Fiction Without Conflict? — Speculative Fiction Writer, Alexander Weinstein | I'm Not Sure?

Read the article on building21.ca here.

In this episode of "I’m Not Sure?", produced at Building 21 at McGill University, science fiction writer Alexander Weinstein reimagines fiction structured by hope, joy, pure celebration.

Speculative fiction writer Alexander Weinstein has built a career exploring the emotional and technological fault lines of modern life. Known for his short-story collections Children of the New World and Universal Love, Weinstein examines dystopian futures shaped by intimacy, technology, and loss. One of his stories even became the basis for the acclaimed film After Yang (A24, 2021), launching him into television and screen adaptation.   Yet after years of writing conflict-driven narratives, Weinstein finds himself questioning one of fiction’s most sacred assumptions: that conflict must be the central engine of every story.  

About "I'm Not Sure"
Everyone's always talking about what we're sure of: certainties, predictions, facts.
Here at “I’m Not Sure”, we take a turn and ask: What are some things we aren’t so sure of? What do scientists, artists, practitioners, experts, and leaders wonder about? What are the questions and curiosities that guide us to explore the smallest particles, the farthest spaces, the deepest mysteries, and our closest relationships?

Co-hosted by: Ollivier Dyens & Isabella Chiaravallotti
Produced by: Alex Nicholas Chen
Music by: Christian Denis
Graphics by: Sophie Wu
Learn more: building21.ca
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