Wigan author seeks help from people with experience of autism as he starts work on new book

Alex Winstanley writes books to help people deal with potentially difficult topics, with titles including My Grandma Has Dementia, My Uncle Has Depression and My Brother Has Cancer.

He aims to support children and families, while also giving a voice to people with lived experience.

Now, he is working on a book about autism, after many requests for him to cover the condition.

Alex, who lives in Standish, said: “The Autism Friends engagement group at Wigan Council has asked me to write a children’s book about autism, which is awesome because I get asked about it all the time. People are always asking me if I have a book about autism – they are desperate for it.”

Alex is holding an event at Wigan Library on Saturday – during World Autism Acceptance Week – to gather people’s views and experiences of living with autism.

While he is already working with the engagement group, he wants to hear the thoughts of people from across the borough.

He says he is “passionate” about sharing and celebrating the voices of people with lived experiences.

Alex, who runs Wigan-based social enterprise Happy Smiles Training CIC, said: “At the event I will look at getting people’s thoughts and experiences that they want represented in the book.

"I will be showing a sneak preview of the characters and the character designs, so people can see the illustrations, which is really exciting. There are two characters, who are going to be twins, to show they both have autism but it impacts them in very different ways.

"There’s going to be an opportunity for people to be featured as a character. We are going to do a competition and the illustrator can make the character look like them.”

Wiganers have previously appeared in Alex’s books, which proved to be popular, especially when young readers were able to meet the real people.

Alex will also run a competition on Saturday to win a copy of the book once it is published.

The event runs from 11am to 1pm on Saturday at Wigan Library. Free tickets are available from Wigan Libraries on Eventbrite.