No novelist, whatever the main subject of their work, should ignore climate change, argues Paul Murray, the author who has just received one of Britain and Ireland’s top literary prizes for The Bee Sting.
“I wouldn’t say climate worry was the motivation for my book, but I really do feel like it is the unavoidable background for being alive in the 21st century. I don’t want to get on a soap box, yet we ought to surely be thinking about it, at some level, most of the time now,” said Nero Gold prize winner Murray, whose tragicomic saga was also shortlisted for last year’s Booker prize. “I’m more concerned that there are some new books that don’t address it at all. What does it mean to ignore it? After all, I’m a Catholic, but I don’t think even that religion could invent something inspiring so much guilt. I mean, every time you turn on a light!”
