A List of Solarpunk Links and Fiction
I’ve been invited to give a guest lecture on Solarpunk as an ‘online literary community’ for a final year English and Writing course at my university. As part of that I was asked if there were any short readings I would suggest for the students to get a feel for solarpunk fiction. I managed to pick out a couple and then went overboard collating some useful introductory links as well as a (incomplete) list of published solarpunk fiction and other fiction works that have been claimed as having solarpunk themes. I figured, instead of wasting that effort, I’d post it here for other people if they are interested.
Suggested stories to read (available free online):
‘Sunshine State’ – Adam Flynn and Andrew Dana Hudson, 2016, in Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction, p. 3-24, Arizona State University Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, free PDF download, https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change/ and several other stories in this anthology
‘The Lighthouse Keeper’ – Andrew Dana Hudson, 2018, in Energy Overlays, Land Art Generator Initiative, http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/75525
‘Don Qeerxote’ – Jennifer Lee Rossman, 2021, Hyphen Punk, https://hyphenpunk.com/fiction/don-queerxote/
Further readings / online links:
‘Solarpunk: Notes Toward a Manifesto’ – Adam Flynn, Hieroglyph, 2014, https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/
‘On the Political Dimensions of Solarpunk’ – Andrew Dana Hudson, Medium, 2015, https://medium.com/solarpunks/on-the-political-dimensions-of-solarpunk-c5a7b4bf8df4
‘A Solarpunk Manifesto’ – The Solarpunk Community, re-des: regenerative design, 2019, https://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/
‘Explainer: ‘solarpunk’, or how to be an optimistic radical’ – Jennifer Hamilton, The Conversation, 2017, https://theconversation.com/explainer-solarpunk-or-how-to-be-an-optimistic-radical-80275
‘At the Very Least We Know the End of the World Will Have a Bright Side’ – Adam Boffa, Longreads, 2018, https://longreads.com/2018/12/12/solarpunk-review/
‘Solarpunk Is Not About Pretty Aesthetics. It’s About the End of Capitalism’ – Hannah Steinkopf-Frank, Vice, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx5aym/solarpunk-is-not-about-pretty-aesthetics-its-about-the-end-of-capitalism
‘Optopia’ free solarpunk zine, https://issuu.com/optopia
‘Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse’ – Alyssa Hull, 2019, https://lithub.com/hopepunk-and-solarpunk-on-climate-narratives-that-go-beyond-the-apocalypse/
Published Works (a non-exhaustive list of solarpunk fiction):
Anthologies (either explicitly or arguably solarpunk)
‘Solarpunk: Dalla Disperazione Alla Strategia [From Despair to Strategy]’, apparently the second solarpunk anthology from Italian publisher futurefiction.org the book brings together 13 stories from 6 different countries
‘Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures’, 2021, World Weaver Press (the same publisher, run by head editor Sarena Ulibarri, that published ‘Solarpunk Summers’, ‘Solarpunk Winters’, and the english translation of the Brazilian anthology ‘Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World’).
‘And Lately, The Sun: speculative fictions for a climate-thrashed world’, 2020, ebook, Calyx Create Group (apparently an Australia based collective that publishes ebooks).
‘Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World’, 2018 (english translation), World Weaver Press. The first Brazilian published solarpunk anthology.
‘Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation’, 2017, Upper Rubber Boot Books. The first published english-language solarpunk anthology.
‘Ecopunk! speculative tales of radical futures’, 2017, Ticonderoga. Not explicitly titled as a solarpunk anthology, rather an ecopunk one, but strongly overlapping and many people have labelled it as solarpunk (at least in part).
‘Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers’, 2018, World Weaver Press.
‘Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Winters’, 2020, World Weaver Press.
‘Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors’, 2021, Fix lab, Grist.org, climate fiction with some stories having definite solarpunk themes.
‘Our Shared Storm: A Novel of Five Climate Futures’, 2022 (forthcoming), Andrew Dana Hudson, Fordham Press
‘Lo Stato Solare’, (forthcoming), Andrew Dana Hudson, anthology of ADH short solarpunk stories in Italian published by Future Fiction
‘Cities of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures’, 2021, Arizona State University Press, available as free download, https://csi.asu.edu/books/cities-of-light/
‘Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction’, 2016, Arizona State University Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, free PDF download, https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change/
‘Everything Change, Volume 2’, 2018, Arizona State University Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, free PDF download, https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change-vol-2/
‘Everything Change, Volume 3’, 2020, Arizona State University Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, free PDF download, https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change-vol-3/
‘Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology’, 2015, Incandescent Phoenix Books, edited by Claudie Arseneault and Brenda J. Pierson. mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements
‘Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science Fiction’, 2010, Solaris. not explicitly solarpunk, but optimistic sci-fi with overlapping themes
‘Biketopia: Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories in Extreme Futures’, 2017, Microcosm Publishing. some stories have distinct solarpunk themes
Other Fiction claimed as Solarpunk or to have solarpunk themes/elements
‘The Woman on the Edge of Time’, some solarpunk elements in the presented future society, extremely dystopian ‘present’ 70’s America. fairly depressing overall.
‘The Fifth Sacred Thing’, solarpunk themes in the positive sustainable society that is pitted against an authoritarian regime.
‘Ministry for the Future’, ‘New York 2140’ and the ‘Pacific Edge’ series by Kim Stanley Robinson. arguably some solarpunk elements to his climate fiction, but I’m not the biggest fan. some of the worldbuilding is interesting but his characters are unlikable in my opinion and the narrative is so-so.
‘The Dispossessed’, Ursula K. le Guin
‘The Word for World is Forest’, Ursula K. le Guin
the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers: ‘A Good Heretic’, ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’, ‘A Closed and Common Orbit’, ‘Record of a Spaceborne Few’, ‘The Galaxy, and the Ground Within’ – described as ‘cozy’ sci-fi/space opera which focuses on family and friendship and smaller stories where problems are solved creatively without typical sci-fi violence
the Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers: ‘A Psalm for the Wild-Built’, ‘A Prayer for the Crown-Shy’ – more distinct solarpunk elements in this series
‘Parable of the Sower’, Octavia E. Butler
‘Who Fears Death’, Nnedi Okorafor
And to break up most of these blog posts being just boring text on a page, here is a recent photo of my little collection of garden pots under the DIY shade-house I constructed.
