With The War of The Worlds, H. G. Wells catapulted to international literary success. But how did his adolescence shape the father of science fiction? Journalist and biographer Claire Tomalin talks to Dorian Lynskey about her latest book, The Young H. G. Wells, the author’s complicated love affair with socialism, telling Stalin he was wrong…and how Wells predicted the moonwalk seventy years before it happened.

• “The Fabians were thrilled to accept young Wells - then dismayed to find he wanted to revolutionise them.” 
• “From Lenin to Stalin, Wells knew how to be a literary celebrity.”
• “Wells was writing 7000 words a day. But he took a long time off too.”

Presented by Dorian Lynskey. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/288/288884/the-young-h-g--wells/9780241239971.html

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