ODU to Host North American Jules Verne Society Conference, May 25-28

Old Dominion University will be the host site for the North American Jules Verne Society conference May 25-28. The event will bring together international scholars and translators, including experts from the humanities as well as specialists from NASA, the Cousteau Society and the French Navy. The keynote speaker will be Frederic Castel of the European Space Agency, who will present his work on the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) Spaceship, the Jules Verne. ODU President Roseann Runte and Provost Thomas Isenhour will also lead a pluri-disciplinary session on Verne's works.

The conference opens Thursday, May 25, with a dinner at Freemason Abbey at 6 p.m. It will be followed at 8 p.m. by the forum “Jules Verne in Translation” at Broad Street Books, 517 W. 21st St., Norfolk, featuring Jean-Michel Margot, president of the North American Jules Verne Society; ODU's Peter Schulman (foreign languages and literatures); and Walter James Miller, New York University.

The following meetings on Friday, May 26, will be held in Old Dominion University's Perry Library, room 151 (unless otherwise noted). The day’s activities run from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Highlights include:

• “The Other Verne Trilogy,” presented by Jean-Michel Margot;
• “The Anarchist at the End of the World,” presented by Julia Mastro, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;
• “André Breton and Jules Verne,” presented by Nicolas Saucy, University of Geneva;
• “Fathers and Sons: Letters of Alexandre Chatrian and Jules Verne,” presented by Stephen Foster (foreign languages and literatures), Old Dominion University;
• Keynote presentation: “The ATV Jules Verne Spaceship,” presented by Fréderic Castel of the European Space Agency, followed by a 26-minute documentary;
• “From the Earth to the Moon: Jules Verne and NASA,” presented by Keith Henry and Ray P. Turcotte, NASA; and
• “A Pluri-Disciplinary Approach to L’Ile Mystérieuse,” presented by ODU's Roseann Runte (foreign languages and literatures), Thomas Isenhour (chemistry and biochemistry) and Lytton Musselman (biological sciences).
• Reception for conference participants, hosted by the Friends of the Old Dominion University Library. A free concert will begin at 8 p.m. on the Chrysler Museum lawn, Norfolk, complete with fireworks and music by Elgar, Williams, Hayden and Handel.

Among the talks scheduled for Saturday, May 27, are:

• “The FS Jules Verne and Why It Is a Tradition in the French Navy,” presented by Capt. Christian Canova, French Navy; and
• “Captain Cousteau’s Jules Verne-like Adventures,” presented by Clark Lee Merriam, Jacques Cousteau Society (USA).

The conference is sponsored by Vandeventer Black LLP, ODU's Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, Old Dominion University, Friends of the Old Dominion University Library, Broad Street Books, Norfolk Yacht and Country Club and Linda Hyatt Wilson.

For more information visit www.najvs.org/mindex/htm or call Peter Schulman, ODU associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, at 683-3323.