7 New & Upcoming Genres to Look Out for in 2025
Written by Tade · 2025-05-11
The literary world is constantly evolving, and authors with it. Today, writers are diving deeper into storytelling, venturing into creative spaces that have given rise to many new genres like never before. These emerging genres are hybrids of pre-existing genres that drive book sales, build fan communities, inspire sustainable living, and reshape cultural identity across the globe. Here are seven genres transforming literary movements and redefining orthodox fiction.
1. Cli-Fi
Cli-Fi, also known as climate fiction, evolved from sci-fi and speculative fiction. It highlights a systemic crisis driving anthropogenic climatic change. Inspired by climatic science, it imagines scenarios set in present, future, or fictional worlds. These stories often explore utopian or dystopian themes.
During an interview featured on the University of Liverpool’s Literature and Science Hub, Dan Bloom coined the infamous ‘cli-fi’ in 2008 and acknowledged from an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report about how this new literary genre would address global climate change issues.
Common themes on cli-fi include:
Industrialization, consumerism, genetic engineering, environmentalism, apocalypse, political corruption, depletion of resources, evolved ecosystem, wealth disparity, ecological issues, epidemic and war.
As Josephine Livingstone discussed the climatic change dominating the literary world in The New Republic:
“…The last decade has seen such a steep rise in sophisticated “cli-fi” that some literary publications now devote whole verticals to it. With such various and fertile imaginations at work on the same topic, whether in fiction or nonfiction, the challenge facing the environmental writer now is standing out from the crowd (not to mention the headlines”
A case study of Georgia Grace and James Grey Lindgren’s What Is Cli-Fi draws a similarity to Childish Gambino’s Feels Like Summer. The artist points out climatic changes in the present and the past by proving the depletion of resources, endangered animals, and lack of accountability. Cli-fi plays an important role in highlighting the consequences of climatic change and providing fictional solutions.
Top 5 Best Cli-Fi Reads in 2025
2. Romantasy
Popularized by BookTok in 2023, boosting the reputation of bestselling authors like Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J Maas. Romantasy is simply the blend of Romance and Fantasy. While some critics distinguish romance fantasy and fantasy romance, there hasn’t been a significant definition. The concept of romance and fantasy dates back to the 20th century when The Princess Bride was authored by William Goldman. Until Romantasy first appeared in the Urban Dictionary in 2008, cementing its existence.
Author of Disciples of Chaos, M.K Lobb, captured how readers define Romantasy in a survey:
- Romantasy is when the romantic and fantasy aspects of the story are equally important
- Romantasy is just a romance book with a fantasy world as a backdrop
- Romantasy is when the plot would fall apart without the romance
With this in mind, Lobb also raised a probing question:
“Why is romantasy so white?”
She critiqued the marginalization of authors of color, whose works become labels and subcategorized, potentially limiting their reach.
“Romantasy becomes Asian-inspired fantasy or Black fantasy. For those looking to diversify their bookshelves or see themselves in stories, that might be great. From a broader perspective, though, it risks shoving those titles into boxes, which can translate to a lack of opportunities.”
Key tropes and elements:
Soulmates, enemies to lovers, love triangles, mythical creatures, magical realms, supernatural powers.
“There is no damsel who needs saving, but rather women are allowed to be powerful, go on epic quests, and find love with a partner who is an equal to them in every way.”
Bookstagrammer Christina Clark-Brown draws attention to the difference between romantasy and the stereotypic old romance ideology.
3. Dark Academia
“Dark Academia books are generally set in an elite school – think old and crumbling gothic architecture, dark libraries, eerie dormitories and common rooms – where students (probably in school uniforms!) discuss Art and Literature and Philosophy. There is usually one group of students who are set apart – by choice or through prejudice. They are more – more Artistic, more Literary, more Philosophical – perhaps even a bit eccentric and superior. Being part of the group is everything; leaving is not an option.”
One of the best definitions of this genre was quoted from Meg Raymond on Richmond Public Library.
Typical elements:
Secret societies, pursuit of knowledge, academic environment, ominous existence, generational history, Eurocentric education, advanced laboratories, and supernatural undertones. Visually, the aesthetic includes neutral colors: black, white, brown, beige, and navy blue. This extends to clothing like cardigans, blazers, dress shirts, plaid, and oxford shoes exuding luxury vintage fashion.
This literary subculture emerged on Tumblr in 2016 and resurged in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Though Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey was one of its pioneering books.
With its relevance to Goth by romanticizing the beauty and depth in dark themes, it may lack diversity, as observed by Sarah Burton, a sociologist from the University of London.
“Most women, working class, people of color, plus-sized, individuals with low economic or cultural capital, disability, caring and domestic activities and labor (especially the enjoyment of these), motherhood, queerness, and the everyday nature of academic life.”
However, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s Ace of Spades is changing the lack of diversity in its white-dominated characters and settings.
4. Sad Girl Lit
Imagine an imperfect world of a female protagonist who expresses her deep sadness in her professional and personal life. She embodies vulnerability, trauma, and raw emotions. And might resort to substance abuse to elevate her mood. With a relationship falling apart and a failing job, she sinks into a deep expressionism documented by an author.
Harper’s Bazaar describes this protagonist as:
“Sad or mad, or bad or some combination of all three,”
Involving self-destructive behavior, drunk crying, and unrequited sexual attraction. Dissatisfied with life, she may lay around in bed while others have to get their asses to work.
“The superlative embodiment of an alluring silhouette: a woman contoured and whittled by her suffering, self-destructive and utterly destroyed. Even as the novel portrays [her] drunken crying as unseemly, its cultish popularity testifies to the enduring appeal of the afflicted woman — especially the young, beautiful, white afflicted woman: our favourite tragic victim, our repository of rarefied, elegiac sadness.”
Leslie Jamison describes Marie from Good Morning, Midnight in The New York Times.
This genre also finds expression in music by artists like Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, and Phoebe Bridgers, whose captivating lyrics portray darker, melancholic, painful emotions and mental breakdowns.
5. Afrofuturism
“Why do so few African Americans write science fiction?”
Mark Dery’s question coined the term Afrofuturism in 1993. The genre gained prominence with works like Marvel’s Black Panther.
As defined by Tate:
“Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that combines science-fiction, history, and fantasy to explore the African-American experience and aims to connect those from the black diaspora with their forgotten African ancestry.”
Core themes:
Colonial history, technology, dystopia, utopia, speculative fiction, alternate history, magic realism, feminism, extraterrestrial, sexuality, African mythology, identity, cultural reclamation
Can Afrofuturism Be Categorized As Black Sci-Fi?
In Race in Science Fiction, Yazek claimed that:
“Afrofuturist authors use science fictional strategies to achieve three goals: to tell science fiction stories; to recover lost histories and analyze how those histories impact contemporary Black culture; and to examine how lost histories and cultures might influence the future”
While Bould succinctly noted in The Ships Landed Long Ago:
“Afrofuturism is not reducible to science fiction.”
Best Afrofuturism Reads in 2025
6. SolarPunk
This is a derivative of cyberpunk, steampunk, and sci-fi. ‘Solar’ represents the sun. ‘Punk’ represents do-it-yourself, which is portrayed as a countercultural, post-capital, and decolonial aspect of creating a future. This genre depicts a sustainable community connected with nature by utilizing solar energy in the future.
Core themes:
Climate solutions, DIY ethics, empathy, sustainability, bionics, utopia, fantasy, post-industrialization, renewable energy, anti-consumerism, post-industrialization, regenerative designs, and decentralization.
An anonymous writer of From Steampunk to Solarpunk coined Solarpunk in 2008:
“I think the best way to explain solarpunk is by contrasting it to the science fiction and fantasy genre called steampunk from which the idea of solarpunk derives.”
Cyberpunk focuses on alienating humanity as it relies on technology until consumed. At the same time, Solarpunk advocates for humans to coexist with their environment. Steampunk and solar punk share ideologies, but the differences lie in their different primary energy sources.
Solarpunk empowers readers to envision a better future by creating it.
Solarpunk Books to Read in 2025
7. Cozy Horror
This contrasting term infuses humor and happy endings into real horror.
An X post by researcher Jess Nevins digs history up regarding cozy horror:
“Okay, I’ll say it: cozy horror began w/19th century women’s ghost stories (dominant form of horror in the 19th century--women authors outnumbered men by more than 2:1), and the backlash against cozy horror now has its roots in the past misogynistic criticism against cozy horror.”
You can expect sentimental monsters, friendly ghosts, small-town spooks, terrifying plots with hopeful events, and unsafe yet unharmed characters. These elements make cozy horror part frightening and enjoyable.
“In this sense, cozy horror literalizes the theme by portraying soothing moments of peace amidst the terror: crackling hearths, frothy tavern mugs, snuggling up in camping tents. Sometimes, the medium and delivery in which the tale is told is itself the source of relaxation.”
Jose Cruz narrates the sensuousness along with other cozy horror qualities like familiarity, distance, and fun in Nightmare Magazine.
CONCLUSION
Readers should evolve with the changes in the publishing industry. This presents an opportunity for authors, publishers, and readers to explore a changing world of awareness and innovation.
Written by Tade · 2025-05-11
Leave a comment