We continue our interview series featuring authors who contributed to our anthology, No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet. Each story and each climate solution in the anthology links to webpages where readers can follow up on any solutions that inspire them to see how they can help to make them happen.
No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet has also been featured in the Top 20 List of fiction to inspire climate action. Another win for this popular anthology is its selection by the Climate Solutions Book Club as this month’s book for discussion. This friendly international online book club is open to new members, so find out more here.
And so, here’s our Q&A with our author, Matthew Hanson-Kahn, writer of The Caretaker…
What inspired you to write this short story about coral planting to save our dying reefs?
As a child, I remember being captivated by Jacques Cousteau and this beautiful, vibrant undersea world that he revealed to me. The fact that it was fairly inaccessible to humans made it even more magical. Unfortunately, we now plunder the sea as never before, destroying fish livestock and reefs while filling the oceans with plastics and chemicals. When I discovered that coral reefs were being destroyed by bleaching, dredging, dynamite and more, I wanted to highlight what would be a catastrophic loss of a dynamic habitat.
I discovered that efforts are being made to re-colonise the reefs by coral farming and kelp planting. With a sustained effort, we could once again have the unique beauty of teeming reefs and abundant seas surrounding them.
No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet was shared at the climate summits COP27 and COP28 and at net-zero meetings with UK MPs. Would you write for COP again?
Yes, environmental issues and social justice are in my DNA. I would be delighted to contribute in whatever way I can.
How much of The Caretaker is real life?
The destruction of our coral reefs is a real issue. I often think that because they are below the sea, we pay them less attention. Out of sight is out of mind. But my story highlights the deadly impact of global warming on our oceans, and the life within them. And what a massive impact the loss of our coral reefs would be to biodiversity.
Did anyone help you with the information on coral replanting?
No, I undertook the research myself. I already knew there were solutions being implemented, but the exact details, such as attaching and growing the young coral on wooden frames, were new to me. The processes are already in place; it all just needs to move apace.
Would you write any more stories on climate issues?
Of course, if asked. And poems. The problem is what to do with them. As a wannabe writer, I constantly struggle to find a home for my writing. The same as anyone else. I believe that I have something to contribute to the world of writing and to climate solutions. If anybody wants me to write a short story, I’d be delighted to.
Is your short story available as an audio book?
One of my friends, an actor called Chris Beaumont, recorded an audio version of the story and I’m really pleased with his recording. You can listen here, so see what you think. Please share it with your friends or anyone else you think might enjoy it! By doing so, you’ll be spreading the word on how we can save our coral reefs.
Have you written anything else?
Gosh, yes. I’ve just started my seventh novel and have written over 50 poems and short stories. I’ve heard it said that everyone has a novel in them. Some write that novel and never progress, many start and an unfinished novel sits forever. Most never even start, thinking one day, one day.
I wrote the first novel and then just kept writing, the ideas and words coming faster than I could get them out. None of my novels are published; they haven’t seemed to land in the right place at the right time yet. Maybe they are the wrong novel? I don’t believe that. I’ve had agents saying that they loved my book, but didn’t know what to do with it. I even had one saying that they would buy it when it was published. So I’ll keep writing fiction, each time doing the next one better and maybe, just maybe, you’ll see a published novel by me one day. Then I can speak about climate solutions and the need to crack on while we have time.
What do you do when you’re not writing books?
I like to think I’m a rock star. I’m not. But strangely I’ve written and recorded two albums with my band Brighton Strangler. The difference between writing and performing music, compared to writing novels, is that you get immediate feedback. Writing is very solitary, and you only get feedback if someone picks the book up. I never thought I’d be in a band, and didn’t know I could write music, yet here I am at the age of 65 writing songs, playing gigs. You can check out our videos…
Here is the title track to the first album.
And this is one of us playing live.
I’m the idiot singing and dancing with the microphone!
Thanks for contributing to No More Fairy Tales and for being our Author of the Month.
A pleasure!