Deborah Tomkins's Blog

I have just come back from the 14th Geneva Writers Conference, where I was teaching "Ways into Climate Writing", and I had a wonderful time. It was so interesting and stimulating being with writers of all genres, with so many interesting writerly conversations and brilliant workshops. The weekend had an international flavour, with people coming from all over Europe, so I overheard conversations in several languages. I enjoyed brushing up my French too.

While I was there, a friend sent me a screenshot of my novella Aerth... mentioned as one of the best books of 2025 in the Daily Telegraph Christmas Books supplement. This is tremendously exciting! I must say I found it difficult to sleep that night. Aerth is one of just 21 novels mentioned in that part of the list. Online, it links to the stunning review by the Telegraph's critic Luke Kennard, which was published in January, just before the book came out.

All in all, a very exciting weekend. I travelled to Geneva and back via public transport, a total of: 8 trains, 2 overnight ferries, one bus, one taxi, 2 Paris metro trains, and my own two feet! It was a very interesting journey, and not as tiring as people might expect. More on this, perhaps, in another post.

The Daily Telegraph, 15th November 2025. 

Bristol Climate Writers is relaunching online on Monday 24th November at 7.15pm. We have been fairly quiet over the past couple years, due to LIFE! - but we hope to reach and inspire the people in the Bristol, Bath and Beyond area to read and perhaps write about climate change and the challenges to nature. 

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We have poets, fiction writers, and non-fiction writers of all kinds in our network, both published, unpublished and just starting out.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. 

I spent yesterday at BristolCon, a highlight of my year. This year it was a two-day event, both Saturday and Sunday.

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. 

My next event is with Resonate, a monthly meeting of arts and faith held at St Stephen's church in central Bristol. It's on Tuesday 7 October at 8pm. Come along if you are in the area and interested. 

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.

If you like short stories, you may like A Personal Anthology, a website run by Jonathan Gibbs. Every couple of weeks a new, fairly lengthy post goes out on Substack from a different author each time, in which they discuss some of their favourite short stories, 12 in all. It's fascinating, and I always find stories I have never read, or writers I have never heard of. I think it's worth signing up. 

Coincidentally I have recently signed up for Substack, and so I reposted yesterday's anthology, which is by me!

I hope you enjoy it. 

This writers' festival is unlike any other. I intended to post about it here back in July - but Malina Douglas has written such a good account of this year's festival that I thought I would let her tell you about it.

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

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

If you enjoy listening to podcasts, you may like this one with Interzone Digital editor Gareth Jelley. This was recorded a few months ago but still feels fresh, I think!

A chat with Deborah Tomkins

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 2002 it has been headed up by editor Gareth, with a digital online presence, including fiction, non-fiction and a podcast. 

They say: Interzone is a European zine publishing fiction and non-fiction from all over the planet. 

Many thanks to Gareth for the interview - and apologies for taking so long to mention it here! 

I am delighted to announce that I have just signed a contract with Italian science fiction publisher Zona 42 for my novella Aerth. The book will be published in Italian in the first half of 2026.

Using Zoom, 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! 

 

This week I was invited by Toppings Booksellers in Bath to go in and sign copies of both my recently published books, Aerth and The Wilder Path. They also very kindly brought me a very welcome pot of tea, which I drank while chatting to the manager, Saber Khan.

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...)