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- ONLINE Writing Climate Fiction
ONLINE Writing Climate Fiction
8 Weeks | Wednesdays | Begins April 9, 2025
6pm-8pm PT | 7pm-9pm MT | 8pm-10pm CT | 9pm-11pm ET | 10pm-12am AT
Instructor: Geoffrey W. Cole
MEMBER PRICE: $300.00
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $400.00
The Earth's climate is at the start of an unprecedented period of change caused by human activity. For many of us, human-caused climate change is a source of anxiety, fear and despair, but it can also fuel creativity. All of us are living in a world shaped by climate change, and if we aren't writing about it, then we aren't writing about the real world.
If you want to engage with the changing climate by exploring the impacts and implications of climate change in fiction, then join this eight-week class to turn your climate anxiety into literature.
What is climate fiction? It is any fiction that engages with human-caused climate change in a meaningful way. They may be science fiction, fantasy, horror, literary fiction, or other genres: any genre can be climate fiction so long as it engages with the reality of our changing climate. Novels like The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin are recent examples.
This is a combined lecture and workshop course. We will look at the science of climate change, climate fiction as a genre, and discuss the possible futures climate change may bring. Writing exercises will inspire students to explore new aspects of climate fiction. Each student is expected to produce one piece of short fiction or a novel excerpt of no more than 5,000 words to be shared and critiqued by their fellow students.
This class is an interactive online workshop using Zoom.
Geoffrey W. Cole's award-winning short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, EscapePod, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Reckoning, and various Year's Best anthologies. His debut climate fiction collection, Zebra Meridian and Other Stories, was released in September 2024 to great acclaim. In 2023, he was nominated for the Aurora Award for both Best Short Story and Best Poem. He won the 2016 Premis Ictenu for Best Translated Story. Cole has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, and degrees in biology and mechanical engineering. He has taught creative writing at UBC, Vancouver Community College, and independently. He lives in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife, three sons, and giant hound.
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