[Post originally published: May 22, 2026]

If I’m not mistaken, I first bumped into Ana Sun during a talk we had with the writing group Chalk Scribblers back in 2022. It was only after this meeting that I came across Ana’s hopeful solarpunk work. Ever since, she’s published some excellent stories all around and, last February, she published her collection Futures to Live By, which I had the honor to blurb!

“’Futures to Live By’ is a versatile collection of possible and hopeful futures by Ana Sun. The stories featured here should be landmarks of fiction when we think about the positive impact literature can have in our lives. This is the kind of book that should be used in schools and universities to study the futures we are all striving for right now. Ana’s writing is exquisitely beautiful and perfectly navigates solarpunk and climate fiction, from the fears and anxieties of our times to the hopes and credible solutions of a desirable future. Extremely recommended reading!”

You can also find her at Bluesky and sign her newsletter.

(And just as I was posting this, I found out Ana is a British Fantasy Award finalist as Best Newcomer! Congratulations!)

Tell me more about Futures to Live By and what made you write the stories in it.

Futures to Live By is a collection of my solarpunk short stories that were first published between 2021 and 2025. I began writing solarpunk because the genre sits at the intersection of issues I care strongly about: environmental sustainability, social justice and community. I’m mystified that our collective narrative continues to perpetuate visions of unlivable futures, so I wanted to examine futures we would actually want to live in.

However, I didn’t set out a collection as such! That happened little by little: as I wrote each story, I built upon concepts I’d explored previously—taking environmental and social issues into account which are specific to the geographical locations in each story. In the end, even though each of the stories are stylistically different, I think I managed to thread coherent themes through the book.

What readers should expect from the stories in your collection?

I found this question hard to answer, because expectations can be subjective! Perhaps if I can quote from a reader who emailed me after having read one of my stories (with their kind permission), and some words from reviewers:

“Just a note of gratitude for the story The Scent of Green which I read with my morning coffee today. I was moved by its hopefulness. It seemed like a long time since I’d read anything like it.” — C.S.

“I’m naturally suspicious of overly hopeful messages. I definitely got this when I read the amazing When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift but I’ve had it again now in Ana Sun’s new short story collection Futures To Live By. Stories that explore options for us that while never easy to underline that a future is possible if we can put the effort in. It’s a delight to read.” — Runalong The Shelves

“In her collection Futures To Live By, Ana Sun has explored ways in which the world could be if we take action and listen to those with the facts of climate change at their fingertips. Hope permeates the thirteen stories in this book. […] These are hopeful stories suggesting positive futures, although the people matter more than the circumstances they live in.” — SFCrowsnest

Tell me about some fiction and/or non-fiction that inspired you.

So many! I’ve always read widely even as a child. My ever-present fiction influences include Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Jeannette Winterson, in particular Gut Symmetries, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, and Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I would also count your own work, Renan, as a strong influence on my solarpunk storytelling, alongside Phoebe Wagner’s novella When We Hold Each Other Up and the stories Grist have published. My non-fiction influences again number many, but I think a lot about Roman Krznaric’s History for Tomorrow, Rutger Bregman’s Utopia for Realists and How to Fall in Love with the Future by Rob Hopkins.

Show me an illustration that you love and tell me why! It can be related to your work or not. Feel free to provide alt text, but if you do not have the time, I can do it for you.

Have you seen the fabulous art on the Story Seed Library?

In particular, I love this one, called “Youth Dorm in New Spark” by Lemonmaut.

The concept of a space where young people can find themselves without today’s social media-ridden angst is fascinating—and crucial that we spent some time contemplating. How might we create the right conditions for our stewards of the future to flourish? Also, so many of our current YA stories traditionally kill off the parents or make the parents invisible while young protagonists figure out their own path, but real life is never like that. In terms of aesthetics, this piece by Lemonaunt has a genuine sense of quiet energy I resonate with, much like works by Edward Hopper or Modigliani.

How inextricable do you think literature and the arts are from actually shaping a desirable future on Earth?

Very much so, in that giving shape to narratives have important functions such as giving ordinary people agency to act, and the arts are what spark imagination.

There is an excellent article from 2021 in The British Science Fiction Association’s magazine Vector by their editors of the time (Jo Lindsay Walton and Polina Levontin) that discusses some of this in the context of communicating climate change. I also value the clarity of Professor John Holmes’ Open Letter to COP30, which states:

“Stories can inspire hope and drive change. They reach us emotionally as well as intellectually, reminding us of what we truly need and value, and reconnecting us to one another and to the natural world. They are vital to mutual understanding, cultural continuity and the promise of a hopeful future in a time of deep anxiety and rapid change.”

We need agency, action and imagination to enact effective and lasting positive change.