The Heat is On: Young Writers on the Climate Crisis
On World Environment Day, 5 June 2022, Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature is thrilled to release The Heat is On: Young Writers on the Climate Crisis. This free digital anthology of creative writing about the climate crisis facing our planet showcases writers under 20 years of age from across the Cities of Literature Network. Their thought-provoking submissions are published in the primary language and in English, and these extraordinary words and images will stay with you always.
In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that included tackling the world-wide emergency that is climate change. As the impacts of the climate crisis intensify with each passing year, more and more young people around the globe are joining the movement for positive change. By leading the discussion around climate change, they are also spreading awareness and motivating others to demand action for a clean and healthy planet.
Kicking off the anthology is a foreword by Vicki Soanes, Secretary General, New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO in which she highlights both the values of the organisation and how this body of writing supports these goals. Mayor of Dunedin Aaron Hawkins writes a stirring introduction in which he shares his pride in Ōtepoti Dunedin and our City of Literature status while raising his concerns for future generations as a parent of a young
child.
Participating poets and cities
From Dunedin, the city that created the project, Waka KOtuia; from Bucheon (South Korea), Doheun Lee; from Dublin (Ireland), Emily Keane; from Edinburgh (UK), Isobel Clarke; from Exeter (UK), Chris Jantamaneechot; from Gothenburg (Sweden), Emma Viktoria Travljanin; for Heidelberg (Germany), Cheyenne Leize; for Nanjing (China), Duan Jiawei; for Nottingham (United Kingdom), Daria Paterek; for Reykjavik (Iceland), Ragnhildur Björt Björnsdóttir; for Seattle (United States), Zinnia Hansen; for Utrecht (Netherlands), Mia Lodder; for Wonju (South Korea), Noh Hyeon-seo; and for Jakarta (Indonesia), Maria Donna Miranda.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Participation of Granada: Guillermo García Domingo
Guillermo García Domingo collaborates from Granada UNESCO City of Literature in this project with his poem “Year 2200 A.D. — A Planet of Residue“. Translated into English by Jean Sanders.
Guillermo García Domingo was born in Granada. At the age of nine he participated in the workshop Taller de Poetas y Cuentacuentos. In 2016 he won First Prize in the short story contest of the Ave María Schools, and in 2020 Second Prize in this contest. His first book, Amapola entre Piedras (“Poppy amid Stones”) was published in 2017. In 2020 he was included in the international anthology Versos en el aire. In 2021 his second book appeared, Susurros en la Tinta (“Whispers over Ink”), and in 2021 and 2022 he has been invited by Granada UNESCO City of Literature to participate on World Poetry Day public readings.
The translator: Jean Sanders
Jean Louise Sanders (Evanston, Illinois) is a translator and editor of scientific and literary texts, based in Granada, Spain. She studied Modern Languages and Hispanic Literature (B.A.) at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and she holds a degree in Technical-Scientific Translation from the University of Granada.
