Climate change finds you wherever you are, but there must be something in the water (or lack thereof) in Austin because two of this year’s buzziest local releases imagine future landscapes ravaged by drought, flood, and disaster. Following their characters through the rubble, trionymous authors Deb Olin Unferth and Mary Helen Specht find curiosity and empathy among crumbling societies and underground existences. At the Central Library in collaboration with the Texas Book Festival and the Library Foundation, Specht’s submerged city ruins will meet Unferth’s polluted sand dunes in a conversation about their work and growing niche genre of climate fiction, followed by audience Q&A and booksignings. – Caroline Drew
