Eco-Speculative Fiction Addresses Climate Themes
A growing wave of speculative fiction is directly addressing climate change and environmental crisis. New books such as *A Line You Have Traced* and *Pedro the Vast* exemplify the trend of "eco-speculative" fiction, which explores the societal and ecological futures of a changing planet.
- The term "cli-fi" is credited to freelance reporter and climate activist Dan Bloom, who coined it around 2007. However, the genre's roots trace back much earlier, with J.G. Ballard's disaster novels like *The Drowned World* (1962) and Frank Herbert's *Dune* (1965) considered pioneering works of climate fiction. - The genre has gained significant literary recognition; Diane Cook's *The New Wilderness* was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and Richard Powers' *Bewilderment* was a finalist for the same award in 2021. - In June 2024, a new £10,000 Climate Fiction Prize was launched at the Hay Festival to specifically honor novels that address the climate crisis. - *Pedro the Vast* is set in a fire-prone Chilean landscape where a deadly fungus jumps from eucalyptus trees to farm workers, an example of the "eco-horror" subgenre where nature turns against humanity. - Roisin Dunnett's *A Line You Have Traced* spans three centuries in East London, connecting women who face fascism, queer identity, and, in the future timeline, a collapsed society where a collective plans for the end of human life on Earth. - Prominent authors in the genre include Margaret Atwood, whose dystopian *MaddAddam* trilogy explores genetic engineering and environmental collapse, and Kim Stanley Robinson, whose 2020 novel *The Ministry for the Future* was mentioned at the United Nations.
