Writing Fiction About A Changing Climate

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We now understand what happens when we don't act quickly.



The coronavirus pandemic taught us that addressing an issue early makes a tremendous difference. Some are hoping the outbreak will be a wake-up call for how we respond to another global crisis, which could have even greater consequences: climate change.

It's an issue that can often feel overwhelming and beyond our grasp. Maybe you think about the threat of climate change all the time but aren't sure what you can do to help. Or maybe just the thought of it makes you anxious because the problem just feels too big.

It's this kind of cosmic anxiety that fiction writers are exploring in their work, through stories of characters grappling with how to live through a global crisis—while also dealing with personal ones.

With us to talk about "cli-fi," or climate fiction, is Amy Brady, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books, where she writes "Burning Worlds," a monthly column which explores fiction and climate change, Jenny Offill, author of "Weather," a novel about a woman trying to balance the anxieties of climate change with daily life and Lydia Millet, writer and editor for the Center for Biological Diversity and author of "A Children's Bible."

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