Special to Times
Beacon Hill author Julie Carrick Dalton’s novel ‘The Last Beekeeper’ has been named to the longlist for the 2024 Massachusetts Book Awards.
“The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Commonwealth residents, according to the Massachusetts Center for the Book website.
‘The Last Beekeeper’ is a near-future story about a beekeeper and his daughter as the world’s pollinator population collapses, launching the world into agricultural, economic, and political crises. It’s a story about found family, redemption, and unquenchable hope in the face of global crisis.
“All my novels deal with fractured relationships set against the backdrop of climate change,” Dalton said in a press release. “I don’t write about disasters. I explore quieter, slow-burning elements of our climate crisis. I’m interested in writing about our connections to the land we live on, and how our interactions with nature impact our relationships with other people and our communities. Although my novels take on dark subjects, I always leave room for hope.”
Dalton is on the faculty of Drexel University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, and beginning in September, she will be teaching a course called Climate Fiction: The Intersection of Writing, Climate Science, and Activism at Tufts University. A journalist and former organic farmer and beekeeper, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of Fiction in the Age of Climate Crisis at universities, museums, and conferences nationally and internationally.
Dalton is also the author of the novel ‘Waiting for the Night Song,’ a CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, and Parade Most Anticipated Novel, and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Her third novel, ‘The Forest Becomes Her,’ again published by Tor/Forge Macmillan, will be released in 2025. Her fourth book is slated for publication in 2027.
When she isn’t writing or working in her garden, you can probably find Dalton walking her dogs in Boston Common and Public Garden or lingering in Beacon Hill Books.