FUTURE HISTORY : 2050

Nominated for German Youth Literature Award, ‘Best Youth Book’

KIMI seal 2020 ; Diversity criteria

‘Fascinatingly imaginative’ - Donkey Ear

It’s 2020 and a historian is doing research in the Berlin archives. He opens a box and finds a pile of notebooks bound by string. He starts reading and is shocked to realise that this is the story of the next thirty years. Is this real? And if so, how is it possible? Can this really be a future history? At the front of the first notebook is a message from the ‘interviewer’, a teenager called Billy, who says these notebooks are the record of a series of conversations with her grandmother taken in the year 2050. As we read, Gran Nancy’s memories unfold, and we begin to realise that the future is not entirely positive. We learn about “The Shock” which follows climate change, about the era of the “Populists”, and about the “Ethnarchs” who replace them and appear to have thrown democracy aside. We learn about “The Great Automation” and “The Transition”, about remarkable sporting achievements, astonishing new fashion, and a novel type of entertainment. As Billy recounts Gran Nancy’s remembrances, she takes notes of her response to what she is learning, while also revealing that she is in the middle of her own very real drama: She has made friends with a young whizz-kid called Benji who is in trouble with the security police. She herself is being followed, and if she is going to change the past – to change the future – she must hurry.

German Youth Literature Award Jury statement: "Future History 2050 compiles the interviews, Billy's comments and numerous fictitious documents such as photos, posters or postcards from the years 2020 to 2050 designed by Florian Topernpong. In the style of a documentary, Harding's dystopian text in the translation by Edmund Jacoby shows how far-reaching an irresponsible action can have on climate issues. For Billy the notes are history, for today's readers they are a glimpse into a possible future. Above all, however, they are an intelligently arranged and aesthetically impressive hybrid text that calls into question the insistence on one's own comfort zone."

About the author and illustrator

Thomas Harding, born in 1968, comes from an English Jewish family with Berlin roots. He works as a journalist for major newspapers and television, and his books such as Hanns and Rudolf or Sommerhaus am See have been successful worldwide.

Florian Toperngpong studied graphic design in Würzburg and subsequently received a FABRICA grant for visual communication and creative writing in Italy. He currently lives and works as a designer and lecturer for image and text in Regensburg.

• Hardcover: 300 pages

• Publishers: Jacoby & Stuart (2020)/ Seuil (2021) / Groundwood Books (2022)

• Language: German/ French/ English

Videos & Radio interviews

Reviews

“Thomas Harding's science fiction could hardly be more up-to-date. […] The attraction of this book lies in the dynamics of the plot development […] and in the playful construction that wants to shake us up and persuade us –a student or a centenarian alike –  to prevent the SHOCK. Science fiction is not about whether something will really happen exactly that way, but how a story is developed, and the author really does that most skillfully.” - Hans von Trotha, Deutschlandfunk Kultur  

"Future History 2050 ‹is as fascinatingly imaginative as it is frighteningly realistic, especially because the pseudo-documentary form makes it clear that the real problem lies in the human ability to arrange and focus only on one's own everyday life.” - Kathrin Köller, donkey ear

“Harding and Toperngpong […] write more than just a call for climate protection. In doing so, they juggle soberly and skillfully a series of questions about the handling and weighting of knowledge that can be gained by looking at the past, enliven the present and open their eyes to the effects of current action on our future. Entertaining, exciting, worth discussing and absolutely worth reading!” - Katrin Rüger, Buchpalast Munich

“Harding's book is brave and innovative when it comes to answering some of the most important questions of the coming century. In these dark times, we have a glimmer of hope for a better future.” - Maya Tutton, Co-Founder of the Our Streets Now campaign

“The structure of Future History 2050 is so refreshingly different. I found the story so fascinating that I couldn't put it down.” - Niall Barton, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman from London

“I have just read the manuscript and I am really impressed. The scenario is thoroughly plausible and up-to-date. And the story is captivating and exciting right down to the last page. - Hannah, political science student from Berlin

“I particularly liked the book. It covers so many important issues that people my age are very interested in. I think the cover is very well made because it can appeal to a wide range of readers and not just young adults. And the message of history is clear, unmistakable and honest, that's great.” - Tessa, 17 years old, student from Berlin

”[T] he climate change [plays] a big role, of course, but other possible changes in the future, which I didn't have in my head at all, are also addressed [...]. All in all [...] a very interesting book that is well considered. - Juliana, 14 years old, student from Munich

“The book is particularly worth mentioning because of its many incredibly realistic future plans.” -  Buchfink bookstore - reading pleasure
in Brussels

Interview with Thomas Harding about Future History

Thomas, you have just written a book with the working title 2050 – Future History. The History of the future? What on earth is that?

Ha! What on earth is exactly right! It’s the history of the next thirty years told from the point of view of the year 2050.

Which event, which fact inspired you or gave you the idea for this book?

I was reading an article about climate change which said that despite the overwhelming evidence of a catastrophic future, nobody was taking any real action to stop it. Then I thought to myself, what would it take today to make people really change their lives? And the answer popped into my head: a history from the future which told us what would happen if we didn’t radically change our behaviour.

You call those politicians who did not care about climate change ”the populists“. Did you have real politicians of our days in mind? And is climate change connected to political choices?

Yes, the story is inspired by the politics of today, the remarkable way that politicians now get elected by telling us the lies we want to hear. Of course, this is not an entirely new phenomenon. Look back to the 1930s and you can find plenty of populists. There are even more further back in history. And certainly, the impact of homo sapiens on the planet partly flows from political choices. The choice not to tax airplane flights, for example, or the choice to leave the Paris Climate Change agreement.

In spite of the grim things you write about – climate disaster, dictatorship etc. – there are also good developments in your future history. What will be better, for instance?

I am an optimist. I believe that, despite the calamities that await us if we refuse to act now, our future will in some ways be bright. Automation and developments in Artificial Intelligence, for example, could bring about education that is tailored more accurately to individual needs. Similarly, improvements in medicine will result in longer and healthier lives. There are two main figures in your book: Nancy – a 112 year old historian – and Billy – a girl in her teens who wants to know about her past (our future).

Whom do you see as readers of the book?

When I write, I don’t have a specific age in mind. I hope that young adults will identify with the main character Billy and her challenges and journey. After all, if you are a teenager today, this book tells you what the world will be like in your 20s, 30s and 40s. I hope that older readers will relate to Gran Nancy and the experiences she has lived. Personally, I like reading books that are said to be for young-adults just as much as books written for old-adults. Good writing is good writing.

Last question: Is 2050 – Future History a novel or non-fiction or the fiction of nonfiction or what?

When I started on this project, I told people I was writing a non-fiction history of the future. They looked at me puzzled and I would say ‘No really, it’s going to be non-fiction.’ I wanted to have the same mind-set as when I have previously written about the past. I wanted to use a similar tone and narrative technique. If I got this right, I hoped it would encourage the reader to believe this text as a true history.