The Department of English-Language Literatures and Cultures and the Institute of Literary Studies at UWM are pleased to invite you to an international interdisciplinary conference on

H.G. Wells and Modernity: Texts, Contexts, (Re)visions
22nd–24th Oct. 2026
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland

Celebrating H.G. Wells’s 160th/80th anniversaries of birth and death (1866–1946), this
conference invites scholars from across literary studies, linguistics, film studies, political theory, sociology, history, philosophy, and other disciplines to examine modernity’s (con)texts through Wells, his contemporaries, and his followers. We aim to consider how their visions reshape understandings of the evolution and devolution of the human, humanity, and society.

In many of his literary and non-literary texts, Wells diagnosed the shortcomings of class structures and anticipated modernity’s ills, imaginatively prefiguring many current ways of conceptualising the human in relation to the nonhuman. He started as one of the most prolific and versatile short story writers of the late nineteenth century, and he ended as one of the most celebrated sociological and political writers of the first half of the twentieth century. His views, shaped by a complex and troubled faith in science and reason, helped crystallize the formulation of pivotal documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He died disillusioned that the new world which he had envisioned had not arrived, or worse, frustrated to see his darkest predictions materialise. Undermined and still overlooked as a literary figure by the
modernists, who could not see eye to eye with him despite initial friendships, who is H.G. Wells for posterity, that is, our times? In asking this question, we recognize that Wells’s legacy cannot be confined to Anglophone literary history alone, and it still speaks urgently to contemporary crises of technology, social fragmentation and political imagination.

We especially welcome approaches that could help us position Wells and other
modernity/modernist writers within transnational literary networks and explore their influence on and dialogue with world literatures. These topics and others are most welcome, among the proposed conference focus points related to H.G. Wells:

 Author’s sources: from antiquity to Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan
Poe, and others.
 Modernity and the new ways of writing: short story, scientific romance, science
fiction.
 Modern aesthetics and the fictional world: literary and linguistic patterns.
Representations of the human and humanity: ecocritical, cognitive, postcolonial,
and other postmodern and post-postmodern re-readings.
 Wells and international fantastic and science fiction: comparative perspectives
across French (Jules Verne), German, and other contexts.
 Wells’s legacy in Polish literature: Stanisław Lem and others.
 Dialogues and contentions with Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and
Henry James.
 Literary and linguistic depictions of science, catastrophe, and war.
 Shifting cultural concepts: evolution and devolution, tensions of power, ambiguities
of colonial appropriation.
 Intermedia reinterpretations: film, graphic novels, games, and other media.
 Wells in translation.
 Political thought and the concept of world state.
 Models of femininity and social change.
 Wells and his engagement with history and the future.
 Utopias and dystopias of Wells and other writers.

Proposals for a twenty-minute paper (about 200 words) and a bio note (100 words) should be sent to hgwellsconference@uwm.edu.pl by 10th September 2026. Notification of acceptance by 14th September 2026. Conference fee (non-refundable) payable by 20th September 2026. The account number will be provided upon acceptance.

Conference languages: English, French, and Polish
Standard fee: 180 Euro
Fee for PhD students, students and accompanying persons: 130 Euro

Conference Chair: dr hab. Halszka Leleń
Secretary: dr Michał Urbanowicz

Advisory Board:
prof. dr hab. Ewa Kujawska-Lis
prof. dr hab. Iwona Ndiaye
dr hab. Aneta Jachimowicz, prof. UWM
dr hab. Sławomir Studniarz, prof. UWM

Organizing Committee:
dr Anna Kwiatkowska
dr Dorota Gładkowska
dr Eliza Gładkowska
dr Dominika Kotuła
mgr Trevor Hill

Student Research and Initiative Group “Anglo-Cooltura Juniors”


We look forward to seeing you in Olsztyn

TRANSPORT:
Olsztyn is easily accessible from four main airports:
 Closest Option: from the airport Olsztyn-Mazury (SZY), take the direct airport train
(PolRegio) to Olsztyn Główny (1 hour). Taxi transport is also possible, see below.
 From Warsaw Modlin (WMI): book a direct Kondratowicz shuttle for the fastest 2-
hour trip:
https://kondratowicztransport.pl/en/timetable/
 From Warsaw Chopin (WAW): take a direct Kondratowicz shuttle from the terminal
to Olsztyn (approx. 3h), or an SKM train to Warsaw Central station and then an
Intercity train to Olsztyn’s main station, called Olsztyn Główny (approx. 2h20). There
are trains every two hours.
 https://kondratowicztransport.pl/en/timetable/
 From Gdańsk (GDN): book a Wagner Transport shuttle (approx. 2.5h) or take a train
to Olsztyn Główny via Gdańsk Główny (approx. 3h).
https://wagnertransport.pl/
Train connections: https://rozklad-pkp.pl/en
Long-distance bus services: FlixBus https://global.flixbus.com/ , PKS Olsztyn
https://pks.olsztyn.pl/ , Sindbad https://www.sindbad.pl/en/home .
Public transport in Olsztyn: https://www.olsztyn.com.pl/komunikacja.html
Elf Taxi tel. 19622; Blue Taxi Olsztyn tel. 690 619 995; Bolt (book via app); Uber (also via app).

ACCOMMODATION
Hotel Park – located in a quiet area near the forest and university campus. Perfect for those seeking a peaceful stay, just a few minutes’ walk from the Conference venue.
https://hotelepark.pl/en/
Hotel Wileński – a boutique hotel situated in the historic centre, close to the Old Town and main attractions. https://hotelwilenski.com/en/
Best Western Plus – a comfortable and centrally located 3-star hotel in the heart of Olsztyn, a 3-minute walk from the historic Old Town. Within easy reach of the University of Warmia and Mazury campus by city bus. https://www.bwplushotelolsztynoldtown.pl/en/