Hello Stim fans,

I have three exciting updates to share with you today.

First of all, I handed in the proofed manuscript back to Unbound this week. What that means is that not only have I edited it, but another editor went through and checked it and proofed it, and our wonderful production team are now going to typeset it, which means it is about to start looking a lot more like a book, rather than a Word document.

Second of all, we've had a couple of line up changes. This happens, especially with big projects like anthologies, even more so when you're working with a group of disabled people who are being creative and trying to get by at the same time. So our final line up is 18 wonderful people, and I get to introduce you to one new person -- Mrs. Kerima Çevik!

Here's a little about Kerima:

Mrs. Kerima Çevik’s activism is informed by the Albert Camus quote “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” She writes, speaks, and leverages social media to effect transformative change in areas of critical race, intersectionality, restorative justice and improving quality of life in services and supports for nonspeaking Black autistics throughout their lives. She is an independent researcher who strives to emphasize disparities in quality of life for marginalized intersected disabled populations and their families because she believes that these disparities can be resolved in her lifetime through grassroots community-building activities, restorative justice, trauma-informed care, and pay-it-forward activism models. She has a background in legislative advocacy and social media advocacy, including her Autism Training Bill and the viral #AutisticWhileBlack hashtag. She is a married multilingual and multiracial married mother of two children, currently homeschooling her teenaged son Mustafa, a nonspeaking high support needs Autistic teen able to communicate through a combination of AAC, sign language, and his own gestural language.

I am a big fan of Kerima's work and writing, and extremely pleased to have her as part of Stim. Her essay on communication, the intersection of blackness and autism, and navigating parenting is truly brilliant.

And the final announcement is that we're *touch wood* due to be published in April 2020! That's the date we are aiming for and the plan, but occasionally things go awry so I will confirm something more official closer to then. But we are hoping that this World Autism Awareness Week, people will be able to pick up Stim.

Also, surprise surprise! I just saw the cover for Stim and fully burst into tears. The designer, the wonderful Luke Bird, completely understood the feel we wanted to evoke and what stimming feels like. I have been given the go ahead to share this with you so keep an eye out in your inbox or on Twitter over the next few days...

I know this is a lot of news at once, but hopefully it is all as exciting to you as it is to me. 

More soon!

Lizzie