It’s Time to Call Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) a Genre
By Julie Carrick Dalton | April 30, 2018 |
Deep down, I wanted to label it Climate Fiction, but I wasn’t sure my book fit the criteria. Although I’d read a lot of climate-themed literature, I didn’t quite understand the scope of the genre. Is it even a real genre? Is a microgenre? I had some homework to do.
The term Cli-Fi was coined in 2007 by journalist Dan Bloom. Since then, it has been simmering quietly, but never making enough noise to become its own stand-alone genre in bookstores or on Amazon (although it has garnered buzz in publications such as Scientific American, Chicago Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Guardian.) Like all good books, Climate Fiction novels must tell a compelling story, but beyond the story, they must stir an awareness, an awakening in the reader. Cli-Fi must be based on real science and should further the conversation about our changing environment. It should challenge us to see—or imagine—things differently and reconsider what we accept as normal.
Recently, I’ve seen a flurry of new Cli-Fi novels coming to market, many by debut authors. In the wake of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the on-going US wildfires, and battles over Indigenous water rights, I suspect there are many more in the works.
In my own novel, Four Degrees, everything that happens is a direct result of the four-degree uptick in the temperature in a small New England town. Every plot point directly or indirectly links back to climate. But my book is not about climate change. Plot wise, it is a contemporary story about a 30-year-old murder cover up that resurfaces and derails an entomologist, just as she is about to prove invasive beetles are triggering forest fires during a drought.
I hesitate to label it Climate Fiction (even though I really want to) because I think the moniker conjures up images of apocalyptic stories of rising seas levels and devastating weather events. Most Climate Fiction novels are dystopian or science fiction. My book is neither of those things, and I worry that slapping a Cli-Fi label on it would mislead readers.
Within Climate Fiction, there exists a subset of contemporary, realistic novels. They are not sci-fi, futuristic, or dystopian, but recognizable stories relating climate change as it is already happening.
Maybe this is where my novel belongs.
Barbara Kingsolver’s Fight Behavior is often pointed to as an example of contemporary Climate Fiction. Kingsolver doesn’t get preachy. Her characters are not ecowarriors. She presents a rural Appalachian community with an unexpected event linked to climate change. She allows the characters respond in authentic ways. She doesn’t grab readers by the lapels and shout a climate warning. She doesn’t need to.
Another contemporary example is Ashley Shelby’s South Pole Station about an artist doing a residency in Antarctica. Among the humorous cast of characters is a climate denier. Instead of depicting the climate denier as stupid or uneducated, Shelby treats him with dignity, which makes the story even more compelling. Her treatment of climate deniers as fully rounded characters makes the need to sound the climate alarm even more urgent.
Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones, which won the 2011 National Book Award, and Robin MacArthur’s 2018 debut Heart Spring Mountain are examples of 
literary fiction that could also be considered contemporary Climate Fiction. Salvage the Bones follows a poor Mississippi family in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Heart Spring Mountain is about a young woman who returns home to rural Vermont to search for her mother who disappeared during Hurricane Irene. Weather and the environment take on pressing, active roles in Ward’s and MacArthur’s novels. Both books leave the reader with a sense of unease about what the future will bring.
I’m also a huge fan of sweeping dystopian Cli-Fi books. American War by Omar El Akkad, is my favorite in this category, although I hesitate to toss it in 
the dystopian bucket because the story feels so real, so recognizable. It reads like history that just hasn’t happened yet. The book is set in the late 21st century in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War. Similar to our first Civil War, this war is prompted by the succession of the southern states—but this time the South breaks away because the North (as well as most of the world) has renounced fossil fuels. The South, however, clings to oil as part of its culture. Echoes of the first Civil War ring loud across the barren farmlands and rising seas.
The more I explore the loose label of Climate Fiction, the more titles I come across in the rich mix of literary, contemporary, sci-fi, speculative, dystopian, thriller, queer, and apocalyptic stories. I love them because they force me think. These authors push me ask myself, what if? What if we don’t get a handle on rising temperatures? What if we don’t curtail the species extinctions already occurring at a terrifying rate? What if the temperature climbed four more degrees? What will the toll be on human relationships, economies, culture, art, medicine, human rights, and national sovereignty?
Other recent Cli-Fi books include New York 2140, a dystopian novel which explores the financial world that emerges as a result of climate change; Autonomous explores climate change with an eye toward the biotech industry, sexuality, gender, and identity; Motherless, by Native American author Gabriel Horn, explores identity and racism; and Ian McEwan’s Solar and Lydia Millet’s Mermaids in Paradise tackle climate change with satire. I’m currently reading Fever Dream, an unsettling literary Cli-Fi translated from Spanish.
I hope you are noticing a pattern:
Climate Fiction spans most genres. I’d love to see bookstores, Amazon, and sites such as Goodreads refer to Climate Fiction or Cli-Fi more frequently when they label or recommend books. I want these stories collected under one recognizable umbrella. And I hope literary contests will start adding Climate Fiction as its own distinct category.
It’s tempting to toss these books into the science fiction bucket, but I reject this idea. Although many Climate Fiction books definitely fall under sci-fi, not all of them do.
If you want to keep up with new Cli-Fi titles and trends, Amy Brady, Senior Editor of the Chicago Review of Books and Deputy Publisher of Guernica Magazine, puts out a fantastic newsletter called Burning Worlds, dedicated to climate science in art and literature.
Below, I assembled an incomplete starter list of Climate Fiction titles. I included the labels that Amazon assigns to each of these books to illustrate how broadly the Cli-Fi tag can be applied. These novels make fantastic book club reads because they generate meaningful conversations and perhaps make readers question some of their life choices.
As for my own novel, I think I’m ready to declare my book Climate Fiction—and I’m now convinced Climate Fiction is its own genre, even if Amazon doesn’t agree. I still consider my novel an upmarket thriller as well, but it’s more than that. It’s my small contribution to a rising tide of literature that I hope will alter the way we write, talk, and think about our changing world.
The following Cli-Fi reading list represents only the tip of the (quickly melting) iceberg. What Climate Fiction books are you are reading? What do you expect when see a book labeled Cli-Fi? Do you see climate themes showing up in genres I’ve missed? Do you write Climate Fiction? If so, which authors inspire you?
A Climate Fiction Reading List
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver: Literary, Contemporary
Flood by Melissa Scholes Young: Literary, Women’s Fiction, Coming of Age, Contemporary
South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby: Literary, Humor
Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur: Literary, Contemporary
The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst: Literary, Psychological, Contemporary, Cultural
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: Literary, Contemporary
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler: Literary, Psychological, Coming of Age
Strange as This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake: Coming of Age, Family Life
American War by Omar El Akkad: Literary, Dystopian
Carnival by Elizabeth Bear: Space Opera, Queer
Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet: Dark Humor, Satire
Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins: Literary, Political
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi: Literary, Thriller, Dystopian
The Terranauts by T.C. Boyle: Literary, Satire
Motherless by Gabriel Horn: Native American, Fantasy
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter: Literary, Dystopian
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh: Literary, set in India
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson: Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic
The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood: Literary, Science Fiction
Solar by Ian McEwan: Humor, Satire
Fever Dream by Samanta Schewblin: Literary, translated from original Spanish
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Coming of Age
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker: Literary, Magical Realism
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Literary, Dystopian
Clade by James Bradley: Literary, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer: Fantasy, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin: Literary, Science Fiction
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline: Native American, Dystopian
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz: Cyberpunk
Barkskins by Annie Proulx: Literary, Historical
Julie Carrick Dalton is the author of THE LAST BEEKEEPER, longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and WAITING FOR THE NIGHT SONG, a Most Anticipated book by CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, Parade, and Buzzfeed, and an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Books of the Month. As a journalist, Julie has published more than a thousand articles in publications including The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Chicago Review of Books. A Tin House and Bread Loaf alum, and graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, Julie holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and is currently on the teaching faculty of Drexel University’s MFA program. She also teaches Climate Fiction to undergrads at Tufts University. Julie is a frequent speaker and workshop leader on the topic of Fiction in the Age of Climate Crisis at universities, libraries, museums, and conferences nationally and internationally. Mom to four kids and two dogs, Julie is an avid skier, kayaker, open-water swimmer, gardener, and wannabe herbalist. Her third novel, THE FOREST BECOMES HER, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press. You can connect with her on Instagram @juliecdalton, or at juliecarrickdalton.com.
Great post, Julie. I think you could add, The Age Of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, (2012). We take for granted the grand plan of the universe, that it might always work the way we know it. But like our bodies and their interconnected processes within and without, we don’t yet know everything. Why learn about human health and earth health through their demise. This is a topic that will swell and grow. Your attention to it is strong and admirable. Thanks.
Thanks for reading, Beth. I’ll have to look for The Age Of Miracles. I haven’t read that yet. I’m always looking for new books that consider the way our environment effects us. It’s all connected, right? Thanks for the recommendation.
Personally, I’m down with adding genre classifications if they’re helping:
1. Draw in new readers.
2. Old readers find books similar to ones they like.
3. Those who professionally reflect on the meaning of literature give us deep thoughts about a category of stories.
However, as I’ve said elsewhere, pretending as if genres are new is either misguided or willful blindness at best. Climate fiction is as old as Gilgamesh, we simply have riffed on an old theme with a newer take involving smog and the Hoover Dam and the consequences
of such a world.
I agree, Lancelot. Stories about climate certainly aren’t new. My point is that I’d like Climate Fiction to be a more broadly used genre designation because there are so many more books coming out now. I’d like to see it as a category in Publishers Marketplace or in literary contests. Many literary contests have categories for Romance, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Historical, etc. But not Climate Fiction. (Although I have come across a few small contests specifically and only for Cli-Fi.) If you look at the reading list I included at the end of my post, you will see that I listed Climate Fiction novels with the designation Amazon uses to identify these books. None of them are labeled Climate Fiction. I 100% agree with you that climate stories have been around for a long time. I would just love to see the industry recognize the designation more often. Thanks so much for reading!
Thank You for this post Julie.
Would you place books that deal with the indirect affects of climate change in the same genre? I.E. animal and insect species migrating to cooler latitudes or plant species whose toxicity rises with increased carbon dioxide levels.
Absolutely! These are very real phenomena. And while they might not be as terrifying or sexy as books about walls of water swallowing cities, these quieter stories present real situations we will be facing more and more in the future. The NYT published a great article a few weeks ago about plants and animals trying to adapt to climate change, if you are interested. Thanks for reading! /www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/climate/animals-seasons-mismatch.html
Interesting post, Julie. In the list of books to put in the Climate Fiction genre, how much of the story has to point to issues with the climate? Reading your article, I thought of a book I am currently reading, Dana Stabenow’s A Cold Day For Murder, and it has reference to global warming and the effect on Alaska. To me, having her character Kate reflect on that centers the book in the current times and enriches her character with depth, but that is not the main focus of the story.
BTW, I am intrigued about Literary/Distopian, so I am going to check out The Road.
That’s a great question about books with minor climate elements. My guess is a book like A Cold Day For Murder (which I have not read, so I apologize if I get this wrong) might be considered a crime novel or a mystery with elements of climate fiction. There’s so much cross over. Books can be classified as romance with elements of suspense. Or, like you point out literary dystopian. That’s why I included the Amazon categories in the book list at the end of my post. Climate themes can show up in mysteries, romances, and sci-fi. I don’t think there is a hard line. It’s more like a spectrum. If nothing else, it’s a great conversation starter! Thanks so much for reading.
PS I love The Road! I hope you enjoy it.
Interesting discussion of an exciting and important “new” sub-genre, Juli. I too was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver.
After seeing a (thankfully) positive review of my debut novel, “The Straw That Broke,” Dan Bloom contacted me and asked if I knew I was writing Climate Fiction. This was in 2014 and my response was something like, “Uh…writing what?”
But after this tireless warrior for the planet defined Climate Fiction and expressed his deep commitment to getting the Cli-Fi message out, I was thrilled to have my thriller (neither science fiction nor dystopian) included by the man who coined the term.
“Straw” involves deceit, abduction and yes, murder resulting from battling over water stolen from the overtaxed and endangered Colorado River. The Colorado, as you may know, is stressed to historic lows due to drought related to climate change. “Straw” was chosen as all-school book for a school in Pennsylvania for it’s ability to “educate and entertain” (vis -a-vis your comment regarding compelling stories stirring awareness), which also pleased me.
The second in the “thrill-ogy”, “Some Say Fire” is about intentionally set forest fires. Western forests are also stressed—and are tinder dry and beetle infested—thanks to drought related to climate change. This is a subject you clearly know well from your writing.
And my third is a work in progress about fracking and the working title is (We may need to talk, Juli.) “The One Degree Difference.” That one degree being, of course, the critical difference between 32 and 33 degrees Fahrenheit.
I learned a great deal from your post. It is heartening to know so many authors and artists are addressing the effects of climate change. Thanks for that. And thank you for allowing me to contribute to this discussion. May there be many more like it.
It sounds like you and I have a lot in common. I’d love to check out your books. I’m a sucker for a good beetle infestation story! Thanks for reading my post. I’m so happy to find more cli-fi writers!
And I will certainly check out Four Degrees. Have we perhaps begun a sub-genre to the sub-genre of Climate Fiction? And if so, what shall we call it? Beetle Fiction (Be-Fi) comes to mind. I’m expecting that to go viral, especially if we get Dan on it.
Yes! You and I are the official founders of the Beetle Fiction (Be-Fi) movement. I’m sure this will catch on quickly. I mean, who doesn’t love a great beetle story?
Fascinating! I never knew this was a thing, and yet now I’m wondering if my novel Restoration Day/i> could be construed as a cli-fi novel. Or at least, I was until “must be based on real science” as RD is a fantasy novel.
But it is (in part at least) about what happens to a land which ignores the ecology-preserving traditions of its magic-based religion in favour of maximizing short-term profit.
A topical subject, however, regardless of which ‘parent genre’ one approaches it from.
Hmmm. I had not considered the fantasy element as it pertains to clif-fi and it’s relationship to actual science. You make a really good point. It makes me think of Pandora, which is set on another planet, but certainly has echoes of the effects of environmental devastation and stewardship of natural resources. Perhaps I should rethink my definition. Allegory is a powerful storytelling tool. And I do believe we can speak truth through fiction, therefore, I suppose it would be limiting to say all cli-fi must be always based on real science. Great food for thought. I really appreciate your comment!
Julie, fantastic post and food for thought, as always. Here is some news about the rise of cli-fi here in a new post in the UK: On April 23, 2018
Ms. Cal Flyn at FiveBooks.com interviewed Dan Bloom in Q&A format about the the rise of cli-fi novels worldwide
First Q: What is cli-fi?
DAN BLOOM: It’s a literary way of thinking, reading and writing about climate change themes. Such stories and novels can take place in the past, the present or the near future, and they can be utopian, dystopian, or what Margaret Atwood calls “ustopian”: a hybrid of utopia/dystopia.
Cal Flyn at FiveBooks.com interviews Dan Bloom in Q&A format about the the rise of cli-fi novels worldwide
LINK:
https://fivebooks.com/best-books/cli-fi-dan-bloom/
See also the Cli-Fi Report website at http://www.cli-fi.net and the Cli-Fi Group Facebook page button there, too.
Cheers,
Dan
Hi Dan,
It’s always great to hear from you! I had not heard the term “ustopian” before. I love it! Thanks so much for sharing this, and for always moving the conversation forward.
Cli-Fi HUMOR — There’s something in the weather this week… As a podcaster site is pitching Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) movies! Give us your best, made-up ”CLI-FI” MOVIE Titles!! they ask. Some samples:
Flat Earth Fiasco
The Clouds are Vengeful Tonight
Howard and the Heatwaves
Threading the Needle: a Storm Breaker Story
The Tornado that ate a Hurricane
– Acid Earth
– Rain Spotters
– Frozen Desert
– The Storms Are Chasing Us
– Children of the Polar Lands
– Hurricane Zebberdy
– My Wife The Weather Goddess
– Wet Wet Wet World
– Peak Carbonation
I love it!
Thanks for this post, Julie, and for providing such an extensive list. I don’t write Cli-Fi, but I like to read it!
Thanks for reading, Jeff. My list is just a sampling of the many titles out there. If you have any suggestions that are not on my list, I’d love to hear about them. I’m so happy to meet another Cli-Fi fan!