British Academy
I was delighted to be asked to chair a recent panel discussion for the British Academy on Dystopian Literature in Our Time. The panel brought together three important contemporary writers, Season Butler (author of Cygnet, 2019), Francesca Haig (author of The Fire Sermon trilogy, 2014-17) and Sophie Mackintosh (author of The Water Cure, 2018).
Part of the academy’s season on Utopia or Dystopia – Imagining Futures, the panel considered how a new wave of female authors is turning to dystopian fiction at a time of ongoing political turmoil and growing fears of civil unrest. With narratives exploring environmental disaster, oppression, loneliness and more, these dark imaginings often blur the line between reality and imagination.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AN AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS PANEL.
Featured image by Andy Valente under a CC BY-SA license.
Dr Caroline Edwards is Senior Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research and teaching specialisms are in 21st century literature and critical theory, science fiction and post-apocalyptic narratives, Marxist aesthetics, and utopianism.
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