Paolo Bacigalupi wants his climate fiction novels to make readers reflect
Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
Interview
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Context piece
- Author Paolo Bacigalupi hopes his climate fiction novels encourage readers to reflect on the future consequences of climate change.
- He aims to immerse readers in detailed, future scenarios to convey the "authentic horror" of climate change impacts.
- Bacigalupi expressed concern that humanity, particularly the U.S., is acting "stupidly" and "deliberately suicidal" regarding climate issues, underestimating future threats.
American author Paolo Bacigalupi aims for his climate fiction novels to provoke serious reflection among readers about the future consequences of climate change. He hopes to transport readers into vividly described, detailed future worlds where they can experience the "authentic horror" of confronting climate change. Bacigalupi believes that once readers finish his novels and return to their daily lives, they will contemplate the potential future hardships if current trends continue.
What I want is for readers to be teleported to a well-described and detailed future, where they can experience the authentic horror of facing climate change and that, when they return to their daily lives, once they have finished the novel, they will think about how unfortunate they will be if that future arrives.
When writing his 2015 dystopian novel 'The Water Knife,' which depicts an extreme drought leading to war, Bacigalupi envisioned a future decades away. However, he now perceives the future facing humanity as even bleaker than he portrayed, admitting he underestimated the severity of the situation. "When I was writing 'The Water Knife,' I didn't imagine such a bad future, I never thought humans would be so stupid or deliberately suicidal, especially considering the United States and the childish direction the situation is taking right now," he stated.
Bacigalupi, who gained recognition for his science fiction short stories and his debut novel 'The Windup Girl,' has received prestigious awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Compton Crook awards. He was also named one of Time magazine's top ten books of 2009. His young adult trilogy 'Ship Breaker' has also garnered critical acclaim, earning him awards like the John W. Campbell Memorial and Theodore Sturgeon awards.
When I was writing 'The Water Knife,' I didn't imagine such a bad future, I never thought humans would be so stupid or deliberately suicidal, especially considering the United States and the childish direction the situation is taking right now.
Looking ahead, Bacigalupi is venturing into a different genre with his upcoming book, a fantasy novel set in Renaissance Italy. He describes this shift as a personal pursuit of "pure pleasure," acknowledging that constant focus on global catastrophes and disasters can be mentally taxing. This new work, titled 'Navola,' is born from a desire for a healthier mental space.
With the years, thinking all the time about global catastrophes and disasters is not very healthy mentally.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by Proceso Digital in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
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