Alice McIlroy started writing her debut, The Glass Woman, in 2017 out of concern for the impact unrestricted AI could have on privacy, identity and bodily autonomy. Published in 2024, it has been longlisted for the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and the ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger 2025. She is an activist for creators' rights and can be found @alicemcilroy_author.

Dr Heidi Edmundson is an Emergency Medicine consultant based in London and an advocate for staff wellbeing and positive workplace cultures. She has introduced several wellbeing initiatives to her department, some of which use creative techniques to prompt reflection, reframe problems and encourage connection. Stories interest her for what they reveal about the 'emotional truth' of the work, as do rituals for building workplace culture. Alongside medicine, she writes. Her second book, Belly Full (2025), is about her own experience of illness and the current challenges within the NHS, with themes ranging from denial, normalisation and body image to hope, healing and Zumba. She has also written two crime novels, classic whodunnits with a magical realism twist.

In November we are featuring Authors' Contingency Fund, Provides emergency hardship grants to authors, illustrators, and translators facing financial crisis, including those whose livelihoods have been hit by the rise of AI.

In December we are featuring Hampshire Hospitals Charity: Peritoneal Malignancy Institute, Supporting staff and patients at the Peritoneal Malignancy Institute in Basingstoke, one of the few UK centres that operate on cancers that have spread to the peritoneum.