On this day in 1828, French author Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France. The author of Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days, Verne is considered one of the fathers of science fiction writing. He wrote prolifically of voyages, exploration, and adventure and was much-admired by his fellow writers of the day.
In France, Verne is considered a towering literary figure—and amongst the avant-garde. In English-speaking countries, however, Jules Verne is sometimes lumped-in with secondary niche writers: genre fiction or children’s literature. This may be due to the poor quality of his earliest English translations. But translated he is; since 1979, Jules Verne has been the second-most translated writer in the world (after William Shakespeare and before Agatha Christie).
He died of diabetes in 1905 and is buried in Amiens, France.
The globe, shown above, could be used to trace your own voyages and adventures around the world—real or make believe.