ASU Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative announces winners of short story contest

Last week, ASU’s Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative — a partnership of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the Center for Science and the Imagination — announced the winners of its Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest. The contest invited writers to explore the effects of climate change on the ground, for actual people in specific places, through all genres of fiction, ranging from science fiction and fantasy to literary, experimental and hybrid forms. The winners hail from six different countries, across four continents: 

Grand Prize Winner — $1000 prize

Barbara Litkowski, “Monarch Blue,” U.S.

Finalists — $50 prize

Sandra Barnidge, “The Last Grand Tour of Albertine’s Watch,” U.S

Vajra Chandrasekera, “Half-Eaten Cities,” Sri Lanka

Anthony Dietz, “Darkness Full of Light,” U.S

David Hudson, “Luna,” Malta

Rebecca Lawton, “Tuolumne River Days,” U.S

Jean McNeil, “The Most Beautiful Voyage in the World,” United Kingdom

Leah Newsom, “Orphan Bird,” U.S

Mitch Sullivan, “The Office of Climate Facts,” Australia

Jean-Louis Trudel, “Losing What We Can’t Live Without,” Canada 

The response to the contest was truly global: more than 540 submissions from 66 different countries. The contest was judged by science fiction novelist Kim Stanley Robinson, author of many foundational works in climate fiction (including the recent "New York 2140"), along with ASU experts in fields ranging from environmental science to creative writing. 

The grand prize winner and finalist stories will be published in a free digital anthology, which will be published in fall 2018. This year’s contest is the second from the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative; you can read the winning stories from the inaugural contest in 2016’s "Everything Change," also available for free download.