Thursday, May 5, 2016

Cli-fi = Climate fiction.

Cli-fi = Climate fiction 

By Julianne from Hawthorn Library in AUSTRALIA
                           

+Today's opening hours

  • Ashburton 10am-6pm
  • Balwyn 10am-6pm
  • Camberwell 9am-5pm
  • Hawthorn 10am-9pm
  • Kew 10am-9pm
 
 
Climate change fiction or 'cli-fi' (also sometimes called eco-fabulism) is not new -- but it is certainly a growing trend in literature. [See cli-fi.net for over 100 news links]

It is fiction that speculates the future impact of climate change on the world and the ensuing consequences.

In this way, cli-fi can cross over with sci-fi, but cli fi has the power to be a wakeup call to climate change and to remind us all of the dangers of being complacent about our warming planet.
Climate change is one of the most important issues we face on this planet so it is no surprise that some big hitters in the literary world  are tackling this genre– notably the wise Margaret Atwood with her Madadam trilogy
Oryx and crake#
The Year of the Flood#
Maddaddam#
I found these books to be brilliant, but I am a huge Atwood fan and would probably pay good money to read her scrunched up shopping lists.
Other well-known writers who have delved into climate change issues are:
Flight behaviour* by Barabara Kingsolver.
Solarby Ian McEwan
The bone clocks by David Mitchell
This year will also see the release of Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Proulx's novel tackling themes of ecological collapse with Barkskins.
On our home turf here in Australia, where global warming is of great concern, we have:
Clade  James Bradley (currently shortlisted for NSW premier award)
A wrong turn at the office of unmade lists by Jane Rawson- the wonderfully titled and delightfully dark novel, winner of The Conversation's 2014 most underrated book of the year and set in Melbourne.
Anchor point by Alice Robinson (longlisted for The Stella Prize).
Some other international books to explore in the genre are:
When the floods came by Clare Morrall.
The windup girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandemeer.
Gold fame citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars trilogy* and Code capitol trilogy.
Some of these authors appear in the climate fiction themed short story collection.
I'm with the bears: short stories from a damaged planet edited by Mark Martin.
In teen fiction you will find Days like this by Alison Stewart.
For more insight into how climate change fiction or 'cli fi' humanises the science and helps to empower people to act see this interesting article from The Conversation on 'cli-fi' and from the Atlantic: Climate fiction: can books save the planet?.
Certainly worth thinking about!
*Also available in our Overdrive eBook collection.
#Also available in our Borrow Box eAudio collection.
New to library eBooks? Check out our eBook/eAudio information page.
By Julianne from Hawthorn Library. 

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