The inaugural shortlist for the Climate Fiction Prize has been announced! The list includes a diverse array of literary styles and genres, and settings that range from Australia (Roz Deneen's Briefly Very Beautiful) to a space station in orbit (Samantha Harvey's aptly named Orbital).
The Climate Fiction Prize is a new literary prize that celebrates the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis, in the belief that these engaging works of fiction will help societies around the world to fully grasp the threat of climate change and embrace its solutions. The £10,000 prize will be awarded to the inaugural winner in May 2025.
The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley
A boy meets a girl. The past meets the future. A finger meets a trigger. The beginning meets the end.
'This stunning book takes you into a giddy tale of time travel which pulls off the feat of being highly entertaining, vividly credible and moving, but the twist in the plot which comes out of nowhere relates to climate crisis, and it packs a punch. This is climate fiction which manages to be both surprising and still makes its point powerfully: what desperate strategies may be considered several centuries hence to avert total catastrophe?'
– Madeleine Bunting, Climate Fiction Prize Chair of judges
And So I Roar
Abi Dare
Plucky fourteen-year-old Adunni is in Lagos, excited to finally enrol in school. Having escaped her rural village in a desperate bid to seek a better future, she’s found refuge with Tia, a kind and brilliant woman on her own troubled journey of self-discovery.
But it’s not so simple to run away from your past.
'Adunni is a compelling character in this heartbreaking novel, exposing the harsh realities faced by women and girls worldwide underscored by intersectional environmental issues. It’s a tough but essential read.'
– Tori Tsui, Climate Fiction Prize judge
Briefly Very Beautiful
Roz Dineen
The world is on fire. And what will you do?
In a city rocked by global catastrophe, home-grown terrorism, shortages and wildfires, Cass is quietly raising three small children by herself. Her husband, Nathaniel, has left to serve as a medic in a war overseas.
'Stunningly, poetically realised, an urgent, tender and raw observation of how, when things come upon us at our most tender and vulnerable, we are compelled to act and protect, again and again. A haunting, fierce narrative of love, beauty and the desire to live through an accelerating crisis and a world on fire.'
– Nicola Chester, Climate Fiction Prize judge
Orbital
Samantha Harvey
A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly, they observe.
'A majestic hymnal of what we have, what we share and what we stand to lose. Our only home observed on repeat from the end of a lyrical umbilical cord, from the planet which birthed and sustains us, it reads like a preparatory eulogy sung by a small choir of deeply human angels. Stellar and profound.'
– Nicola Chester, Climate Fiction Prize judge
The Morningside
Téa Obreht
There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to The Morningside.
The Morningside was once the jewel of Island City. But now the luxury high-rise is crumbling and Island City is half-underwater.
'A free-wheeling dystopian future on a flooded planet whilst exploring the mother/daughter relationships and the beauty and importance of myths and folklore.'
– Andy Fryers, Climate Fiction Prize judge
