Friday 17th July 2026, 6:30 pm

Storysmith, 236 North Street, Bristol, BS3 1JD (click here for a map)

We are delighted to present an unbeatable double-header: Deb Olin Unferth and Elizabeth McCracken will be in freewheeling conversation about their respective new books: the deep and wise and wry sci-fi epic Earth 7, and the searingly honest alternative (maybe even anti?) writing handbook A Long Game: How To Write Fiction.

As massive fans of both of these books, we can’t wait to see where the conversation goes – this is a great chance to see two legends of the game (and longtime pals) in person, so don’t sleep on tickets! Maybe we’ll find out how many of Elizabeth’s writing rules Deb breaks in her new book?!

Pre-order your copies of Earth 7 (rrp £16.99) and A Long Game (rrp £14.99) for a special discounted price with your ticket, then collect on the night!

About Deb Olin Unferth

Deb Olin Unferth is the author of seven books, including Barn 8 and Wait Till You See Me Dance. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and three Pushcart Prizes, and was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Granta, Harper’s, McSweeney’s and the Paris Review.

Photo credit: Nick Berard

About Earth 7

An exhilarating, wildly inventive tour de force, of love, humanity and the end of the world as we know it. 

Two women, one raised in near solitude in a research pod in the depths of the ocean and one a luxury-resort bartender who may or may not be a robot, fall in love, cross deserts, gaze at the stars – and try not only to hold onto one another but together, possibly, salvage some trace of planet Earth.  

Heartbreaking, mind-expanding, soaring with beauty, Earth 7 is at once a love letter to the world and a portrait of its slow disappearance. It’s about love and grief, microbiology and astrophysics, robots and planet Mars, and humanity in all its greatness, absurdity and distress. Welding the deeply human to the thrillingly strange, fizzing with intelligence and profoundly moving, it is the novel we need right now, and for all times. 

‘I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything quite like Earth 7 . . .  It’s sad, funny, furious and fond . . .  Who would have thought a book about the end of the world could be so full of life?’ Jon Doyle, author of Communion   

‘Unfold[s] over vast vistas of time and space, profound, funny, alarming, and imbued with love and sorrow for our lost world. A quirky, bold, and endearing masterpiece of climate fiction.’ Kirkus**** (starred review) 

‘Knocked me out of kilter in all sorts of strange and haunting and wonderful ways. A work of desperate and loving imagination . . . Terrifying and life-affirming all at the same dizzying time. Throw yourself into Deb Olin Unferth’s world; you won’t regret it.’ Jon McGregor 

‘Super smart, deeply human, uplifting and devastating in equal measure.’ Elizabeth Lovatt 

‘To read Deb Olin Unferth is to marvel at every page . . . she is the master of the exacting and luminous. Earth 7 is the friend you want after the end of the world. It will reinvigorate your love for our planet.’ Marie-Helene Bertino

‘What a remarkable book! . . . Her story enfolds the reader like a dream – so much beauty, so much wisdom, such feats of imagination.  I am in awe.’  Karen Joy Fowler 

 ‘An elegy to the world we have now, already disappearing, and at the same time, it’s a message in a bottle, an offering of hope for some far-off future. Intimate and wistful and hypnotic, full of rich detail and beautiful writing.’ Charles Yu 

‘I adore this book. Everyone who lives on planet Earth should read it.’ Rita Bullwinkel

‘Like no other book you’ve ever read, by a writer like no other.’ Elizabeth McCracken

‘A brilliant feast of wisdom and imagination, viruosic and urgent, full of humour and love.’ Brandon Hobson

‘An unexpectedly rollicking and heartbreaking post-apocalyptic coming-of-age tale meets love story unlike any other.’ Rachel Khong

‘Electric, hilarious, and harrowing . . . This kaleidoscopic cli-fi begs us to ask: when Earth goes, where goes all the love?’ Jessica Anthony

About Elizabeth McCracken

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of four novels, three collections of short stories, a memoir, and, most recently, A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction. She lives in Bath, with her family.

About A Long Game: How To Write Fiction

Warm, wise and full of practical tips, this book is the ideal guide for writers old and new

‘A cheering companion that makes writing a less lonely business’ Yiyun Li

Write every day
Show, don’t tell
Write what you know
Kill Your Darlings

These are some of the most popular nuggets of advice given to writers, universally agreed to be true. They are all pieces of writing advice that Elizabeth McCracken expertly and persuasively shoots down in A Long Game.

McCracken has been writing for most of her life. For over thirty-five years, she has also taught creative writing to generations of students, including at Iowa, guiding many writers towards their own answers to the question of how to write fiction. In A Long Game, she shares insights gleaned along the way, deconstructing received wisdom whilst playfully tackling the mysteries that are inherent to writing and creativity.

A book about the life of an artist and a guide to fiction, A Long Game is a revelatory and indispensable resource and will lead all writers, at any stage of their career, back to the page.

‘Elizabeth McCracken is one of America’s finest writers’ Garth Greenwell

‘An irreverent, thought-provoking and ultimately inspiring book about making art’ Rumaan Alam

‘A world class writer and a world class writing teacher‘ Paul Harding

‘I would encourage every writer to read it’ Rebecca Ivory

For venue access info head to storysmithbooks.com/access .