from the same seller in the street – and opening it, the picture of our tent on Chesil Beach. As far as I’m concerned, that was the pinnacle of my publishing life. It was the first step. Of many.”
The Big Issue featuring Winn’s article came out on 10 July 2017. At that stage, she had had no luck finding a publisher and was considering self-publishing her story – but a few weeks later, Winn wrote back to the Big Issue to share a change in fortunes.
“I had given up hope of getting an agent or publisher but randomly approached an agent 10 days ago, mentioning the Big Issue article (thought I’d give it one last go) and she came back to me within the day,” Winn emailed Big Issue deputy editor Steven MacKenzie back in summer 2017. “Just completing the proposal to be sent out to publishers, so fingers crossed. Don’t think she’d have considered it if it hadn’t been for your article, so thanks again.”
Less than a year later, in March 2018, The Salt Path was finally published. As of 2025, it’s spent more than 100 weeks in the bestseller charts, and now its film adaptation is coming to cinemas.
The film’s stars Gillian Anderson – who plays Winn – and Jason Isaacs are also interviewed in this week’s Big Issue.
Since her eviction in 2013, Raynor believe homelessness has become a bigger issue. “We had the wonders of lockdown and Everyone In, then straight afterwards, we showed that nothing had changed because everyone was back out again.”
“As far as rural homelessness is concerned, which I wrote about in that [original Big Issue] article, things have got worse. There are more homeless people in the rural communities now than there were in 2013. I certainly see more than I did then. Also more people having to choose an alternative way of living simply because they can’t afford housing.”
Raynor Winn’s husband Moth, whose diagnosis of a rare neurodegenerative condition partly triggered the couple’s epic trek along the South West Coast Path, has defied all odds and is still with us more than ten years after being given a life expectancy of just six-to-eight years.
“Without the Big Issue we wouldn’t be here today,” he says in this week’s magazine, which goes to print nearly eight years on from the issue which broke their story.
Read the full story of how Raynor Winn’s story went from the pages of the Big Issue to the big screen in this week’s Big Issue, on sale now. You can buy the magazine from a street vendor or subscribe at bigissue.com.
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