This episode originally aired on February 8, 2021: The power of storytelling gives us a way to cope with the uncertainty of our climate future. This week on Terra Informa we’re exploring those stories about the future worlds that are not so different from our own. While you may be familiar with science fiction, genres like speculative fiction, climate fiction, or cli-fi, Afro-futurism, and Indigenous futurism are reimagining oppressive realities and re-envisioning our climate future. In this discussion episode, Terra Informers Hannah Cunningham and Elizabeth Dowdell are joined by special guest and Terra Informa alum, Chris Chang-Yen Phillips to share why they find themselves reaching for these books, and what these genres mean to them. A reading list of the books mentioned in this episode plus some of our other favourites can be found here.

Some of our favourite voices sharing visions of Indigenous futures include Cree poet and author Billy-Ray Belcourt, Cree author Larry Loyie, and Chelsea Vowel, Metis writer and host of a Terra Informa team podcast favourite, Métis in Space.

In this episode, we highlight the recent lifetime achievement of speculative fiction author Nalo Hopkinson, who is the first Black woman to be honoured with the Damon Knight Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Hopkinson is the author of the acclaimed 1998 work Brown Girl in the Ring.

You'll also hear about a climate fiction short story contest launched by Grist Magazine, Imagine 2200: Climate fiction for future ancestors. Story submission closes on April 12th.

Download the program log here.