www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
Congratulations to Helen Phillips on winning the @climate-fiction.bsky.social 2026 #booksky
Hum, Helen Phillips’ third novel, featuring a woman whose job is taken by a humanoid robot, is a terrifying look into a future where AI rules and nature is scarce
TOMORROW'S THE DAY!
We're 24 hours away from crowning the 2026 winner of the Climate Fiction Prize!
Who else is excited? 🙋
Congrats to @helencphillips.bsky.social 🥳
We're thrilled to announce that Hum by Helen Phillips is the winner of the 2026 Climate Fiction Prize!
“Hum deals with love, community and family in the face of the climate crisis, privilege and the age of AI.” Arifa Akbar, Chair of Judges
📚 From whittling down submissions to a longlist of twelve brilliant books to a shortlist of six thrilling novels has been quite the task for our judges.
🎤 Hear from them about what's been the hardest part of judging the Climate Fiction Prize!
P.S. Winner announcement in less than 10 days! Ready?👀
Reading outside comfort zones, passionate conversations and a lot of hope! ✨
Here's what surprised our judges about reading for the prize!
Gareth
"For better or worse, I draw a great deal of inspiration from my anxiety. I did a lot of research enabled me to engage with the anxiety and transform it into a narrative."
Helen Phillips on the mind-reading algorithms behind Hum.
Read more: climatefictionprize.co.uk/hum-by-helen-phillips/
"Conservation work doesn’t end during war. The need to protect against ecocide becomes all the more urgent."
For Maria Reva, two distinct obsessions collided perfectly to inform her novel, Endling.
Read the full interview on our website: climatefictionprize.co.uk/endling-by-m...
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We crowned Helen Phillips the 2026 winner of the Climate Fiction Prize last Wednesday.
A huge thank you to our fantastic judges, Arifa Akbar, Dr Friederike Otto, Jessie Greengrass, Simon Savidge and Kit de Waal for the care and dedication they poured into this year's prize cycle. 🧡
"I sometimes imagined the novel as a threshold place, where things come together, where many things might touch, before they break apart once more."
Grief and longing bore Madeleine Thien's deeply moving novel, The Book of Records.
Read the full interview: climatefictionprize.co.uk/the-book-of-...
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Helen Phillips has been awarded the 2026 Climate Fiction Prize for Hum (@atlanticbooks.bsky.social), an “extremely prescient” novel the judges said “powerfully encapsulates the intersection between technology, AI and climate.” 👇