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Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World

Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World

by John Freeman

Penguin Books ·2021 ·290 pages
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About This Book

Building from his acclaimed anthology Tales of Two Americas, beloved writer and editor John Freeman draws together a group of our greatest writers from around the world to help us see how the environmental crisis is hitting some of the most vulnerable communities where they live. In the past five years, John Freeman, previously editor of Granta, has launched a celebrated international literary magazine, Freeman's, and compiled two acclaimed anthologies that deal with income inequality as it is experienced. In the course of this work, one major theme came up repeatedly: Climate change is making already dire inequalities much worse, devastating further the already devastated. But the problems of climate change are not restricted to those from the less developed world. Galvanized by his conversations with writers and activists around the world, Freeman engaged with some of today's most eloquent storytellers, many of whom hail from the places under the most acute stress--from the capital of Burundi to Bangkok, Thailand. The response has been extraordinary. Margaret Atwood conjures with a dystopian future in a remarkable poem. Lauren Groff whisks us to Florida; Edwidge Danticat to Haiti; Tahmima Anam to Bangladesh; Yasmine El Rashidi to Egypt, while Eka Kurniawan brings us to Indonesia, Chinelo Okparanta to Nigeria, and Anuradha Roy to the Himalayas in the wake of floods, dam building, and drought. This is a literary all-points bulletin of fiction, essays, poems, and reportage about the most important crisis of our times.


Reviews

"This anthology showcases personal responses to climate change through literature ...This work will suit readers curious about the long-standing and wide-ranging effects of climate change, as lived and experienced by writers around the world."

David R. Conn· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Lauren Groff's Florida story reckons with wastefulness and the vulnerability of the wild."

Donna Seaman· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Assembling the creative work of respected writers from both the developed and developing world, Freeman offers a sobering meditation on the future challenges that everyone will face ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"I'll admit that this anthology brought back visceral sensations and emotions that I sometimes fear I've grown too numbed by my daily consumption of climate news to feel anymore."

Wen Stephenson· The Nation Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"True to the anthology's title, these tales paint a picture of a world divided, but there are also hints about how to unite."

Alan Levinovitz· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The sheer variety of approaches in the book reflect something of that frenzied feeling; the collection takes you on a joltingly rapid journey across the world (India, Bangladesh, Hawaii, Iceland)."

Josephine Livingstone· The New Republic Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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