Our panel of authors and experts discuss the history of the utopian genre in literature and its present state.
Toby Litt (@tobylitt) is a bestselling and prize-winning writer, whose ten novels to date include Finding Myself and the science fiction Journey into Space, an innovative contribution to the utopian genre. His most recent book is Life-Like, which has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2015 and long listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He is also Lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College.
Patrick Parrinder is Emeritus Professor at Reading Univerity and a leading authority on the work of H G Wells, one of the historical founders of the utopian novel. He co-edited The Reception of H G Wells in Europe and was overall editor of the Penguin multi-volume series of H G Wells’s fiction. His
most recent publication is Utopian Literature and Science: From the Scientific Revolution to Brave New World and Beyond.
Samantha Shannon (@say_shannon) is author of The Bone Season, the internationally bestselling first installment in a seven-book series of fantasy novels which is now to be filmed. Its first sequel, The Mime Order, was published in 2015, and she's currently working on edits for the third book in the series, The Song Rising. Her books represent examples of distopian fiction acclaimed for their originality.
The LSE Language Centre (@lselangcentre) reflects the specialist nature of the School itself, namely, a world class institution where the quality of teaching and research is paramount. LSE is not just a multi-national university but also a multi-lingual one.
This event forms part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2016, taking place from Monday 22 - Saturday 27 February 2016, with the theme 'Utopias'.
Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSELitFest
Podcast
A podcast of this event is available to download from Utopia: getting somewhere or going nowhere?
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.