Climate fiction needs to challenge and inspire, say these Canadian authors

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Floods, record-breaking heat waves and forest fires brought climate change close to home for many Canadians in 2021 — and that includes authors, some of whom have begun weaving climate themes into their fiction. 

What On Earth host Laura Lynch spoke with three Canadian authors about how fiction can inspire action, and the climate-themed books that have influenced their own work. 

Catherine Bush, Blaze Island (2020)

Guelph, Ont., author Catherine Bush begins her latest novel, Blaze Island, with a climate change-induced storm battering an idyllic island off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Bush recasts the character of Prospero the magician as a contemporary climate scientist desperate to protect his daughter, Miranda, from the dangers of a changing climate. 

"I believe that storytelling is actually key to our survival as a species," Bush said. "All fiction at its root wants to seduce through story, but also transform through story." 

To that end, Bush aims to inspire positive emotions in her readers.

"I think we need more wonder and awe, not just despair and fear," she said. "Wonder and awe and care are what are going to transform us."

Bush said her approach was inspired by Sarah Ray's book A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety. "[Ray] talks about replacing the idea of hope with desire. Hope is a more passive state, whereas desire leads to purpose and action," she said.

Bush's other climate-themed reading recommendations include Darryl Whetter's novel Our Sands and Waubgeshig Rice's Moon of the Crusted Snow.

Premee Mohamed, The Annual Migration of Clouds (2021)

Edmonton author Premee Mohamed's latest novella takes place long after climate disasters have wreaked havoc around the globe. The Annual Migration of Clouds is set on the abandoned University of Alberta campus, where a community of survivors cobbles together an existence as they cope with an incurable disease. 

Mohamed said she sees hope for the future in the collective mindset of her characters. As she watched the flooding disasters unfold in British Columbia last November, the power of community became even more apparent to her.