Utopia Reading Club

We are exploring different visions of utopia through fiction, and are discussing what makes each work a utopia, for whom, and what work it would take to implement the best ideas in our world.

Our schedule for 2025 is as follows:

February 7

Ecotopia

by Ernest Callenbac

Published in 1975, Ecotopia is one of the first ecological utopian novels written. It is an imaginative vision of alternative ways of living, with the fictional society finding a balance between themselves and nature.

April 4

Constellations of care: anarcha-feminism in practice

Edited by Cindy Barukh Milstein

An anthology of stories from around the world about community kitchens, medic collectives, social centres and theatre troupes who are using the practices of anarcha-feminism to carve out lives worth living outside the harms of colonialism and patriarchy.

* Due to a delay in the publication date for the paperback for "Psalm", we have flipped the August and June dates *

June 6

The Next Revolution: popular assemblies and the promise of direct democracy

by Murray Bookchin

(Available online)

A collection of Bookchin’s writings on popular assemblies, an analysis of the development of the left since the 19th century, and the development of the foundation of his politics of libertarian municipalism.

August 1

Psalm for the Wild-Built

by Becky Chambers

(Available as a collection with the sequel in May)

A hopeful and optimistic solarpunk novel about the search for place and meaning. The novel follows a tea-monk and robot who travel to ask the question “what do people need”.

October 3

The Deep

by Rivers Solomon

Afrofuturist fantasy novel about an underwater society built by the water-breathing descendants of pregnant slaves thrown overboard from slave ships. This is a novel about a people dealing with intergenerational trauma and reclaiming their stolen identities.

December 5

Beyond Survival: strategies and stories from the transformative justice movement

Edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Transformative justice seeks to resolve the problem of violence at a grassroots level without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. This is an anthology of stories about detailed and concrete forms of redress and accountability, and other non-retributive responses to harm.