Today our roundtable focuses on Climate Fiction: What is it? Why do authors write it? What role does it have in today’s literature, in our environment, in the way writers and others see the world? We’ll discuss these questions and a whole lot more with our authors: Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring; Wren James, creator of The Climate-Conscious Writers Handbook and founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League; Emma Pattee, a climate journalist, author of Tilt, and the person who coined the term “Climate Shadow”; Tim Weed, author of The Afterlife Project, a finalist for Prism Prize in Climate Literature; and Kate Woodworth, author of Little Great Island and creator of the grassroots climate change initiative, Be the Butterfly.

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Important Links:

Climate Fiction Writers League Substack and Handbook landing page.

Database of Climate Fiction writers.

Wren James’ Green Rising.

Kate Woodworth’s Be the Butterfly initiative.

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Ash Davidson is the author of the nationally bestselling novel Damnation Spring, which was named a best book of the year by the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Amazon and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a Washington Post notable book. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her work has been supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, MacDowell, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Wren James is the award-winning British author of many young adult novels, including a speculative novel about climate change, Green Rising. They are the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, the creator of The Climate-Conscious Writers Handbook and the editor of Future Hopes Hopeful stories in a time of climate change. They are on the Society of Authors’ Sustainability Steering Committee and work as a consultant on climate storytelling with a focus on optimism and hope for museums, production companies, and major brands and publishers. Their books have sold more than 200,000 copies in eight languages.

Emma Pattee is a climate journalist and a fiction writer. She has written about the climate crisis for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and more. In 2021, she coined the term “Climate Shadow” to describe an individual’s potential impact on climate change. Her debut novel, Tilt, is a national bestseller, a New York Times Book Review’s Editors’ choice, and was named a best book of the year by TIME, NPR, Vogue and Scientific American. Emma lives in Oregon with her two children.

Tim Weed is the author of four books of fiction. His most recent novel, The Afterlife Project, was a Library Journal Best Books of 2025 pick and a New Scientist Best New Science Fiction Book of the Month choice. His essays and articles have appeared in numerous journals including Writers Digest and The Writer’s Chronicle. A member of the core faculty of the Newport MFA in Creative Writing, Tim is a former featured expert for National Geographic Expeditions.

Kate Woodworth is the award-winning author of Little Great Island, a novel about a small Maine island community needing to find a new way forward after the lobster fishery collapses due to climate change. She is also the creative force behind the grassroots climate change initiative, Be the Butterfly, that invites everyone to perform one small act or behavioral change to help mitigate climate change. Kate’s first novel, Racing into the Dark, about a family reeling from the impact of a sister’s mental illness, will be re-issued in April, 2026. After 30 years living in Salt Lake City, Kate returned to the Boston area in 2005.

Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash

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Roundtable: Can Climate Fiction Move the Needle?