Clara Arnaud
In residence: September - October 2025
Clara Arnaud is a French writer and winner of the Ecology Novel Prize in France. Her literary work—both fiction and non-fiction—explores political and ecological themes, questioning our way of inhabiting the world. She has travelled extensively off the beaten track, mostly on foot or horseback, and has also worked as a consultant in international cooperation, leading missions across sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Since 2022, Clara has dedicated herself to writing and activism focused on the preservation of mountain ecosystems. She lives year-round in a remote valley in the central Pyrenees. Her writing is naturalistic, paying close attention to physical, geological, and biological phenomena. Inspired by the anthropologist Anna Tsing, her work is driven by the question: How can we best use our research to stem the tide of destruction?
Having experienced the Arctic environment in Svalbard for the first time as a resident from April to June 2025, Clara returns for a second stay to continue writing her sixth book. This novel seeks to give voice to the cryosphere, reimagining the glacier not just as a backdrop to human action, but as a character deeply affected by ongoing climate change. Her first residency was extremely fruitful, with the structure of the novel and its characters already taking shape.
During her upcoming residency, Clara will take part in a field campaign hosted by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) at Ny-Ålesund, based at Jean Corbel station with the PRISM project team led by Eric Bernard (CNRS). The PRISM 2 programme investigates fast-evolving cryospheric processes in a small, high Arctic glacier catchment, using both classic and innovative instruments. Clara’s work, rooted in field practice, draws directly on data and insights from glaciologists to inform her characters. Sharing the fieldwork experience with researchers will further shape her narrative.
The second part of her stay will be dedicated to a residency in Longyearbyen, where she will continue her research through conversations, workshops, and field expeditions. Experiencing the transition between summer and winter will allow her to capture the profound effects of seasonal change on both landscape and psyche.
Like the rivers, horses, bears, and mountains that have been central characters in her earlier books, this new novel will invite readers to extend empathy to the ice itself. By blurring the boundaries between science and poetry, visibility and invisibility, Clara hopes to make the unheard voices of the Arctic resonate on the page.
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