Pultizer Prompt: Try Cli Fi!
My last blog post lambasted this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction—a supposedly humorous (to some) novel that had no connection to real life in America or current worldwide issues. (I thought the purpose of the Pulitzer award is to honor a book focused on American life, culture, or values.)
If I were to select a future framework for the Pulitzer fiction award I would nominate a book classified in the growing genre of cli-fi: Fiction based on climate change. That is certainly a current and heated subject (pun intended.) Cli-fi sometimes borders on sci-fi but it is more literary and more centered on human intentions and motivations. Cli-fi writings run the gamut from dystopias to thrillers to YA humor.
I am currently reading “Flight Behavior” a best-seller and award-winner by Barbara Kingsolver. Climate change disrupts a rural Tennessee farm family and displaces Monarch butterflies from their natural wintering grounds in Mexico. Desperation links the family and butterflies.
Another best-seller is Nathaniel Rich’s “Odds Against Tomorrow” in which a disaster statistician ponders nature and essentials vs. greed and materialism.
Other cli-fi novels by popular authors include “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, an environmental apocalypse.
“The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood. Environmental ravages of resources running out, genetic experiments, and wasteland of the internet.
“State of Fear” by Michael Crichton. Suspense and adventure worldwide, fired by global warming and human villains.
"The Secret Wisdom of the Earth" by Christopher Scotton. Coming of age for boys and a coal mining town. Mountaintop removal threatens environment.
“The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell. Self-interest and planetary survival.
“The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi. A biopunk thriller about the effects of climate change.
“The Carbon Diaries 2015” by Saci Lloyd. The UK government imposes a carbon tax. Rationing brings about a new reality.
“Memory of Water” by Emmi Itaranta. Water scarcity and resulting dystopian society.
“A Being Darkly Wise” by John Atcheson. Suspense and adventure in an isolated mountainous area in British Columbia.
“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. A beloved children’s fable with a serious message about industrial greed causing environmental collapse.
Other writers of cli-fi novels include T.C. Boyle, Ian McEwan, and Kim Stanley Robinson.
Will there be a cli-fi novel published this year that could be nominated for the 2019 Pultizer Prize in Fiction? Fellow writers, get busy! Read! Write! Publish!
I hope some of the cli-fi books I’ve listed, and others you find, might inspire your reading as well as your writing muses. In addition, there are numerous non-fiction books listed on Wikipedia that can serve as background resources for writing about climate change. Wikipedia lists titles, authors, and aspects of climate change addressed in each book.
If I were to select a future framework for the Pulitzer fiction award I would nominate a book classified in the growing genre of cli-fi: Fiction based on climate change. That is certainly a current and heated subject (pun intended.) Cli-fi sometimes borders on sci-fi but it is more literary and more centered on human intentions and motivations. Cli-fi writings run the gamut from dystopias to thrillers to YA humor.
I am currently reading “Flight Behavior” a best-seller and award-winner by Barbara Kingsolver. Climate change disrupts a rural Tennessee farm family and displaces Monarch butterflies from their natural wintering grounds in Mexico. Desperation links the family and butterflies.
Another best-seller is Nathaniel Rich’s “Odds Against Tomorrow” in which a disaster statistician ponders nature and essentials vs. greed and materialism.
Other cli-fi novels by popular authors include “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, an environmental apocalypse.
“The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood. Environmental ravages of resources running out, genetic experiments, and wasteland of the internet.
“State of Fear” by Michael Crichton. Suspense and adventure worldwide, fired by global warming and human villains.
"The Secret Wisdom of the Earth" by Christopher Scotton. Coming of age for boys and a coal mining town. Mountaintop removal threatens environment.
“The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell. Self-interest and planetary survival.
“The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi. A biopunk thriller about the effects of climate change.
“The Carbon Diaries 2015” by Saci Lloyd. The UK government imposes a carbon tax. Rationing brings about a new reality.
“Memory of Water” by Emmi Itaranta. Water scarcity and resulting dystopian society.
“A Being Darkly Wise” by John Atcheson. Suspense and adventure in an isolated mountainous area in British Columbia.
“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. A beloved children’s fable with a serious message about industrial greed causing environmental collapse.
Other writers of cli-fi novels include T.C. Boyle, Ian McEwan, and Kim Stanley Robinson.
Will there be a cli-fi novel published this year that could be nominated for the 2019 Pultizer Prize in Fiction? Fellow writers, get busy! Read! Write! Publish!
I hope some of the cli-fi books I’ve listed, and others you find, might inspire your reading as well as your writing muses. In addition, there are numerous non-fiction books listed on Wikipedia that can serve as background resources for writing about climate change. Wikipedia lists titles, authors, and aspects of climate change addressed in each book.
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J.R.
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Jul 26, 2018 07:07AM
I love the notion of "cli-fi." The latest Ironwood tale I'm working on takes place in 1996, the year of the "100-year flood" in Oregon. This was before "climate change" became the buzz-phrase that both separated and united people.
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Jim-- Good for you being ahead of the trend in your newest Ironwood tale!
You might be eligible for the 2019 Pultizer!
The history of bees by Maja Lunde definitely deserves to be mentioned here
Thanks for the suggested addition. I'll check it out.
Thanks for the suggestions and descriptions!
Thanks for being persistent and finding my blog post from 2018. I really appreciate your interest. I'm preparing to launch a new post any day now. Stay tuned!
