​“To Everything, Tern Tern Tern”

Submitted by LT_Sargent on Fri, 05/08/2020 - 11:18
Title​“To Everything, Tern Tern Tern”
Year for Search2019
AuthorsBjörnsdóttir, Birna Anna(b. 1974)
Secondary TitleMcSweeney’s 58. 2040 A.D.
Volume / Edition58
Pagination130-43
Date Published2019
PublisherMcSweeney’s Quarterly Concern
Place PublishedSan Francisco, CA
KeywordsFemale author, Icelandic author, US author
Annotation

 The story is set in Seltjarnarnes, Iceland. In about 2030, due to the changing climate, the Gulf Stream had moved away from Iceland while warming Greenland. As a result, Iceland has much, much colder winters and the iconic bird the tern or kría no longer nested there.

Info Notes

The authors of the stories were each “assigned a specific climate event mentioned” in the 2018 UN climate report collaborating with experts recommended by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who “provide a scientific backbone” for the stories while giving the writers free rein to determine how closely they adhered to that science” (6-7). The Introduction to the volume (7-12) is by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Chief Program Officer of the NDRC.

Illustration

Illus. Wesley Allsbrook
Holding Institutions

PSt, PU
Author Note

The female author was born, raised and educated in Iceland, earned a MA from New York University and lives both in Iceland and the U.S.
Full Text

2019 Björnsdóttir, Birna Anna. “To Everything Tern Tern Tern.” Illus. Wesley Allsbrook. 2040 A.D. McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern 58 (Winter 2019): 131-145. PSt, PU

The story is set in Seltjarnarnes, Iceland. In about 2030, due to the changing climate, the Gulf Stream had moved away from Iceland while warming Greenland. As a result, Iceland has much, much colder winters and the iconic bird the tern or kría no longer nested there. The authors of the stories were each “assigned a specific climate event mentioned” in the 2018 UN climate report collaborating with experts recommended by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who “provide a scientific backbone” for the stories while giving the writers free rein to determine how closely they adhered to that science” (6-7). The Introduction to the volume (7-12) is by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Chief Program Officer of the NDRC. The female author was born, raised and educated in Iceland, earned a MA from New York University and lives both in Iceland and the U.S.