**PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE PLACE VIA ZOOM. Registrants will receive a link to access the Zoom Meeting via email.**

Do you wish you felt more hopeful about the state of our world? Then you'll want to hear from Renan Bernardo, Brianna Castagnozzi, Susan Kaye Quinn, and T. K. Rex -- they're writing "hopepunk" stories that challenge us to look up from our doomscrolling and envision a future filled with defiant optimism! Hopepunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, where characters typically fight for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges.

About The Panelists: Renan Bernardo is a Brazilian writer of science fiction and fantasy, writing in English and Portuguese. You can find his stories in several publications, including Apex Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Solarpunk Magazine, Dark Matter Magazine, Translunar Travelers Lounge, and Daily Science Fiction. Brianna Castagnozzi is a writer, artist, musician, and composition instructor. She enjoys writing and reading interstitial fiction that explores the connections between ethnic, spiritual, and environmental narratives. Her work has been published in Stonesthrow Review, Shawangunk Review, and Entropy, with a forthcoming story in Clarkesworld. She is a licensed falconer, and lives with her red-tailed hawk in the Hudson River Valley. Susan Kaye Quinn is an environmental engineer/rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. She writes hopepunk climate-fiction full-time and believes being cozy/gentle/healing is radical and disruptive. T. K. Rex writes science fiction and fantasy in San Francisco on Ohlone land, and recently graduated from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop. Look for her stories in places like Strange Horizons, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and Queer Blades.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. Presented in collaboration with the Watertown Public Library.

NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 24 hours of the program.