Brooklyn College is proud to announce that Professor of English and acclaimed novelist Helen Phillips has won the 2026 Climate Fiction Prize for the novel Hum. Published in 2024, Hum imagines a near-future world shaped by artificial intelligence, environmental degradation, and pervasive surveillance.
The novel follows May, a woman who loses her job to artificial intelligence in a world where humans live alongside humanoid robots known as “hums.” As she struggles to support her family in a society increasingly dominated by technology, she undergoes an experimental procedure that allows her to evade surveillance and seeks refuge in one of the last remaining green spaces in her city.
Judges praised Hum for its timely exploration of climate anxiety, technological disruption, and the commercialization of nature. According to the Climate Fiction Prize, the novel is “a book that deals with love, community and family in the face of ecological and technological collapse.” The award is presented annually to a novel that offers “imaginative and compelling responses to the climate crisis.” Now in its second year, the prize has quickly become one of the most prominent international honors for climate-focused literature.
Phillips, who teaches creative writing in the Department of English, is the author of several celebrated books, including The Beautiful Bureaucrat, The Need, and Some Possible Solutions. Her work has been widely recognized for its inventive blend of speculative fiction, literary storytelling, and sharp social observation. Phillips earned her M.F.A. from Brooklyn College and now serves as a full professor, mentoring emerging writers while continuing an internationally acclaimed literary career.
The Climate Fiction Prize judges selected Hum from a shortlist of six novels that examined the climate crisis through a range of literary approaches. In awarding the prize, the judges highlighted the novel’s ability to connect environmental concerns with questions of technology, privilege, family, and human resilience.
