UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
TBA - details are still being organised! Check back soon.
Queer folklore, horror and magic: A panel with India-Rose Bower, Emma Hinds & Jodie Matthews
Waterstones are delighted to have a queer, feminist witchy panel coming your way on the 22nd of January at 7pm! We will be joined by India-Rose Bower, Emma Hinds and Jodie Matthews. Sunyi Dean will be chairing this event!
As always, Sunyi will be bringing cake.
April 2026
Special Event
Thursday, 22 Jan 2026
The Backroom, 50A Call Lane, Leeds LS1 6DT
6.00pm - 7.30pm
Watersones Leeds, Albion Street
7pm - 9pm
Friday, 15 May 2026
Official Book Launch Party for GWATF
ENTRY: Tickets are FREE!
FOOD: We will provide some cake and light food (courtesy of Harper Voyager) and a big cake. GF/Ve options available.
DRINK: There will be a cash bar available for attendees.
ATTIRE: Black and/or Gold colors, like the cover (optional!)
BOOKS: Normal and special editions are available, alongside a unique "Launch Party" dust jacket exclusive to the event!
RAFFLE: 5 prizes, all picked by Sunyi, and themed to the event.
If you like, you’re also very welcome to stay on for the After-Party taking place in the same venue, which is also totally free to attend (but please remember to RSVP for that event separately.)
Friday, 15 May 2026
The Backroom, 50A Call Lane, Leeds LS1 6DT
7.30pm - 11.00pm
The Hag Bash Afterparty
Come for the books, stay for the AFTER PARTY! Free pizza, cash bar, and LIVE MUSIC. Bring a date or a mate and chill at the bar, or join us on the dance floor—the choice is yours! Tickets are free, but please RSVP so that we know numbers for food.
Bands featured: Bare Brass Band followed by The Happy Daggers, bringing you an evening of swinging tunes and disco funk.
Please note, we will have some non-bookish friends and family who will be attending, so don’t be surprised if it’s a much bigger crowd than the launch event. Ear plugs will be provided if desired.
Darkness Springs Eternal: A Celebration of 2026 Dark Fantasy
Join us to mark the launch of R.J. Barker’s newest novel, MORTEDAUNT’S PERIL, out in May via Tor Books. Also at this event are Sunyi Dean and Frances White, who likewise have new dark fantasy titles launching in the same month!
This event will be a free-flowing discussion where we ask each other questions, rather than a chaired panel. As always, Sunyi will bring cake and/or snacks.
Thursday, 21 May 2026
Leeds Waterstones, Albion Street
6:30-8:30 PM
Short Bio
Sunyi Dean (sun-yee deen) is a multi-award-losing author of speculative fiction. Though born in Texas and raised in Hong Kong, she now resides in Northern England. Her debut novel, THE BOOK EATERS, was an instant #2 Sunday Times Bestseller.
In her spare time, she likes buying whisky, collecting dumbbells, and dying in jiu-jitsu. She also founded the Hugo-nominated Publishing Rodeo Podcast with fellow Tor author, Scott Drakeford.
Her sophmore novel, THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES, will hit stores in May 2026.
Long bio
Sunyi Dean (sun-yee deen) is a multi-award-losing author who was born in rural Texas, grew up in Hong Kong, and now resides in North England. Her family is bilingual and dual-heritage, and she still has relatives in both Hong Kong and the USA.
Sunyi writes cross-genre speculative fiction with a weird slant, and her debut novel, THE BOOK EATERS, was an instant #2 Sunday Times Bestseller. Her next novel, THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES, launches in May 2026. Some of her short fiction has appeared in places like Interzone, Grimdark Magazine, BBC Radio Leeds, and Tor Dot Com.
In her spare time, she likes buying whisky, collecting dumbbells, and dying in jiu-jitsu. Outside of actual writing, she is perhaps best known for founding and cohosting the Publishing Rodeo Podcast with fellow Tor author, Scott Drakeford, in which they talk frankly about the trad pub industry.
Presskit for Girl With A Thousand Faces (click to download)
Press Kit & Pub List
Photos by Mark Hilyer, True North Studio
Complete List of Novels
THE BOOK EATERS (2022)
THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES (2026)
UNTITLED BOOK 3 (2028)
UNTITLED BOOK 4 (2030)
UNTITLED BOOK 5 (2032)
UNTITLED BOOK 6 (2034)
Complete List of Short Fiction
Deserted Lies the City (2017), available on Interzone Digital
A Possible Serenity (2018), available through Andromeda Magazine
“—Good.” (2018), available at Flash Fiction Online
Ice Cream & English Summers (2018), available at Flash Fiction Online
John Kills Jenny (2019), (link coming soon)
The Long Slow Courtship of Mr. Death and Famishista (2020), reprint available at Grimdark Magazine
This Song Is Dedicated To the End of the World (2021), available through Prole Magazine
How To Cook And Eat the Rich (2022), available on Tor Dot Com
The Thief of Memory (2022), available on Tor Dot Com
Eynhallow Sound (2025), available in the Monstrous Tales Anthology
The Nameless God (2026), available in the David Gemmell Anthology