We would like to congratulate the winners of The world’s best climate stories writing competition at LitFest Bergen, hosted in collaboration with The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research: Carissa Cecilia Coane (USA) and Maya Teiman (Germany).
In the spring of 2023, the Bergen International Literature Festival launched a writing competition in collaboration with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research at the University of Bergen and the Rafto Foundation. Here we asked young people worldwide to write a poem or a personal essay about the climate crisis. We received 553 entries from 119 countries. How do young people experience the climate crisis? And how do they express that feeling in literature?
On the 10th of November the winners were announced: Carissa Cecilia Coane (USA) in the poetry category and Maya Teiman (Germany) in the essay category. The two winners joined the director of The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Kikki Kleiven, Leader of Climate Narratives Kerim Nisancioglu and Siri Vedal for a debate at Auditoriet in Litteraturhuset in Bergen. We want to thank Carissa and Maya for their incredible submissions and dedication towards writing The Worlds best climate stories.