Write and Pitch a Climate Fairy Tale in one week

Hey sustainability academics, we see you!

You are passionate about the environmental and social crises we’re facing. So much so that you’ve chosen your job and/or your studies in order to address these problems. You live to lower the resource-demandingness of everyday life whether it be bringing together stakeholders, designing new infrastructure or products or behaviour change campaigns.

You know we need system change. Paradigm shifts. You know the climate crisis and social justice are not knowledge deficit problems. You know the woes of the world will not be simply solved by technology.

You also love writing. But you don’t feel like you have time to craft engaging stories. even though they are the most advanced tool we have to transform worldviews—to change people’s attitudes and values.

Stories let us communicate research in new ways, like:

Recognising how renewables are like mermaids, with UK policy fixated on them, to the detriment of other less-technological solutions, such as demand reduction.

Credit: Véronique Heijnsbroek

Understanding that cars have a vampiric bloodsucking effect on cities and communities, with policymakers waving garlic at them, when they should be reaching for the stake.

Credit: Véronique Heijnsbroek

And, acknowledging that plastics play far more complicated roles than implied by the current policy witch-hunt on single-use items, with restorative potentials laying in wait if reuse is embraced.

Credit: Véronique Heijnsbroek

You know stories can transform research in new and evocative ways! But here’s what it might be like at the moment:

The fear of ‘publish or perish’ and being ‘objective’ overwhelms you and takes away any juice for fun promotion of your research.
It’s enraging that mainstream media outlets publish doom and gloom and push for individual action, rather than the systemic solutions you know we need. But you don’t know how to get your own work published in those places.
Maybe you’ve recently committed to getting your work ‘out there’ and now you’re wondering “where do I even start?” Do I take a narrative writing class or look for a writing group to get regular feedback? How do I find my people?

If this is sounding familiar, we have the answer for you!

Introducing Write and Pitch a Climate Fairy Tale in one week:

This is an online writing retreat that supports you to be creative with your research on energy, sustainability, and/or climate solutions. It builds on the work process we followed for our recent paper: ‘Telling tales’: Communicating UK energy research through fairy tale characters. This isn’t an intimidating academic writing workshop; it’s about finding some playfulness so that you can share your ideas with a wider audience. Following the event, you can submit your idea to receive feedback to develop your output further and/or even submit it to our competition to have your fairy tale illustrated by Véronique Heijnsbroek.

You might be wondering…

How much writing experience do I need?

You don’t need to have pieces already written, but you must be ready to dedicate at least 3 hours (or more) over the week to write. You don’t need to have taken other creative writing classes. And even if you have, there’s loads in store waiting for you.

You won’t just be learning the craft of writing, or how to pitch your piece to an outlet… You’ll be learning how to create space for writing in your life.

At the same time, you’ll be joining a community of writers also passionate about social and environmental justice! This community, with the activities and guidance, will make you feel ready to pitch your ideas to outlets to and beyond the Academy.

What does participating involve?

Online activities: 15:00-16:30pm BST on both Monday 28 August and 4 September 2023.

EoI submission is now closed.

Check back for updates on how the workshop went.