Futureverse

In the latest episode of Futureverse, we interview Omar El Akkad, an award-winning Egyptian-Canadian journalist and author.

Omar’s most recent novel, What Strange Paradise, tells the story of those at the core of the refugee crisis. It explores themes including assimilation, identity, inequality, empathy, and the impact of climate change on society. In our conversation, Omar also delves into how his journalism career has influenced his fiction writing and the themes explored in What Strange Paradise.

The full transcript is available by clicking above. This episode is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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[00:02:29] Life and Career Path

[00:05:30] Influence of Journalism on Literature

[00:09:17] What Strange Paradise

[00:10:52] Hyperindividualism and Existential Problems

[00:18:36] Assimilation and Intersectional Power Dynamics

[00:24:42] Cruelty via Palatable Means

[00:28:08] Climate Refugees

[00:32:26] Empathy and Collective Action

[00:36:49] Omar’s Fiction Recommendations

[00:44:38] Hope as Prologue

[00:47:12] Omar’s New Podcast

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In the latest episode of Futureverse, hosts Molly Wood and Ramanan Raghavendran interview Ruthanna Emrys, an acclaimed author known for her thought-provoking Lovecraftian novels.

Like in all of her books, her latest novel A Half-Built Garden challenges inherent biases and explores themes of empathy, humanity, chosen family, and otherness in the context of climate change. During their conversation, Ruthanna emphasizes the importance of adapting to new problems and the idea that there is no utopian point where everything is solved.

We were so excited to talk to Emrys for our second episode. Her unique perspective about the future, the importance of parenthood and children, and how social justice intersects with climate change is incredibly enlightening and refreshing. Find more of her work here.

The full transcript is available above. This episode is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Thanks for listening to Futureverse! Subscribe here for more episodes.

[00:10] Introduction

[02:05] Responding to unlikely visitors in the age of climate change

[03:45] Why write about aliens?

[05:51] World-building influences

[07:48] Queer Jewish representation

[12:23] One thing readers should take away

[14:20] Inspiration behind the watershed networks

[17:44] How the corporations got banished

[22:20] Alien-human interaction

[25:26] Imagining economic change via social force

[27:33] The climate of A Half-Built Garden

[30:42] Climate change strategies

[33:45] Information, control, and corporations

[36:26] Pushing for social change as a source of story

[38:56] Pronouns and gender

[43:59] What’s in store for Judy and her clan?

[45:00] Who should we interview next?

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James Bradley is an essayist, novelist, and critic, and the acclaimed author of several climate fiction novels, including Clade, Ghost Species, and the young adult trilogy The Change. In this conversation, James, Molly, and Ramanan discuss Clade, capitalism, and the importance of hope in the face of climate disaster.

We asked James to be on our launch episode because he is both an author and a knowledgeable commentator on climate fiction. A great interview, with his selection of five climate change novels, is here; and a very thoughtful essay on what our future might hold (and how to deal with it!) is here.

The full transcript is available by clicking above. This episode is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Thanks for listening to Futureverse! Subscribe here for more episodes.

[00:00:19] Introduction

[00:03:33] Capitalism and planetary exploitation

[00:07:27] Why write about the climate?

[00:08:27] An unsentimental imagining of the future

[00:12:28] Fiction vs non-fiction

[00:22:01] Parenting in the climate crisis

[00:25:34] Multiracial representation in Clade

[00:29:11] Lack of solutions in Clade

[00:33:49] Clade - a hopeful book?

[00:37:08] Writing utopian fiction

[00:40:18] Storytelling as a survival tool

[00:43:18] Movie adaptations?

[00:44:51] Who should we interview next?

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Futureverse is where Molly and Ramanan speak with authors imagining our climate-changed future, about one (or more!) of their books/poems/films.

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