An H.G. Wells Society Double-Bill, with a symposium on ‘The Cinematic Worlds of H.G. Wells: Typologies, Technologies and Time’ and the book launch of The Oxford Handbook of H. G. Wells (2026)
Voluntary Action Islington, 200A Pentonville Rd, London N1 9JP, and online via Zoom.
Saturday 26th September, 2026, 10:00 – 16:00
CFP deadline: 24th August 2026
H. G. Wells’s cinematic imagination (shaped by the moving image and projection culture of the Victorian period) not only saw the future but more importantly how the future might see through media yet to come. This conference aims to broaden the terms of engagement with Wells beyond traditional literary scholarship, inviting researchers and practitioners from adjacent fields — film and screen studies, sound design, visual communication, speculative design, and digital humanities — to bring their expertise into dialogue with Wells’s legacy.
This year’s conference will feature a keynote from film historian Ian Christie, who, in an interview with the British Academy, said that he ‘continue[s] to be fascinated by […] Wells who […] understood the importance of film very early.’ It will also feature a keynote from Dr Keith Williams, Reader in English at the University of Dundee, author of H. G. Wells, Modernity and the Movies (2007) and chapters on Wells and visuality in both H.G. Wells: Contemporary Perspectives (2024) and The Oxford Handbook of H. G. Wells (2026).
Following the presentations on Wells and Film, a launch session will take place on the much-anticipated and expansive Oxford Handbook of H. G. Wells, whereby many of its authors you have met at past H. G. Wells Society events. As well as some authors from the book itself, its editors Duncan Bell and Sarah Cole will be in attendance. For the Wells and Film element of the day’s events, we invite proposals for 20-minute academic papers or practice-based presentations. Suggested topics may include:
- H.G. Wells on screen: film, television, and adaptation
- Typologies of the future: utopia, dystopia, invasion, transformation, and evolutionary imagination;
- Technologies and media histories in Wells and beyond;
- Time, temporality, and speculative narrative structures;
- Cinematic, photographic, and sonic engagements with Wells;
- Multimodal storytelling and expanded narrative form;
- Intergenerational connectivity and new audiences for Wells;
- Speculative futurism, design futures, and creative-critical practice.
We also welcome presentations from authors of the Oxford Handbook on their respective chapters.
After the events at Voluntary Action Islington, attendees are welcome to meet in a nearby pub for celebratory drinks and Wellsian cheer, following the publication of the Oxford Handbook.
To register for the conference or respond to the Call for Papers, please use our Microsoft Form by clicking here. If you have any queries, please contact Brian, Hon. Secretary of the H. G. Wells Society, (secretaryhgwellssociety@hotmail.com).
Conference fee
Members: £60 (in person) or £40 (online via Zoom)
Non-Members: £65 (in person) or £45 (online via Zoom).
Data provided through this Microsoft Form will be used solely for purposes relating to the events described above (for example, sending Zoom links and event updates). The data will be stored securely within the University of Hertfordshire’s Microsoft 365 environment and used only in connection with this conference.
The End of the Humanities?
The Humanities situation across UK universities is still of great concern. As well as my own university, one of last year’s wonderful keynote speakers, Prof. Angelique Richardson, recently contacted me about the situation at the University of Exeter. As she noted to me, Exeter is ‘not in deficit’ and so can ‘see no justification’ for the ‘cuts [that] will mostly affect the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (114/153 jobs), as well as environmental science at our Cornwall campus.’ If you’d like to sign the petition with Change.org, please click here. Similarly, the University of Dundee has announced its plan to end Philosophy as a degree. The Change.org petition can be found here. These are certainly troubling times for the Humanities…
Returning to the upcoming double-bill (or “double-feature,” if you’re across the pond), I think it should be good fun and we do hope you can make it!