The Climate Fiction Prize announces 2024 longlist

The Climate Fiction Prize, a new literary prize which rewards the best novel-length work of fiction published
in the UK engaging with the climate crisis, announces its inaugural longlist today.
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● The genre-spanning longlist comprises nine novels set around the globe and beyond
● Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey's Orbital features on all-female list
● The shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 19th March
● The longlist will be celebrated as part of The Cultural Philanthropy Foundation's 2024 Thought Leadership Lecture given by Caroline Lucas at the Southbank Centre this evening

Nine novels have been chosen by an expert panel of judges from across the literary and climate worlds, as the Prize’s first longlist. The list demonstrates the exciting breadth and diversity of genres represented within the climate fiction space, from literary and historical fiction to science fiction and pacey, plot-driven narratives.
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The Climate Fiction Prize 2024 longlist:

● Private Rites by Julia Armfield (Harper Collins, 4th Estate)
● The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Sceptre, Hodder)
● And So I Roar by Abi Daré (Sceptre, Hodder)
● Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen (Bloomsbury Circus)
● Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, PRH)
● The Morningside by Téa Obreht (W&N, Orion)
● Water Baby by Chioma Okereke (Quercus)
● The Mars House by Natasha Pulley (Gollancz, Orion)
● Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (And Other Stories)

The list is global in scope, reflecting the scale of the crisis, with settings ranging from Australia’s Northern Territories, a London of the near-future, rural and urban Nigeria and even Mars. Also notable is the list’s all-female authorship, including two debut novelists, Roz Dineen and Kaliane Bradley, Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, and multi-award winning Indigenous Australian author, Alexis Wright.

The 2024 prizes judges are writer Madeleine Bunting (Chair); climate justice activist and writer Tori Tsui, broadcaster and writer David Lindo aka the ‘Urban Birder’, non-fiction author Nicola Chester (On Gallows Down, shortlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize) and Andy Fryers, Hay Festival’s Sustainability Director.

‍Chair of Judges, Madeleine Bunting said:
‘My fellow judges and I are truly delighted with this first ever longlist for the Climate Fiction Prize. With the climate crisis ever more urgent, this globe-spanning list offers a unique collection of narratives, styles and genres, exploring the preeminent struggle of our time. We are as proud as we are hopeful that anyone and everyone might find amongst these nine titles a book that stays with them long after the reading.’

‍Director of the Climate Fiction Prize, Rose Goddard said:
‘I’m so inspired by this wonderful longlist, the first of its kind and an indication of the stellar array of novels being written in the climate fiction space. WIth the new Climate Fiction Prize, our aim is to reach hearts and minds on the topic of the climate crisis and show that stories, and the novel form in particular, can engage and captivate us like nothing else can. These nine books do just that and I’d like to thank our incredible judges for this vital, timely selection.’ The longlist will be celebrated as part of The Cultural Philanthropy Foundation's 2024 Thought Leadership Lecture given by Caroline Lucas at the Southbank Centre this evening.

The shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 19th March. The Prize, supported by Climate Spring, is worth £10,000 and will be awarded to a single winner at a ceremony in late spring 2025.

www.climatefictionprize.co.uk