What is the role of fiction in climate solutions? Grist recently published the third collection of winning stories from its climate fiction short story contest, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. This contest has engaged writers from across the globe in envisioning the next 180 years of climate progress, community-oriented solutions, and intersectional world-building. These stories provide flickers of hope, even joy, and serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.
Join Grist’s Tory Stephens in conversation with Imagine 2200 judges and award-winning authors Paolo Bacigalupi and Sam J. Miller and Imagine 2200 author Lovinia Summer to discuss how to decolonize and diversify climate fiction, the role of creativity and narrative building as an underutilized climate solution, and the process of building a hopeful future.
Presented in partnership with the Center for Fiction and with support from NRDC.
YOU CAN VIEW THE LIVESTREAM HERE.
Featuring:
Sam J. Miller‘s (he/him) books have been called “must reads” and “bests of the year” by USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and O: The Oprah Magazine, among others, and have been translated into nine languages. His work has won the Nebula, Locus, Shirley Jackson, and Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards, as well as the hopefully-soon-to-be-renamed John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He’s also the last in a long line of butchers. Sam lives in New York City, and at samjmiller.com
Paolo Bacigalupi (he/him) is an internationally bestselling author of speculative fiction. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, John W. Campbell and Locus Awards, as well as being a finalist for the National Book Award and a winner of the Micheal L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Paolo’s work often focuses on questions of sustainability and the environment, most notably the impacts of climate change. He has written novels for adults, young adults, and children, and is currently at work on a new novel. He can be found online at windupstories.com.
Lovinia Summer (she/her) is a Brooklyn based climate nerd excited about imagining a just regenerative future. She works in renewable energy and writes cli-fi stories to bring that future into reality.
Tory Stephens (he/him) creates opportunities that transform organizations and shift culture. He is a resource generator and community builder for social justice issues, people, and movements. He currently works at Grist.org as their climate fiction creative manager, and uses storytelling to champion climate justice and imagine green, clean, and just futures. In another life he owned a kick-butt streetwear company, and he would have gotten away with eating the last cookie too, if it weren’t for his three meddling kids.
