Fiction Discussion Guides

Simply put, fiction has the potential to reveal present realities and imagine possible futures. Through truth-telling, a good story confronts the current systems of power, the unequal material conditions, or the overwhelming circumstances that prevent all life from flourishing. It gives voice to whomever or whatever has been silenced, forgotten, or ignored — the lives of marginalized humans and exploited nonhumans, the values or perspectives that advocate for collective good, or the complex emotions that humans may experience during planetary polycrisis. Fiction can also be a window through which we envision compelling and creative possibilities, whether social, ecological, political, or economic. Imagining what worlds are possible creates the opportunity for us to build towards a better and more just future.

In the summers of 2023 and 2024, The BTS Center facilitated a three-part Fiction Book Series, intended to offer new ways of engaging with the climate crisis. Tyler Mark Nelson, who co-facilitated the series in 2023, and Madeline Bugeau-Heartt, who co-facilitated in 2024, have developed a Discussion Guide for each of the books from the series. We offer these to you as resources for facilitating your own book discussion groups centered around living in a climate-changed world.