Event Cancelled
We regret to inform you that the event originally scheduled for 17 June 2025 has been cancelled.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.
Please stay connected with us for updates on future events.
–
[Book Launch] ‘The Role of Climate Fiction in Addressing Climate Change’
–
EVENT ABSTRACT
Fairhaven – A Novel of Climate Optimism is a prize winner in the 2023 Green Stories Novel Prize.
How will the ocean be central to addressing the challenges of global climate change? The exciting new novel Fairhaven builds on concepts first presented in the 2022 anthology No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet. Fairhaven traces the lives of a group of innovators, engineers, and visionaries as they struggle against the odds to bring climate solutions to Southeast Asia and to the world. Vital to their quest is the re-imagining of our planet: not from the point of view of humankind, but from the point of view of the ocean.
Fairhaven – A Novel of Climate Optimism traces the lives of a group of innovators, engineers, and visionaries as they struggle against the odds to bring climate solutions to Southeast Asia and to the world.
Grace Chan, a young Malaysian working at the Fairhaven infrastructure project in Penang, is terrified of what the future might bring. She reluctantly comes to terms with the role that she and her colleagues will play in addressing that future, and the toll it will take on their own lives. Nearby, on an abandoned oil platform, three unlikely companions come together by chance as they discover an unexpected opportunity arising from a devastating accident. Meanwhile, in the distant north, a Japanese assistant professor takes a bold idea from concept to reality.
As they work towards their common goals, a more powerful force lies in wait, which may bring them success or disaster.
–
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Steve Willis is an author of climate fiction. He is also an engineer and innovator with decades of experience providing environmental solutions to large-scale industries.
He co-founded Herculean Climate Solutions to identify the multi-million-tonne solutions that are required to address the climate crisis. Some of these solutions have become startups, others are being worked on by companies, and the boldest have become the central themes of Fairhaven – A Novel of Climate Optimism. These currently fictional solutions are based on real-world projects, and include massive ocean restoration approaches, large-scale Arctic ice management, cloud brightening, and coastal adaptation. The stories show relatable people dealing with their climate anxiety alongside the enormous scale of the projects that they are working on. Fiction is an extraordinarily powerful visualisation tool, which allows people working in the field and the wider public to imagine where we are going, what the future might look like, and what it would take to get there.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Dr Tan Lee Ooi (陈利威)
Director of Research, Penang Institute
He obtained his PhD in Southeast Asia Studies from National University of Singapore. His main research interests are about cyber politics, religious modernity and contemporary Malaysian politics. He was formerly an academician in private higher education institutions. He has published two books and several academic journal articles. His first book was published by the Penerbit UKM on the dynamics of cyberspace during the Reformasi Movement, Dinamik Ruang Siber dalam Gerakan Reformasi di Malaysia in Malay language. His second book Buddhist Revitalization and Chinese Religions in Malaysia was published by the Amsterdam University Press. He also writes opinion pieces for local media on politics, culture and media in Malaysia.