Charlie Jane Anders: How Can Science Fiction Allow Us To Imagine Better Futures?

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi, Christina Cala and Sanaz Meshkinpour

Published March 19, 2021 at 1:26 PM EDT

Updated July 21, 2023

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Through The Looking Glass

Science fiction author Charlie Jane Anders explains how the genre is a portal for us to imagine different ways of being human. She invites listeners into one new world with an excerpt from her short story collection.

About Charlie Jane Anders

Charlie Jane Anders is an award-winning author of science fiction, including the novels All the Birds in the Sky and Choir Boy. Her short story collections include Six Months, Three Days and Five Others. Her short stories have also been featured in Boston Review, Wired Magazine and Slate, among other publications.

She most recently penned The City in the Middle of the Night. Her upcoming book Victories Greater Than Death is set for release in April 2021.

When she isn’t writing, Anders organizes the monthly Writers With Drinks reading series, and co-hosts a podcast Our Opinions Are Correct with writer Annalee Newitz.

Anders studied English and Asian Literature at the University of Cambridge.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Christina Cala and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

See stories by Manoush Zomorodi