Alix Edwards’ mission is to inspire and empower others to use their own creativity to find their voice. Alix’s art tells stories about women, many of whom society has dismissed or ignored. In her writing, ordinary women behave in unexpected ways. 

In 2019 Alix received a bursary from Arts Council Wales to explore Magdalene Laundries in Wales. A survivor of dv, Alix  participated in Representing Wales 2022-23 and wrote  a poetry pamphlet that challenges assumptions about domestic abuse.   In 2018 she set up Company of Words events to encourage those new to writing to perform their work. Her poems have been appeared in many publications including Marble Magazine, Penny Thoughts, Cardiff Review and Poetry Wales. She is working on a YA novel set in Cardiff and a thriller inspired by the disappearance of teenage girls on the Mexican border.

Greg Glover (he/him) is an award-winning playwright from Newport who has had his work performed in numerous theatres ranging from the Bristol Old Vic to Theatre 503. The primary focus of his writing is to cement the place of disabled people in the mainstream by reimagining worlds so that they actively include those on the margins rather than exclude them. Having created short films for television he is now using this experience to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds find their voice through film. In the past year he has written for BBC Radio 4, Galwad and Theatr Clwyd as well as being shortlisted for the Unlimited Open Awards whilst being one of the Sherman Unheard Voices. 

Bethany Handley (she/ her) is a writer and disability activist living in Pontypridd. Her poetry has been published in POETRY, Poetry Wales and by the Poetry Foundation and the Institute of Welsh Affairs, amongst other publications. Bethany was one of the writers on the Sherman Theatre’s Unheard Voices Scheme and she recently developed a writing retreat for young Welsh d/Deaf and Disabled writers with novelist Megan Angharad Hunter thanks to a commission from Literature Wales and Natural Resources Wales. Bethany’s work typically explores ableism, inaccessibility, and her relationship with nature as a Disabled woman.

Caitlin Tina Jones is a working-class autistic poet from Hengoed, South Wales. She is currently undertaking a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing at Cardiff University. Her poems have featured in publications including Propel and Lucent Dreaming, among others, and have been recognised in competitions by Ilkley Literature Festival and Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Her work is soon to be anthologised in the Anthology of Welsh Disabled Writers. 

Fran Kirchholtes (she/her/hi) is a writer, stage manager and translator living in Monmouthshire. Born and raised in Germany, she moved to Cardiff after graduating from Heidelberg University with a BA in English and Musicology. There, she completed a MA in Stage & Event Management. She has been reading and writing stories since she was little, taking writing classes and workshops while at University and having some of her work performed there. Since her autism diagnosis in her late 20s, she has started to find her voice on the page and through other people speaking her words. Writing fiction and plays, she is working to raise awareness of the differing presentations of neurodiversity in female presenting and identifying persons. 

Grace Quantock (she/her) is a psychotherapeutic counsellor and writer based in the Welsh valleys. She has been published by The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Welsh Agenda, Planet Magazine and An Open Door, (Parthian, 2022). She was shortlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize and Writers’ & Artists’ Working-Class Writers' Prize. In 2022 Grace won a Curtis Brown Creative Breakthrough award, mentored by Cathy Rentzenbrink to work on her memoir, Madwomen Are My Ancestors. She writes narrative non-fiction at the intersection of creative arts, social justice and marginalised bodies.  

Satterday Shaw writes fiction for adults and young adults. When she was a teenager, she wished she could be somebody else for a day and writing is the closest she’s got. Her stories and articles have been published in Mslexia, The London Magazine, Wasafiri, the Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology, Wales Arts Review and other places. She lives in Eryri. Past teaching includes writing workshops for adults (eg: Creative Writing students, women with long-term mental health problems) and teenagers (eg: Roma teenagers). She has worked in anti-racist education, as a family carer, and as a film and video editor. 

Rhys Miles Thomas was born in Alma in Carmarthenshire, but now lives in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.

He has worked professionally in the creative world for over twenty years. During this period, he has worked as a theatre, television and film actor with several companies including Theatr Clwyd, BBC, S4C, Film Four, Hallmark. He has also worked as a bilingual writer writing plays for the theatre and for television - including co-writing the television series Y Tŷ for S4C.

As a director he has worked for the BBC and Ffilm Cymru and has decades of experience in working with disadvantaged young people. He has produced Welsh and English theatre plays throughout the country. He has worked as a dancer and choreographer in Britain, South Africa, Lithuania, Northern Ireland and in Germany. He has also been Head of the Digital Department at the Cyfle training company. He is currently one of the trustees of the National Theatre. He is very interested in how disability is portrayed to 'mainstream' audiences.

David Thorpe is a Marvel comics writer whose prize-winning YA novel Hybrids was called “stunningly clever” by The Times. He co-founded the London Screenwriters Workshop. He gave this up to move to Wales and devote his energy to saving the environment. He has since written a dozen books and 100s of articles on sustainability. Since he has cerebral palsy, he takes a stand for disability rights. 

Dr Sara Louise Wheeler is a freelance poet, littérateur, and artist. She writes the columns ‘O’r Gororau’ (‘From the borders’) for Barddas Welsh poetry magazine, and ‘Troi Cerrig’ (‘Turning stones’) for Golwg360; she is also a ‘Reader’ for Fahmidan. Sara undertakes consultancy work on accessibility and is involved in numerous groups relating to equality and diversity. She is Vice-Chair of the central literature committee for the National Eisteddfod of Wales and is a member of the Executive committee for PEN Wales. Sara works in and around the borderlands of North-East Wales, providing workshops relating to creativity and wellbeing. Sara won the DAC ‘Creative Word’ (Welsh medium) competition 2022 with her poem ‘Ablaeth Rhemp y Crachach’, which she subsequently translated and published in her bilingual pamphlet of poetry ‘Trawiad/ Seizure’. Her artwork ‘The sands of hearing time’ was featured in the DAC Arts Prize exhibition ‘Aildanio’.