Dr. Gillian Shirreffs Book Signing for Elephant at Waterstones Byres Road

Gillian Shirreffs has raised over £30,000 for charity through her writing, and she'll be signing copies of Elephant on Saturday 13th December at Waterstones Byres Road.

Article Source: Dr. Gillian Shirreffs
Last Updated: 4 December 2025 11:08

Gillian Shirreffs has now raised over £30,000 for charity through her writing, and she’ll be signing copies of Elephant on Saturday 13 December from 12.30–2.30pm at Waterstones Byres Road in Glasgow. If you’d like a signed copy or a meaningful gift, this is the time to go.

Gillian Shirreffs follows her bestselling debut Brodie with her new book Elephant, a raw and fearless look at illness, grief and the things you struggle to say out loud when navigating cancer. Brodie made headlines in 2023 for its sharp humour and clear voice, and for raising over £30,000 for Beatson Cancer Charity. With Elephant, the Glasgow-based writer shifts into even deeper territory, offering an unfiltered and intimate account of what happens when life changes without warning.

“Elephant is a book that found me. I’m glad that you have now found it. The book that found me is about mortality. My own mortality,” says Shirreffs. The book centres on a writer facing a breast cancer diagnosis, but it avoids the format of a traditional cancer memoir. The story unfolds through messages, emails, tweets and inner thoughts, showing the chaos, isolation, absurdity and sudden clarity that come with a life-altering diagnosis. The dry humour and emotional sharpness that made Brodie so popular run through the writing.

Shirreffs has written about illness for nearly twenty years. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007, she began writing on bedrest when her body had slowed and her mind became her only place of movement. That early writing grew into a wider body of work exploring life in a body that misbehaves. A former HR director and English teacher, she holds a Doctor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Her thesis examined the link between physical objects and illness, an idea that runs strongly through Elephant.

The book has already attracting powerful praise. Professor Victor Montori M.D. describes it as “a masterpiece.” Elissa Soave calls it “a rare and wonderful thing… humanity and hope.”

Elephant speaks to anyone who has waited for results, sat through long silences, or struggled to find the right words. It avoids sentimentality. It focuses on friendship, memory, anger, humour and how people keep going when they’re unsure how.

Elephant is available now to order from Into Creative and Waterstones.

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