‘Abolition requires that we change one thing, everything’ – Ruth Wilson Gilmore.

Why is it so hard to imagine a world without prisons or other forms of punishment? What if we didn’t automatically phone 999 when faced with harm, conflict, or a stranger in distress? As Ruth Wilson Gilmore suggests, visualising and working for the abolition of prisons and/or punishment, requires us to imagine new ways of living together and of responding to conflict and harm. In creative writing terms, this is an act of ‘world building’ that hopes to have real world consequences.  

Abolition Science Fiction (2022) is a collection of sci fi short stories written by activists and scholars involved in prison abolition and transformative justice in the UK. Alongside the stories are extracts from discussions from the workshops where we wrote and shared the stories. There are also creative writing exercises and discussion prompts, included to help readers explore ideas about abolition and transformative justice in creative ways. The book is aimed both at those curious about abolition and at seasoned activists who want to explore abolition through creative writing.

2024 Update!

Since its publication in October 2022, we have been overwhelmed by the interest and enthusiasm for the book. Thanks to generous funding from the ISRF, 400 free paper copies have been sent to readers all over the world, and the free e-book has been downloaded 3,000+ times.

The e-book will remain free to download (below), but in order to fund the continued printing and dissemination of paper copies of the book, we are now selling the book in selected bookshops (supplier list here). Any proceeds from the sale of the book to shops will cover the costs of printing and distribution, and enable the continued availability of free paper copies to those who need them. For further information please get in touch at abolitionscifi [at] gmail [dot] com.

In 2023 an audiobook of Abolition Science Fiction was recorded by contributors and friends of the project. Thanks to everyone who gave their time to make this happen. The book is available to listen to on soundcloud, and chapters and individual sections can be downloaded here.

In 2024 the Brazilian independent publishing collective Igra Kniga made a translation of our book into Brazilian Portuguese! It’s available to download for free here, or to purchase for a small amount on their website.