How might we imagine just ways of living with the sea and its inhabitants as climate change continues to unsettle coastal life?

experimental reading and creative writing group
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Blue Speculations

EXPERIMENTAL READING AND WRITING GROUP



What can we learn from contemporary fiction about the ethical dilemmas facing coastal adaptation? What are the trade-offs to be made and how are these tensions presented within literature? What forms of agency exist in shaping coastal futures? 

       
We are academics interested in how people live in coastal regions alongside the inevitability of landscape change, and, ultimately, the recognition that one day the sea will, inevitably, rise. We believe reading and writing carry transformative potential to foster alternative ethics geared towards environmental justice.
         We invite you to participate in a unique experimental reading group combining reading with creative writing responses in a dialogical structure. We are looking for participants with a strong connection to the coast, however broadly this may be understood to you. We will meet fortnightly online, on a weeknight, for a total of four sessions. 
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        This website explains how the experimental reading and writing group works, how you can participate, and the wider research questions we are exploring in collaboration with scientists, philosophers, geographers, governments, and coastal communities. 
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How it Works

FOUR EVENING GROUP MEETINGS TO READ, WRITE, AND REFLECT

We are organising two parallel groups: one based in England, whose first text will be Ben Smith’s 2019 novel Doggerland; and one based in the Netherlands, whose first text will be Eva Meijer’s 2022 novel Zee Nu (translated in 2025 as Sea Now).
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  1. Session One will discuss the first text and explore themes related to coastal change, justice, climate breakdown, extinction, and speculative engagements with the future. 
  2. Session Two involves a creative writing session, where participants craft their own fictions of coastal change; later shared with the other group. 
  3. Session Three will discuss the second text (Sea Now in the UK group, Doggerland in the Netherlands group) and comparatively explore the themes across these two texts. 
  4. Session Four will consist of engagements with the writing fragments from the other group, offering participants the opportunity to respond.
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        Participation is free, and physical copies of both books are provided to all particpants. Meetings will take place online via Teams. These will occur over two July and two August sessions on weekday evenings at 6pm, lasting approximately 90 minutes. 
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        We are hoping to organise an online discussion with both groups and authors at a later date, upon the completion of the broader research project in 2027.
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Project Rationale

COASTAL  ADAPTATION FOR RESTORATIVE JUSTICE (”CARE”)

 Adaptation to climate change presents a host of justice dilemmas and we must be able to recognise and address past, present, and future harms caused by adaptation action and inaction: this is known as restorative justice. On the coast, the loss of place and sense of security are just some of the harms experienced by coastal communities, but the non-human world (nature, animals, and plants) is equally at-risk. The challenge for restorative justice is how to resolve these injustices in coastal adaptation and planning for the future.
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       The CARE project combines perspectives from geography, political science, philosophy, and the environmental humanities to explore how restorative in/justices for human and non-human worlds are influenced by coastal adaptation (in)action. The research is using a range of methods (such as literary analysis, experimental reading/creative writing groups, interviews, and workshops) with multiple stakeholders (communities, policymakers, and practicioners) to advance theoretical understanding of restorative in/justice and inform recommendations to facilitate restoratively just adaptation in the future.
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      CARE is funded by the British Academy through the Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Projects 2025. The project is led by the University of Nottingham (Dr Meghan Alexander) in collaboration with University College Cork (Ireland), and Radboud University and Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands).  
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STAY IN TOUCH OR PROVIDE FEEDBACK

For more details on the research activities of the CARE project, visit our main website.
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        If you have questions about the reading group or wider research context, please contact any of the following researchers affiliated with CARE and the delivery of Blue Speculations: 
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        We have chosen to conduct meetings in English, given the comparative international context of the project. Yet we know that many things do not translate. If you’d prefer to discuss the project in Dutch or learn more about the Dutch context, please contact Dr Maria Kaufmann (Radboud University), who will also be present for the meetings in the Netherlands: maria.kaufmann@ru.nl
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       You can follow the CARE team on social media, including Bluesky and LinkedIn.