Bristol Climate Writers
Reading can help us think things through, as well as inform and entertain us. Writing can help the author work out what they really think, and how to say it. Reading and writing are important.
We have poets, fiction writers, and non-fiction writers of all kinds in our network, both published, unpublished and just starting out. On 24th November we will be introducing ourselves and our work, there will be readings, and hopefully, if we have time, discussion.
Do come along! This event is free, and open to all. Please use the sign-up form so we can send you the Zoom link.
Going forward, we expect to alternate events between online and in-person events.
BristolCon 2025
BrtistolCon is extraordinary. Run entirely by volunteers, it manages everything on a shoestring - excellent talks, panel discussions and workshops, booksellers and artists - thus keeping the event low-cost for all participants, and is just 10 minutes' walk from the central railway station at Bristol Temple Meads. Many people stay at the hotel; others, like me, are local.
As usual there were so many fascinating talks, panels, and small group discussions. I spotted Adrian Tchaikovsky among the attendees, but didn't get to hear him speak. Last year's guest of honour was Joanne Harris (who wrote Chocolat, among many other excellent novels); and this year's guests of honour were John Higgins, JE Hannaford and Ben Jeapes. Something that everyone mentions is how friendly and accessible the event is. The programme gives you an idea of the breadth and depth of the convention.
If you are interested in this event, check it out! I heartily recommend it.
They say:
BristolCon is a science fiction and fantasy convention organized by the BristolCon Committee. The primary aim of the event is to support the Science Fiction and Fantasy community within the South West of the United Kingdom, and to promote the works of Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, artists, businesses, and performers within the United Kingdom and further afield. The convention was created in 2009 by members of the Bristol Fantasy & SF Society, and has since become renowned as a fun, friendly, and informative addition to the UK’s convention calendar.
Each year we feature panel discussions and lectures, an art show, and small group sessions including table talks and workshops. Books, comics and merchandise are available in the dealers’ room and authors will be available for book signings.
Resonate: Deeper, Wilder, Stronger
Deeper, Wilder, Stronger...
A lifelong lover of nature, prize-winning eco-novelist Deborah Tomkins will explore how her Christian faith has informed not only her environmental and climate activism, but also her writing. Her novella Aerth (Weatherglass Books, 2025) and her novel The Wilder Path (Aurora Metro Books, 2025) both explore the human response to climate and environmental breakdown, from very different perspectives. Deborah has been involved in the national charity Green Christian for over 30 years, and recently stepped back after being Co-Chair for 5 years.
Update:
This was a very enjoyable evening with warm and welcoming hosts and a very engaged audience, who asked really great questions. There were also far more people than I expected - the room was very full! Thank you again to the organisers for inviting me.
A Personal Anthology - short stories
Coincidentally I have recently signed up for Substack, and so I reposted yesterday's anthology, which is by me!
It is also on the A Personal Anthology website.
I hope you enjoy it.
The Flash Fiction Festival
If you are a writer - especially in the UK (although people come from all over the world) - and want to find out more about flash fiction, I suggest you put this in your diary for next year. Writers from all disciplines attend (novelists, short story writers, journalists, memoirists, poets, and others) - and the level of talent is outstanding. It's also a very friendly festival, and very accessible.
So here is Malina writing about the festival.
Trinity College, Bristol - Festival venue
Geneva Writers Conference
I am excited to be joining the Geneva Writers Conference in November as a workshop leader, alongside a wonderful array of excellent writers. I am very much looking forward to meeting them all and to having lovely writerly chats.
I will be travelling by land and sea, rather than flying - quite the adventure. The carbon emissions are less than 10% of those emitted by flying. And although it takes longer, some of my travel is overnight, in comfortable cabins on board a Brittany Ferries ship (and at a very low cost, due to my "early bird" booking). So all in all, I don't feel I lose much time compared to flying. I will arrive in Geneva at 15.29 on the Friday the conference begins, having set off (and slept well!) the previous night.
A helpful website for information about public transport in Europe (and beyond) is www.seat61.com - my go-to.
Here's a quick video about the conference...
INSTRUCTOR_ANNOUNCEMENT_-_GWG_CONFERENCE_2025_TEASER.mp4
Interzone IZ podcast with Gareth Jelley
I really enjoyed chatting with Gareth. Our conversation roamed widely, including of course my novella Aerth.
Interzone has a long history. Originally a paper publication, set up in 1982 in the UK, since 2022 it has been headed up by editor Gareth, with ebook issues and a digital online presence, IZ Digital, and an audio show, IZ Pod.
They say: Interzone is a European zine publishing fiction and non-fiction from all over the planet.
Gareth has just published Interzone issue 302, and individual issues are available here. IZ patrons get the latest issue and back issues going back to 2023.
Many thanks to Gareth for the interview - and apologies for taking so long to mention it here!
Interzone latest issue, #302, July 2025
Aerth... in Italian
I met with both the publisher and the translator last Friday, on one of the hottest days of the year so far. It was around 35C in northern Italy, where they are based, and over last weekend it became even hotter - and this is at the end of June, when summer has only just started.
Giorgio Raffaelli of Zone 42 wrote to me that this is why Aerth is so relevant, and said - with irony - that they comfort themselves with the thought that this is a cooler summer than those of the future...
There is a lot we must do regarding climate and nature, and of course we all have a part to play in our daily lives - flying less, consuming less, being mindful of how we live. The science is clear, and we mustn't give up.
Books, plays, films, art and poetry can help us to think around the issues. You may not agree with everything you read or hear or see, but keep engaging with it. We need to pull together as never before.
Ciao!
Book signing in Bath, UK
Toppings is housed in a fascinating building - a beautiful Georgian stone building with steps and columns outside, and an internal gallery running around 3 sides. the bookshelves are so high on the ground floor that a ladder is needed to reach the top books. There are also many other rooms and sections, including a large children's section on the lower ground floor. The bookshop opened in these premises in 2021, although they had already had a shop for many years elsewhere in the city.
I was amazed to see both my novels displayed in stacks on a big table, where customers were browsing. Here I am in the gallery - notice the beautiful plaster work on the ceiling behind me. Do pop in if you are in Bath. This is definitely a bookshop to visit. (And I bought three books...)
Book Launch
Do come along if you can!
My novels deal with climate change, nature, and social justice.
Hope to see some of you there!
https://booksontherise.com/event/fbf-2025-writing-climate-fiction-an-evening-with-deborah-tomkins/
Climate Grief and Eco-Anxiety
The Wilder Path is a story of grief, and love. Or, it's a story of love, and grief. It deals with one woman's growing realisation that climate change is real, and that the natural world is in deep trouble - and her frustration that others around her don't see things the same way. She journeys alone through grief and acute, relentless anxiety about the future.
Fifteen years ago, climate grief and eco-anxiety were likely to be pathologised, seen as "illnesses" to be "cured". But this kind of anticipatory grief and anxiety about what climate heating will bring to our planet, to animals and trees, and plants, to human beings, is entirely a natural and normal response. We also know that climate heating is unstoppable, although we may be able to slow it down, perhaps, or mitigate the worst effects, or even adapt, to a degree.
So, unlike Rosalie in the Wilder Path, where do we put these powerful emotions? How can we reach a place of active peace and hope? The word active is important here.
I am fortunate to have colleagues who "get it". For many years I have been a trustee of an environmental charity, Green Christian, and pre-pandemic some of us were discussing how we could help people with these powerful emotions. The upshot is an 8-week course, Deep Waters, which is free, and open to anyone (as long as they don't mind that it comes from a Christian organisation). In safe and sensitive spaces, Deep Waters explores our powerful reactions to the climate and ecological crises, and is online a couple of times a year. It has now been running for 5 years. Participants describe it as very helpful, giving them a sense of direction, helping them to become more active in their decision-making, rather than staying trapped in grief-induced reactions such as anger or guilt.
In addition, the Climate Psychology Alliance provides support to individuals and groups struggling with eco-distress, and offers safe spaces to share emotions surrounding the climate crisis, both in person and online.
I recommend both of these.
And you may wonder - have I, personally, experienced these emotions, and do I still? The answer is yes, and yes. But, with help, I have learnt how to navigate them, and this is why I write.
Author events this summer
In May, we have the launch of The Wilder Path, at my publisher Aurora Metro's very own bookshop, Books On The Rise, in Richmond, Surrey. I will be interviewed by local Green Party councillor Andrée Frieze, followed by Q&A from the audience. We will also talk about Aerth. These are two very different books, but both are concerned with climate and ecology.
In June, we have an author event discussing The Wilder Path, at the ever-supportive Stanfords Bookshop in Bristol, where we launched Aerth back in January.
In July I will be at Books On The Hill in Clevedon, discussing Aerth (with possibly a brief mention of The Wilder Path!).
Also in July, I will be attending the amazing Flash Fiction Festival, as I do every year, in Bristol. This year I have the fun of appearing on an author panel, along with brilliant writers David Swann, Laura Beasley and Michael Loveday. This is a private event, in that you have to be already attending the festival to attend the panel.
All events are on my events page. I hope to meet some of you at one or more of these!
Interview with Michael Loveday
In other news, Bristol Climate Writers had a wonderful evening earlier this week at Redland Library with the Friends of Redland Library in Bristol. Do contact me if you live in or around Bristol or Bath and would like us to do an event!
Bristol Climate Writers: Desert Island Books at Redland Library
The last time we did this was just over 5 years ago, just before the first Covid lockdown. That evening there was torrential rain, but it didn't prevent an engaged audience and full house, as I recall.
The format is for each member of the team to choose one book to speak about, plus a "wild card" - a book on any topic of their choice.
I'm really looking forward to this event - it was a really great evening last time - and this time my teammates are science fiction author and editor Pete Sutton and science and environment writer Liz Kalaugher.
Signing books
I had a fun half hour last week with some of the booksellers at Mr B's Emporium in Bath - a quirky but serious and award-winning independent bookshop. They really know their stuff, and have a wonderful mailing list and subscription service. If you're in Bath any time, please look them up!
Many thanks to Tom and Soffi for helping me feel so welcome and at home!
Desert Island Books
Here are the books we discussed:
Earth Shattering: Ecopoems (Bloodaxe Books) • The Chrysalids by John Wyndham • The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart • Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison • We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The podcast lasts just over half an hour. I hope you enjoy it!
Aerth is being reprinted
The second print run will start arriving in bookshops on Wednesday 12th February, and, as ever, it is available direct from my publishers, Weatherglass Books. Please buy from Weatherglass if you can - independent presses operate on a shoestring and need all the help they can get.
Book Launch for Aerth
Weatherglass publisher Damian Lanigan was there and gave a fascinating introduction to the Weatherglass Novella Prize, and Peter Birchenough, the manager of Stanfords, led a wide-ranging and intelligent Q&A session for the audience, most of whom I knew well - I absolutely recommend being surrounded by friends and family as a first book launch experience. The shop was packed and it was a very happy evening.
Photo: Peter Birchenough
Huge thanks to Damian Lanigan and Neil Griffiths at Weatherglass Books, and also to Peter Birchenough and all at Stanfords!
Environmental activism in a time of war
"We plant trees in shell craters and collect honey from mined fields..."
Of course, it's a good deal more complex than that, political, geopolitically and practically. The article explores some of the aspects of the Ukrainian government's approach to looking after nature. Ecocide, the deliberate destruction of wildlife and natural resources, is a crime in Ukraine - not yet recognised as a crime in most of the world except Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu.
In the UK, an Ecocide Bill has started going through the parliamentary process, at a glacial pace.
This article is well worth reading.
Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London, 26 September 2024
More reviews...
So here is one from The Telegraph, by Luke Kennard, poet, novelist, and Professor of Creative Writing at Birmingham University.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/review-aerth-deborah-tomkins-weatherglass/
And another by renowned science fiction author Lisa Tuttle, in The Guardian.
I am still at the stage of marvelling that my book has even got reviews, and that they are generally favourable. Inevitably there will be some one-star reviews! Hopefully the thicker skin I have grown over years of rejections will stand me in good stead.
The book launch comes up in 10 days' time, at Stanfords Bookshop in Bristol. This will be really fun as many of my friends and family are coming along.
