Achi news desk-
This month brings a rare opportunity for Calgarians to check out some local treasures that not many people know about.
An exhibit featuring the work of British author HG Wells pays tribute to one of the giants of science fiction.
Staff at the University of Calgary are now putting together an exhibition displaying Wells’ books and other materials dating back to the 1890s.
Over the years, the university has amassed one of North America’s largest collections of HG Wells items.
“It’s huge,” says curator Annie Murray.
The exhibition Murray is completing includes British and American first editions of Wells classics such as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man a War of the Worlds.
Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.
The exhibit highlights how so many of the future wells depicted in his work have now become part of our everyday reality.
“These are some of the things that Wells imagined in his books: television, video conferencing, wireless communication, networked computers, online shopping,” says Murray.
The exhibit, “HG Wells: A Scientific Romance,” runs from April 11 to July 19 in the Nickle Galleries at U of C’s Taylor Family Digital Library.
“HG Wells was so popular that postcards were made of him,” said Murray, referring to one of the items included in the exhibit.
Murray and others associated with the exhibit will display some of the items at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which runs from April 25 to April 28 at Stampede Park.
“This is where the sci-fi nerds are,” Murray said with a laugh.
Some 130 years after first getting so many people fired up about the future, Wells is still the man of the moment.
“The Island of Doctor Moreau from 1896 talking about manipulating the genes of animals, acting on people and turning them into beasts, a good early example of a mad scientist,” says Murray.
“There’s actually going to be a new movie of this and Anthony Hopkins is going to be Doctor Moreau.”
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
