Writers, Scholars, Scientists: Experimental Encounters with Literary Depictions of Science VIII

About Blaze Island

Informed by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Blaze Island is a climate change novel set in an undefined future very close to the present. It tells the story of a climate scientist who is threatened for being outspoken about the dangers of climate change. Overwhelmed with grief and guilt when his wife dies in an accident, he takes his young daughter to a small island off the coast of Newfoundland and tries to withdraw from the world and build a protected, sustainable life for her… but the eastern coast of North America is pummeled by Category 5 hurricanes and floods. As much as anything, the novel holds the father-daughter relationship at the center and at a time when civilization’s future is uncertain. 

Experimental Encounters workshop series

Focusing on a mutual reading of individual science novels by the FMS writers in residence, Experimental Encounters Workshops are designed to generate an intensified cross-disciplinary dialogue and new perspectives on science in society and creative narratives. Participants include members of the FMS network of sociologists, literary and cultural studies scholars, scientists from various fields, creative writers, and invited guests.