Name: Why Do We Keep Destroying the World?
Start: 2026-08-16T15:00:00-0600
End: 2026-08-16T16:15:00-0600

A Festival for Writers, Readers, and Fans

Sunday August 16, 2026 3:00pm - 4:15pm MDT

Post-apocalyptic fiction like pandemics, climate collapse, nuclear war, and zombie plagues is still going strong.

Why is apocalypse so appealing? This panel explores what post-apocalyptic narratives offer readers and writers. It discusses how politics are embedded in their apocalypses, whether "cozy catastrophe" is even possible, what anxieties their stories channel, and when stories can be exploitative versus cathartic.

Moderators

Ambre Olivari

Ambré Olivari is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, and climate policy advisor. Having lived in various landscapes around the world, she loves exploring the intersection of the gothic, the speculative, and the ecological. She is currently writing a short story collection about the... Read More →

Presenters

Rick Overwater

Rick Overwater is a sci-fi, fantasy and crime writer based in Calgary, Alberta. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and is the author of The Black City Beneath, a late-age steampunk novel available from Calgary publisher, The Seventh Terrac... Read More →