Penguin Life scoops debut from teen environmentalist Bella Lack

Penguin Life has scooped the debut book from 17-year-old conservationist and environmental activist Bella Lack, looking at how the climate crisis is hitting young people.

Editorial director Emily Robertson bought world rights to the The Children of the Anthropocene direct from Lack and will publish in June 2022.

The synopsis explains: “The Children of the Anthropocene will chronicle the lives of young people on the frontlines of the environmental crisis around the world, telling the stories of an endangered species often overlooked: the children of the Anthropocene. From consumerism to melting glaciers, Bella’s meets with the young people feeling the impact for our warming planet and how many of them are fighting to preserve it.”

Lack is an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, Save The Asian Elephants, RSPCA and the Jane Goodall Institute. She spoke at the People’s Walk for Wildlife, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018 and she delivered a TEDx talk in Brighton in 2019. Since August 2019, she has been working on a feature-length documentary with primatologist Jane Goodall.

She commented: “My generation are growing up in a world which has been fundamentally altered at the hands of humans. This book will be a testament to the stories of those youth on the frontline of the environmental crisis. The reader of this book is also a writer of the future of humanity, and I hope the stories contained within will inspire them to fulfil that role”.

Robertson added: “This critical book will explore what climate change means to the remarkable young people at the forefront of the climate movement and the work they’re doing to create change. I’m absolutely thrilled to be working alongside Bella on a project that looks towards a more hopeful future. It will gather together stories and practical advice from young people around the world to explore the most pressing climate issues they face, from plastic pollution and global warming, to biodiversity loss and raising sea levels. The futures of young people and their planet are at stake—this book is more urgent than ever before.”