Department of English

Topic: Writing for a Warming Planet

This course surveys a wide range of writing about climate change, with a particular focus on the significance of literary form and genre for conceiving the crisis. We will consider the representational challenges posed by the temporal and geographical scale of the problem and the ways a warming planet has shaped how writers represent and imagine the world. We'll read “literary” writing and nonfiction by scientists, journalists, and activists. BIPOC voices and an emphasis on climate justice inform all aspects of the course. Authors include Paolo Bacigalupi, Octavia Butler, Amitav Ghosh, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood, Ross Gay, Camille Dungy, Joy Harjo, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Naomi Oreskes.