(Flickr/surfergirl1972)

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold?  We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world.  Local author Nnedi Okorafor starts out the series on Chicago's south side.  In her story, "Poison Fish" (or, "Poison Poisson"), Okorafor brings us to a dystopian backdrop of memories and chaos, set along the waterfront on Chicago's south side.

After Water Fiction: Poison Fish

Award-winning, science-fiction author Nnedi Okorafor wrote a story set on Chicago's Rainbow Beach, decades in the future.  After a conversation with a Great Lakes expert, she imagined a future world where the water is contaminated and Chicagoans on the South Side are separated from any access to clean water.  In this interview with Shannon Heffernan, Okorafor talked about the real life scenarios behind her sci-fi story. 

You can hear Nnedi Okorafor's story, "Poison Fish" on our Soundcloud and at afterwater.tumblr.com.

 (Photo of Nnedi Okorafor by Shannon Heffernan) 

After Water: An interview with author Nnedi Okorafor

(Flickr/James Marvin Phelps)
What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world. In his story, “Thirst” Los Angeles-based author Max Andrew Dubinsky brings us to a California that’s dry and dying, its inhabitants looking to the Great Lakes as their last salvation. 

After Water Fiction: Thirst

Author Max Andrew Dubinsky imagines a future world where people in California are plagued by drought and rising sea levels. In hopes of finding a better life, some of them turn their eyes towards the Great Lakes region.

Dubinsky wrote his story after being paired with a scientist for our series After Water. Hear him talk about that process and the research behind his imagined world in this interview with WBEZ's Shannon Heffernan. 

You can hear Max Andrew Dubinsky's story, "Thirst", on our SoundCloud, and at afterwater.tumblr.com. 

(Photo courtesy of Max Andrew Dubinsky)

After Water: An interview with author Max Andrew Dubinsky

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world. In her story, "World After Water", Chicago author Abby Geni brings us to a city flooded by dirty, toxic water. We follow the struggle of four boys, forced to steal clean water from their wealthy neighbors to survive. 

(Illustration by Abby Geni) 

After Water Fiction: World After Water

In "World After Water", Abby Geni imagines a city flooded by toxic water too poisonous to drink. Four young boys resort to stealing filtered water from their wealthy neighbors in their struggle to survive. 

Geni wrote her story after spending time researching how climate change could change our day to day life. Hear Geni's thoughts on why her fiction focuses on the natural world and how science in literature can help us think about the future.

You can listen to Abby's story "World After Water" on our Soundcloud, at our website wbez.org, and at afterwater.tumblr.com.

(Photo courtesy of Abby Geni)

After Water: An interview with author Abby Geni

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world. 

In her story, "The Floating City of New Chicago," Tricia Bobeda takes us to a Chicago divided by class...and water. Wealthy people have fled the city for a secret island in Lake Michigan, while "wet-collar" workers are forced to stay behind to do the city's dirtiest jobs. 

(Photo by Tricia Bobeda) 

After Water Fiction: The Floating City of New Chicago

In "The Floating City of New Chicago," we see a Chicago divided by class...and water. The wealthy have fled the city for a secret island on Lake Michigan. The "wet-collar" workers have been left behind to do the city's dirtiest jobs. 

Author Tricia Bobeda drew on a combination of scientific research and pop culture to craft her story about a future Chicago. Hear her talk about the inspirations for her story, including real life invisibility cloaks and an episode of "30 Rock."

You can listen to Tricia's story "The Floating City of New Chicago" on our Soundcloud, at our website wbez.org, and at afterwater.tumblr.com.

(Photo courtesy of Tricia Bobeda) 

After Water: An interview with author Tricia Bobeda

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world.

In "The Last Cribkeeper" by Peter Orner, we meet Harry Osgood as he walks along the shores of Lake Michigan. For years, he served as the guard for one of the water intake cribs miles from Chicago's shores. Now an old man, Harry looks out over the lake and reflects on how it has shaped the city's identity and his own. 

(Flickr/josh s jackson) 

After Water Fiction: The Last Cribkeeper

In his story "The Last Cribkeeper," Peter Orner introduces us to Harry Osgood--the last man to work on Chicago's water cribs. Harry spends his days walking along the shores of Lake Michigan, peering out at the water that has shaped the city's identity and his own. 

Author Peter Orner sat down with WBEZ's Shannon Heffernan to talk about his lifelong obsession with those tiny houses off Chicago's shores and his homesickness for the blue of Lake Michigan.

(Flickr/Steve Rhodes)

After Water: An interview with author Peter Orner

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world.

In Rebecca Adams Wright's short story, "Straws," we find a Great Lakes slowly being siphoned away by private interests. A group of eco-terrorists hatch a plot to bring the water back to the towns and ecosystems slowly dying of thirst. 

(Flickr/kenmainr)

After Water Fiction: Straws

In "Straws," the Great Lakes are being siphoned away by greedy private interests. A group of eco-terrorists hatch a plan to return the water to the places slowly dying of thirst. 

Author Rebecca Adams Wright tells us about the current legal battles over Great Lakes water that served as inspiration for her story and how she balances fantastic and realistic futures in her science fiction. 

(Photo courtesy of Rebecca Adams Wright) 

After Water: An interview with author Rebecca Adams Wright

What happens 100 years from now when, if climate change has brought us to a point where water has become one of our scarcest resources, and more precious than oil or gold? We've asked fiction writers to imagine the Great Lakes region a century or more on, and help us paint an audio portrait of that world.

"Water Men" by Tim Akimoff is the story of a political struggle over water in the Great Lakes region. A father tells his child of the generations that have come before them before the world they know is changed forever. 


After Water Fiction: Water Men

"Water Men" by Tim Akimoff is the story of a political struggle over water in the Great Lakes region. A father tells his child about how the Great Lakes have shaped their family for generations before the world they know is changed forever. 

Hear author Tim Akimoff talk about how he thinks fiction can be a tool for understanding the news and why a Great Lakes secession movement might not be as crazy as it sounds. 

(Photo courtesy of Tim Akimoff) 

After Water: An interview with author Tim Akimoff

Roxane Gay lives and writes in the Midwest. She is the author of “Ayiti,” “An Untamed State,” and “Bad Feminist,”  a New York Times bestseller. “The Way of the River” is Gay’s contribution to After Water, a WBEZ Chicago flash fiction project that invites writers to examine the impact of climate change on future generations around the Great Lakes. In this story, a wife and mother pushes against despair and thirst to keep her humanity, and her family together.  

After Water Fiction: The Way of the River

Chicago poet, playwright and educator Kristiana Colon is an ensemble member of Teatro Luna, the all-Latina theater company in Chicago.  Show Me the Well is her radio play for After Water, a fusion of science, art and journalism that asks writers to  imagine a world 100 years in the future, when clean water is a dominant social issue.  This play is right in line with Colon’s vision of art as a tool to ‘reinvigorate the learning experience, build social awareness and provoke critical analysis of the world in which we live.”  

AfterWater Fiction: Show Me The Well

science+art+journalism... Time is running out to rescue and repair the planet, climate scientists keep telling us. They say that soon fresh water will be more precious than gold. They warn that no one will be untouched. But is anyone really listening? In After Water, scientists, writers and journalists to peer into the future—100 years or more—and imagine when water scarcity is a dominant social issue. It’s a cosmic blend of art and science.

Front and Center is funded by The Joyce Foundation: Improving the quality of life in the Great Lakes region and across the country. 

After Water

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