What is Ecofiction?
Simply put, a work of ecofiction (sometimes “eco-fiction”) is a fictional exploration of ecological themes.* It’s a pretty wide category, but it is distinct from the nonfiction “nature writing” that headlined college courses on environmental literature when I was an undergrad. I enjoy nature writing, but ecofiction is especially compelling to me for the ways it pushes us to grapple with realities while also imagining alternatives.
It can be literary, realistic, popular, and/or speculative. Science fiction is perhaps the most obvious genre home for it, but ecothrillers and ecofantasy do exist, and I’m sure there are examples across all genres. (I seem to be writing a lot of ecofantasy. More on that soon.)
Subgenres and Types
Some ecofictions, especially works that fall under the “climate fiction” (or “cli-fi”) banner, focus heavily on the dangers of how we live in the world right now. Post-apocalyptic fiction often overlaps with ecofiction, for obvious reasons. In fact, dystopian fiction in general frequently takes up ecological themes and issues.
“Solarpunk” (and its offshoot, “Lunarpunk”) is usually science fiction that explicitly imagines better ways of living in the world. Within ecofiction, there are ecofeminist and environmental justice themes, interrogations of ecocolonialism, and examinations of ecoterrorism.
Where to Start with Ecofiction?
I’ve taught several courses in ecofiction and environmental literature, and the books listed below come from those courses. Obviously, they reflect my tastes as well as the requirements for those courses, but they are a good place to begin.
Some Examples of Ecofiction Novels:
- The Word for World is Forest, Ursula K. Le Guin (1972)
- Ecotopia, Ernest Callenbach (1975)
- Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy (1976)
- Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler (1993) (I’ve got more to say about Butler’s novel here.)
- Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood (2004)
- As the World Burns, Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan (2007)
- Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward (2012)
- Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich (2017)
- Nearly everything by Kim Stanley Robinson, and most of the booksy by Jeff VanderMeer.
Short Ecofiction:
- I’m With the Bears: Short Stories from a Damaged Planet, Ed. Mark Martin (2011)
- Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction, Ed. John Joseph Adams (2015)
Why Read Ecofiction?
This is a real question, I think, despite my own clear bias toward stories that explore ecological themes. Why read about ecological devastation, when you can just wait for the next hurricane or flood or fire to see it in action? And what can fiction do in the face of the realities of climate change?
Personally, I think ecofiction is essential, and I wish our children and our politicians were reading piles of it. It is essential because it invites us to reckon with the realities of our world. I think fiction gives us a way to think with the most difficult realities, as well as to imagine how things could be otherwise.
At this moment, on our Earth, confronting how human beings live in relation to the natural world may be the most important endeavor anyone can undertake.
*Genre labels can be limiting. Publishers, academics, booksellers, readers, and writers all have things to say about genre categories. I’m interested in them simply as a means to organize thoughts and theories, but always happy to watch the boundaries disappear.