Dr Octavia Cade is a New Zealand writer based in Kerikeri.
Her creative work is increasingly climate-influenced, realistic science fiction that takes place in contemporary or near-future settings. Octavia’s background includes a Master’s in Biology, during which she studied seagrass reproduction, a Bachelor of Science in Botany and a PhD in Science Communication from Otago, completed in 2015.
“I’m fascinated by how science fiction talks about science,” Octavia says.
Octavia will work on two related projects as the Robert Burns Fellow. The first is a science fiction novel focused on the Otago Peninsula, after warming oceans and nitrate run-off result in toxic algal blooms that devastate coastal environments.
“I spent a year researching intertidal seaweed at the Portobello marine lab while studying botany at Otago. I’ve written short stories set at that lab before, so the opportunity to write a novel in the same setting is irresistible.”
Her second intended project is a short monograph on how the theme of ecological invasion has underpinned much of New Zealand’s speculative fiction.
“I’ve always been a fan of fantasy and science fiction. We produce a lot of it in this country, and so much of it engages with introduced species and the impacts they have on the environment.”
As someone who writes award-winning climate fiction and writes academically about speculative fiction – with approximately thirty academic papers or chapters to her credit – Octavia is well placed to produce a compelling dual narrative.
“I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to write a novel, of course, but one of the most exciting things about the Robert Burns Fellowship, for me, is being able to talk up so many other NZ speculative writers, because they’ve had such an influence on my work.”
This hybrid academic/creative approach is a chance to promote accessibility in science and science fiction.
“The gap between humanities and the sciences does no one any favours, so having the time, space, and support to help stitch that gap a little closer together will be invaluable for my own artistic development.”
Last year, Octavia was the Ursula Bethell writer in residence at the University of Canterbury, working on a collection of creative nonfiction about NZ ecology. In 2021, she had a Michael King residency and in 2020 she received both the Christchurch Arts Centre Residency and was the Massey University/Square Edge Artist in Residence.
Funded by a grant from Creative New Zealand, Octavia has recently completed a magical realist novel centred on the aftermath of the Rainbow Warrior bombing.
Her short novels include The Stone Wētā, which a review in the Landfall journal described as “layering of meaning explored through a feminist perspective of science”. The Impossible Resurrection of Grief was described in The Spinoff Book Report as “uncanny, unsettling, brilliant”.
