Dystopia Book Club for Teens Part 2: Oryx and Crake
About this Event
The Dystopia Book Club for Teens is a series of three workshops for teenagers aged 16-18, exploring society and social structures, climate change, artifical intelligence, and what it means to be human, through the lens of dystopian fiction. Ideal for older teens who love reading, writing, researching and exploring new ideas, the club will cover three set texts:
1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
3. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
(Content warning: These novels contain disturbing/adult themes such as sex, graphic descriptions of violence, extreme poverty and environmental destruction).
Ahead of each session, participants will be provided with a set of questions to consider while reading, as well as suggestions for optional further reading or research. During the sessions, we will discuss the texts, considering the authors’ approaches to themes such as: the differences between AI and humans; how societies are structured - privilege and deprivation; historical attitudes to class, gender and race; and climate change and inequality. During the sessions, participants will also create a piece of art or writing inspired by each novel – such as creating a 'wish list' of items they would take with them when disembarking Earth for another world.
Session 2: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Jimmy a.k.a "Snowman" lives alone in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Or...almost alone. His only companions are a group of childlike, genetically-engineered humans called the 'Crakers'. Through a series of flashbacks we learn of Jimmy's childhood - his privilaged upbrininging in walled compounds as the son of a coporate genetic engineer, his friendship with brilliant science student Glenn and their exploration of a disturbing online world - and of a subsequent pandemic which threatens to wipe out all of humanity.
In Oryx and Crake, Atwood takes us on a dark yet often humorous journey to the end of the world - pitching teen angst against a backdrop of pandemic, environmental destruction and genetic apocalypse, where ultimately Snowman is left alone to navigate the ethical and emotional aftermath.
Additional information
Participants must provide their own copies of the texts and read them ahead of each session.
We would love it if participants were able to attend all three sessions, please book each session individually on Eventbrite, if you are able to do so.
Image credit: cover art for Oryx and Crake by Maëlle Doliveux
Where is it happening?
GBP 0.00
