8 months ago
Kingsolver and Ghosh Discuss Climate Change at KaLaM 2026
Barbara Kingsolver and Amitav Ghosh talked about climate change at a big book event called KaLaM 2026.
They said climate change is not just about the environment but about how it changes everything in life.
Kingsolver, who is a scientist and a writer, said she worries about nature because she grew up close to it.
She thinks worrying can make people do good things instead of just being scared.
Ghosh talked about how he learned about nature and science when he was young.
He also talked about a dead dolphin he saw, which made him write about how people are hurting nature.
Both writers said it's important to show scientists as real people in stories, not just as experts.
They also talked about how some people are hurt more by big projects like dams and mines.
They believe stories can help people understand and care about these big changes.
Barbara Kingsolver and Amitav Ghosh discussed climate change at the Kolkata Literary Meet 2026.
Kingsolver emphasized that climate change is a fundamental transformation of life on Earth, not just an environmental issue.
Ghosh traced his ecological consciousness to his early exposure to India's people's science movement and a dead Irrawaddy dolphin he encountered in the Sunderbans.
Both writers avoid portraying scientists as caricatures or villains, emphasizing the need to bridge the divide between science and the humanities.
They highlighted the disproportionate impact of development projects on Indigenous and Adivasi communities.
- Who
- Barbara Kingsolver, Amitav Ghosh, and Keshava Guha
- What
- Discussion on climate change and fiction at the Kolkata Literary Meet 2026
- Where
- Kolkata Literary Meet (KaLaM) 2026
- When
- Sunday (specific date not mentioned)
- Why
- To explore how fiction can engage with ecological crises and convey urgency without resorting to dystopian speculation
Key facts
- Event
- Kolkata Literary Meet (KaLaM) 2026
- Participants
- Barbara Kingsolver, Amitav Ghosh, Keshava Guha
- Kingsolver's Background
- Trained biologist, Pulitzer Prize winner
- Ghosh's Influence
- India's people's science movement
- Key Theme
- Climate change as a fundamental transformation
- Kingsolver's View
- Climate change is 'everything change'
- Ghosh's Inspiration
- Dead Irrawaddy dolphin in Sunderbans
Quotes
Amitav Ghosh
Author of the novel 'Ghost-Eye'
“Absolutely. For me, speculative fiction and apocalyptic fiction don’t hold much appeal. Though there are some wonderful speculative novels... For me, it’s really important to see the unreality of the real. There are feelings of unreality that permeate our everyday lives.”
telegraphindia.com
“It became very clear to me, just thinking about the state of the world we are in, that many of our problems begin with viewing the earth as inanimate — as something dead.”
telegraphindia.com
