Gillian Shirreffs has been writing about illness for nearly two decades. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007, she began writing while on bedrest. What began as a coping mechanism grew into something more—an urgent, unsentimental collection of work about what it means to live in a body that won’t behave. Gillian’s debut novel, Brodie, was published in 2023. A darkly funny, sharply observed story inspired by her love of Muriel Spark, Brodie has raised over £30,000 for Beatson Cancer Charity. Her second book, Elephant, is an intimate exploration of illness, grief and the things we struggle to say out loud. It centres on a writer facing a breast cancer diagnosis but it’s not a traditional cancer memoir. Told through messages, emails, tweets, and interior thoughts, it captures the chaos, loneliness, absurdity and clarity that come when life tilts suddenly and irrevocably.  A former HR director and English teacher, Gillian has a Doctor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing.