The IGNITE writers’ programme included a series of workshops with industry mentors from across the arts and sciences.
Hover over the images to read quotes from each mentor:
Dava Sobel
Dava Sobel is the author of several best-selling books about science, including Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter, The Planets, and most recently The Glass Universe.
A longtime science contributor to Harvard Magazine, Audubon, Discover, Life, Omni, and The New Yorker, she currently serves as poetry editor for Scientific American. She has also taught science at university level, including courses on writing creatively about science and about climate change.
"Keep up the good work... the world really needs more scientist artists"
Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver is an author of best-selling novels, non-fiction and poetry. She has two degrees in Biology, and has won many prizes for her work including the Orange Prize for Fiction and the US' National Humanities Medal for service through the arts. She also established the PEN / Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
"Two of my biggest passions are art and science, yet in the modern world, the two are rarely combined.
"I love that the IGNITE project fused the two seamlessly, using the universal language of art to convey the message of the climate crisis.
"I was honoured to be part of the project, amongst such brilliant writers and creatives!"
Haleema Ali
Haleema Ali is a youth worker and activist, who uses art, exhibitions and workshops to inspire social change. She is a public speaker, curator, writer and workshop facilitator, addressing topics varying from issues underrepresented communities face to climate justice.
Lauren Gunderson
Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20.
She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company.
"I loved the idea of this project, as telling compelling stories about the climate crisis will help us to confront it.
"I really enjoyed hearing the writers discussing their ideas for the dramas, and seeing how creative they all were during the course of the workshops."
Laura Joy Pieters
Laura Joy Pieters is an artist and actress who studied Chemistry at university. She was a Young Leader at Science Gallery London, and seeks to combine science and art to explore ideas and stories from lesser heard voices.
"I think that this project is a really powerful example of how to meaningfully adopt an interdisciplinary approach to respond to the climate crisis. By encouraging artists and scientists to work together from the very start of the process it opened the door to the (necessary) idea that maybe scientists don’t have all of the answers…
"I LOVED being part of this project, and found it extremely invigorating to hear the different attitudes and approaches that the participants came up with for responding to the climate crisis. Creating a platform in which a truly diverse group of voices could be heard and actioned has resulted in outputs that will hopefully help to involve even more people in developing solutions to the climate crisis."
Dr Sam Illingworth
Dr Sam Illingworth is an Associate Professor in Academic Practice and internationally recognised expert in science communication. His work focuses on using poetry and games to develop dialogue between scientists and society.
"Combining arts and the climate crisis is one of the most important things to be doing right now: making the political and scientific personal and relatable.
“I love that this radio drama project is doing that.
It’s very very exciting”
Fehinti Balogun
Fehinti Balogun is an actor, theatre maker and activist, with acting credits that include the BBC HBO drama I May Destroy You. Alongside his acting career hr delivers talks on climate change aimed at a more rounded inclusion in the conversation, and is currently working with Complicité theatre company to create a piece of theatre about his personal journey with the climate emergency.
"I was pleased to be able to support the IGNITE radio drama project, (WHICH) has done a valuable job in combining art and science. I enjoyed being involved in an online Q&A and as a mentor for several of the writers. Helping new writers has always been very much a part of my work and remains a Sparklab commitment.
"I’m really keen to hear the IGNITE dramas on Earth Day this April!"
Mel Harris
Mel Harris runs Sparklab Productions, an independent audio company who bring together a mix of talent to create inventive, surprising and entertaining content for BBC radio and other platforms. They make a wide range of audio dramas, docs, features, podcasts and audio books from their Manchester base.
“What was brilliant about meeting and talking to the IGNITE writers was to hear so many different imaginative approaches to the climate crisis. And it struck me that it doesn't matter what generation of writer you are, or what background or experience you have, the problems we're confronted when writing about climate catastrophe are the same: how to connect something so vast and accumulative and all-consuming to the everyday; how to tell a story about oncoming disaster without having people switch off.
"I hope IGNITE shows how many fascinating answers there might be to such puzzles, and that these short dramas will be just one step in the longer journeys of all these great writers."
Tim X Atack
Tim X Atack is a writer and composer for audio, stage, screen, and games. Credits include FOREST 404 for BBC Sounds, and the stage play HEARTWORM, which won the Bruntwood Prize for playwriting 2017.