Extreme heat warning in effect through Sunday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

In his new novel, award-winning author Richard Powers probes an essential question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?

Called an “ecological parable,” Powers’ latest book, “Bewilderment,” tells the story of a widowed astrobiologist as he struggles to raise his precocious son alone, in the midst of our all-too-real climate crisis. 

“We really are in need of a change in cultural consciousness,” Powers told MPR News host Kerri Miller. “Or we need a new way of thinking about ourselves, on the Earth. Not as something separate from the nonhuman, but as an integrated neighbor, situated in a real place, not one that we're trying to master and dominate.”  

Use the audio player above to listen to their conversation.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on 

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Shows

Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Host

Author

In his new novel, award-winning author Richard Powers probes an essential question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?


Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers discusses his new novel 'Bewilderment'

Go Deeper.

Like this?