Spend an evening with one of Britain’s greatest contemporary writers as M. John Harrison discusses his remarkable new novel, longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, The End of Everything, with acclaimed writer Helen Mort.

Set in a fractured near-future where Europe has been mislaid, governments barely function and mysterious new life forms emerge from the sea, this unsettling and darkly funny novel follows a scavenger and his aunt – each drawn into separate journeys that challenges everything they think they know.

Expect a provocative and wide-ranging discussion about imagination, literature and how we navigate a world where crisis has become the backdrop to everyday life.

‘M John Harrison is the closest thing we have to a present-day Wyndham or Ballard.’ New Statesman

‘The End of Everything is at once surreal, seductive, shrewdly funny and wholly terrifying.’ Julia Armfield

M. John Harrison is the author of more than twenty books, including the celebrated Viriconium sequence, Light, The Centauri Device and The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again. Regarded as one of Britain’s most influential contemporary writers, he has received numerous awards and written science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction. His anti-memoir, Wish I Was Here, was described as a masterpiece and ‘a deep dive into the mind of a genius’ by Monique Roffey.

Helen Mort is a Sheffield based poet, novelist, non-fiction writer and creative writing lecturer.

Location: Manchester Central Library