Hello Friends!
As promised in this week’s podcast (Ep. 38: Anger and Hope), I’m going to send out more newsletters between the podcast episodes. We’re coming up on TWO YEARS since I started Bright Green Futures, and it boggles my mind that we’ve got 38 episodes and a whole ton of great discussions about lifting up hopeful climate fiction stories and the struggle to write them, as well as podcasts about just existing in this point in the Anthropocene and how to fight all the battles to get to that better world.
The Podcast/Newsletter Evolves
Bright Green Futures has evolved through that two years, partly acting as an extended tutorial about how to write these kinds of stories, partly growing the website to include more lists, like the zines and the Top 10 Solarpunk Books Every Library Should Have. I’ve discovered along the way how much time the podcast takes (A LOT) but also how much I love having it as a repository of discussions and knowledge to refer people to… and how when I have thoughts about Library Economies or Triage, Transition, and Transformation, I have a place to share my long-form thoughts.
I want the podcast/newsletter to persist… and to do that, it has to be sustainable.
I also want it to fulfill its purpose: to lift up stories about a more sustainable and just world.
While the podcast is a fantastic medium for discussions with authors and for making my long-form essays accessible to those who only do audio (not reading the newsletter), podcasts take a lot of time to create… which ironically leaves me with less time to read and share the very stories I want to find and lift up!
In addition, in 2026, I’m doubling down on writing my own solarpunk stories—my writing practice has taken a hit as I’ve tried to do too many things. And that’s not okay.
My compromise: keep writing time sacred, podcast less often and use the newsletter more. My hope is that will allow me to share more stories, write more stories, and still keep the podcast afloat, using it when that medium suits the purpose best.
In that vein, here’s the first newsletter where I’m sharing solarpunk stories (fiction and non-fiction) that I hope you’ll take a little time over a lunch break to read!
Solarpunk at the BSFA Awards
CORIANDER: A cultural historian travels around the world to her great-grandmother’s birthplace and discovers traces that transcend time.
WHAT IS BSFA?
The British Science Fiction Association has annual awards, first BSFA members nominate works (the “long list”), then after a month of voting, a “short list” of the finalists is compiled, and then a final round of voting for “best” in each category.
WHAT CATEGORY IS CORIANDER?
Coriander by Ana Sun is a short story from the Bright Green Futures anthology (which I edited)! Category: Best Short Fiction
FOR THE DURATION OF VOTING (Feb 19th) CORIANDER IS FREE!
WHAT IS THE ECOLOGICAL CITIZEN ESSAY?
Sue and Ana co-authored an essay for The Ecological Citizen about solarpunk and how we can use it to navigate a new relationship with nature. Published in the August 2025 issue, How solarpunk can help us rewild our lives is free to read online! Category: Best Short Non-Fiction
I’m excited to see solarpunk starting to show up on awards lists! In fact, I’ve heard there are more solarpunk stories than just ours on the list, so I’ll be reading through and looking for more solarpunk to uplift!
Only members of BSFA can vote in the awards, but anyone can read the stories! I’ve set Coriander free to encourage folks to check out Ana’s lovely story. And if you like that, check out the full anthology below for more solarpunk from my wonderful author guests on the pod!
Please share on Bluesky and Mastodon!
Hang in there, friends.
Sue
A collection of short solarpunk stories from Bright Green Futures podcast guests.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.