This book is part of an ongoing project begun by the New Weather Institute to find more imaginative ways to tell the stories of the challenges faced by our times. After decades of campaigning for a better world, the current moment seems ever-more troubling, standing on the verge of potentially irreversible ecological decline and in the grip of toxic social division and pandemics that cross the species’ barrier. Contagious Tales is our fourth volume of modern folk stories following There was a Knock at the Door, Knock Twice, and Knock Three Times.

This collection is in collaboration with the Rapid Transition Alliance, supported by the KR Foundation. It brings together a wide variety of authors, from earth scientists and economists, to playwrights and poets…