Jules Verne

Jules Verne was a French writer, born in Nantes on 8 February 1828 and died on 24 March 1905. He grew up in a port city of ships and travellers, and as a young man he went to Paris, where he trained in law but turned to writing for the theatre. His career changed when the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel took him on and encouraged a new kind of story, which became the long series known as the Voyages extraordinaires. In these novels, travel, exploration and the science of the day carry the reader to the ocean floor, the interior of the earth, the sky and the Moon. Verne combined careful detail with brisk adventure and a gift for memorable characters. He is among the most widely translated authors in the world, and he is often counted as one of the founders of modern science fiction. His books continue to be read, filmed and adapted well over a century after his death.