Author: Eva Meijer and Anne Thompson Melo in Conversation with Gregory Hom

Author Eva Meijer and translator Anne Thompson Melo discuss Sea Now with Gregory Hom, a haunting work of climate fiction set in a submerged Netherlands. The novel follows three women who set out by boat to search for loved ones in a world reshaped by rising seas and reclaimed by seabirds, whales and kelp forests. Blending philosophy and nature writing, the book reflects on resilience, loss and what it means to listen when the sea speaks, with insights into both its creation and translation.

Eva Meijer is a Dutch philosopher, visual artist, writer and singer-songwriter. Her fiction and nonfiction works have been translated into over twenty languages. Since the publication of her first novel in 2011, her works have received numerous awards, including the Halewijnprijs honoring her oeuvre. Her books have been met enthusiastically by both local Dutch and international press, including reviews in The Guardian, Der Spiegel and The New York Review of Books. 

Anne Thompson Melo is a Scottish-based translator who studied Dutch and German and spent many years translating brochures for a German car manufacturer. She was longlisted for the John Dryden Translation Prize in 2022 and shortlisted for the Goethe-Institut Award for New Translation in 2023. Winning the 2024 Peirene Stevns Translation Prize gave her the opportunity to work on her first literary translation.

Gregory Hom is Program Manager of the San Francisco Public Library’s Wallace Stegner Environmental Center, a role he has held since 2023. He has worked with SFPL since 2008, supporting public programming and community engagement.

This event is part of Everybody’s Climate 2026: Connect with others to address the climate crisis in ways that are meaningful to you, from poetry and music to science and practical action.