[1] It was at Bury Grammar that she met writer Sherry Ashworth, then a teacher, who became a mentor and friend and who later published Unsworth's first novel under her Hidden Gem Press imprint.
[7] Her debut novel Hungry, the Stars and Everything, was published in June 2011 by Hidden Gem Press[2] and won a Betty Trask Award from the Society of Authors.
The event was held at Aumbry, with diners able to eat some of the dishes that appeared in the novel whilst Unsworth read extracts of her book at intervals throughout the meal.
The book received positive reviews, with writer Caitlin Moran describing it as "Withnail for Girls" and declaring that she wished she had written it.
[16] In 2013 Unsworth collaborated with writers Alison Moore, Jenn Ashworth, Tom Fletcher and Richard Hirst to produce a collection of Christmas ghost stories, published as The Longest Night.
The edition was limited to 300 copies[17] and the writers performed atmospheric readings in venues which included one in a supposedly haunted room which had previously been used as a morgue, in The Church Inn, Prestwich.