Exploring climate truths through Climate Fiction

How can the climate fiction genre help us imagine the future?

How can stories help us face the climate crisis and imagine what comes next? Climate fiction, or cli-fi, blends real-world science with imagined futures, inviting us to explore how climate change could transform our lives, our communities and our planet. In this discussion event, we’ll look at how novels and short stories about climate change can challenge disinformation, make complex science feel human and immediate, and open up space for hope, creativity and action.

The conversation will be led by authors Guinevere Glasfurd and Emily Buchanan. Guinevere's novel, The Year Without Summer, looks back to an earlier global crisis in 1816, after a volcanic eruption which caused effects we shoul dlearn from today. Emily's debut novel, Send Flowers, is a surreal romance set in a future climate crisis, and a call to action to protect a world worth saving.

Join speakers and fellow audience members to reflect on the climate stories that stay with us, and consider how storytelling might help us navigate difficult truths while still imagining better futures.

For adults and young people aged 16+.

This event is organised by Cambridge Zero and Cambridgeshire Libraries as part of the Cambridge Festival 2026.

The event will take place in EverySpace on the 3rd floor at Cambridge Central Library.

EverySpace is accessible via stairs, escaltor or lift.

There are accessible toilets on the 3rd floor.

For further details about accessibility and parking, please visit Cambridgeshire Online | Cambridge Central Library