Craig Stone

Craig Stone left school at sixteen with a head full of rocks, a general dislike towards anyone telling him what to do and a belief none of it mattered - because one day he would write the greatest book in the world. He is still trying to write the greatest book in the world.

Craig moved to Spain and worked for a man with a missing finger called Juan, a short gangster who owned the town. The morning after he was almost killed by a freight train trying to find Perpignan airport, he thought he should start writing some of his adventures down; but he was sixteen, so his writing only existed on the back of chewed beer mats.

A decade later, around the age of 26, Craig found his first literary agent Patrick Janson-Smith, from The Christopher Little Agency. The son of renowned agent Peter Janson-Smith, agent to Ian Fleming and Gavin Maxwell. Patrick found Craig his first book deal with Val Hudson at Headline UK for the novelty book How to Hide from Humans. All was rosy, until the book deal fell apart. And it wouldn't be the last one. Such is the luck found in the pulp, of this rotten life.

A few years later, Craig returned from living in Kauai, Hawaii, to find himself homeless. He lived in a garage, on a few sofa’s and eventually Gladstone Park in North London. While in Gladstone Park Craig wrote his first novel, The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness. He self-published this book from his sister’s spare bedroom and received hundreds of five star reviews.

Patrick left Christopher Little and Craig needed to find a new agent. He soon found Sonia Land at Sheil Land Associates – the oldest Literary agency in London. Meanwhile, his future wife read The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness and slid into his DM’s on Twitter.

Armed with his new agent, Craig Stone’s second novel, Life Knocks, was shortlisted for the 2012 Dundee International Book Prize, judged by Stephen Fry and Philip Pullman. Stephen Fry said that Life Knocks is "an impressive work of literary fiction deserving of more recognition", but armed with both a shortlisting and a quote from Stephen Fry, Craig's agent still couldn't secure a book deal from any major publisher.

Today, Craig is somehow married with two children and lives in Kingston, West London. He's a mental health advocate and writes for the likes of The Guardian and Al Jazeera. His third novel is titled Deep in the Bin of Bob and his fourth novel was published in 2023, titled The Last March of the Pirate Snails. The Last March of the Pirate Snails entirely rhymes, and is the first novel of its kind. His books continue to move readers and sell in high volume.

If every tale needs a meaning, then Craig’s life story has taught him this; don't sell your dreams for the illusion of safety. We’re all going to die, but before that, is opportunity – life doesn't have to be a queue to pointless oblivion. If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a doctor, get doctoring. Better to fail at something, than live for nothing.

He still seeks that book deal.