Climate Fiction Prize Announces 2026 Finalists, Featuring Madeleine Then and Robbie Arnott
The prestigious Climate Fiction Prize has unveiled its six finalists for the 2026 award, with acclaimed authors Madeleine Thien and Robbie Arnott leading the shortlist for the £10,000 honor. Now in its second year, the prize celebrates novels that creatively engage with the climate crisis through imaginative storytelling, spanning genres from speculative fiction to reimagined myth.
Diverse Shortlist Highlights Global Climate Narratives
The shortlisted works showcase a wide array of styles and settings, addressing the human and environmental impacts of climate change. Madeleine Thien's The Book of Records follows a girl and her father fleeing flooding in a near-future China, arriving at a migrant compound called the Sea. Guardian reviewer Xan Brooks praised it as a "rich and beautiful novel" that weaves personal and historical journeys across generations.
Robbie Arnott's Dusk explores twins hunting a puma in the Tasmanian wilderness, described by James Bradley in the Guardian as "starkly beautiful and deeply felt". Other finalists include Keshava Guha's The Tiger's Share, a state-of-the-nation tale set in polluted Delhi, and Susanna Kwan's debut Awake in the Floating City, about two of the last people in a flooded future San Francisco.
Novels Grapple with Intersecting Crises
The shortlist also features novels that examine climate change alongside other global issues. Maria Reva's Endling considers environmental collapse in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, hailed as "dexterous and formally inventive" and longlisted for the Booker Prize. Helen Phillips's Hum depicts a near future with job-stealing robots, poisoned air, and contaminated water, called "mesmerising and scary" by Daisy Hildyard.
Judging Panel and Prize Details
The judging panel includes Arifa Akbar, chief theatre critic at the Guardian, novelists Kit de Waal and Jessie Greengrass, climate scientist Friederike Otto, and broadcaster Simon Savidge. Lucy Stone, founder of Climate Spring which funds the prize, noted the novels range "from intimate family stories to sweeping political and historical narratives", addressing themes like power, accountability, and resilience.
Eligible books must have been published in the UK between September 1, 2024, and August 31, 2025. The winner will be announced on May 27, 2026, following the prize's launch at the 2024 Hay literary festival, where Abi Daré's And So I Roar won the inaugural award.
