Bradbury 100 Podcast

Online

Each podcast episode will delight fans and scholars alike as Phil Nichols, a film and literature specialist with a focus on Ray Bradbury, engages with a different aspect of the celebrated author’s work and interviews people Bradbury inspired. Listeners can expect to discover new perspectives on forgotten works and little known details about the last century of Bradbury as they prepare for the next. Check out  Nichols’ website, bradburymedia.co.uk, for even more information about all things Bradbury and media.

Visit Nichols’ website for details on the many ways you can listen to the podcast.

Past Events

Ray Bradbury: Inextinguishable

May 2021 - May 2022
Chicago, IL

The American Writers Museum will mount Inextinguishable, an exploration of the enduring influence of Ray Bradbury in early 2021.  Located just  a few miles from  Waukegan, the town that shaped so many of Bradbury’s stories of small town life and Midwestern Gothic, the exhibit will feature the author’s original manuscripts, typewriter and desk. Offered in conjunction with an NEA Big Read grant, special programing and book talks will focus on one of Bradbury’s most read books, Fahrenheit 451.

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

June 9, 2021

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative teens,  will award the inaugural Ray Bradbury Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy in 2021.

The award is sponsored by the Ray Bradbury Foundation in recognition of the author’s dedication to encouraging young writers to explore their craft. Up to six students will receive $1,000 scholarships for writing that uses supernatural, magical, futuristic, scientific, and technological themes as a key element of the narrative. Their educators will receive $250.

Playboy and Fahrenheit 451: A Program with Christie Hefner

May 24, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT
Online

The American Writers Museum in Chicago continues their National Endowments for the Arts Big Read online exploration of Fahrenheit 451 as Christie Hefner discusses Playboy Magazine and its connection to Bradbury’s now famous science fiction novel. As Chairman & CEO of Playboy Enterprises for 20 years, and the daughter of Playboy’s founder,  Christie Hefner is well placed to offer insight into the intersection of politics, culture, art, and personal interest that created what some thought an unlikely relationship between Bradbury, Hugh Hefner, science fiction, and Playboy magazine.

Mars: The Red Mirror

February 25, 2021 - July 11, 2021
Barcelona, Spain

The Center de Cultura Contemporània  de Barcelona (CCCB) will present a celebration and exploration of the many, scientific, mythological, and literary approaches to understanding the significance of the planet Mars down through history. Curator Juan Insua will include a special exhibit section on Ray Bradbury with visual materials supplied by Indiana University’s Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.

American Writers Museum previews Ray Bradbury: Inextinguishable

April 14, 2021, 4 pm CDT
Online

the American Writers Museum will offer a sneak peak of their newest virtual exhibit, Ray Bradbury: Inextinguishable and release details of special programs on Bradbury and his classic novel about apathy, censorship, and the power of ideas, Fahrenheit 451. The live YouTube presentation is part of the preparation for the museum’s physical reopening on May 14. Viewers can participate in trivia contests and win prizes and Experience Museum packages.

The Ray Bradbury: Inextinguishable exhibit will include material from the museum’s own holdings and the The Center for Bradbury Studies alongside the expertly curated information that has made the museum so popular.

Center for Ray Bradbury Studies presents a writer’s workshop with T.J. Martinson

April 1, 2021, 6:30 PM EDT
Online

The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies will host a creative writing workshop with author T.J. Martinson, a writer and literary critic from Kankakee, Illinois. Martinson’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Reign of the Kingfisher, was published in 2019 by Flatiron Books. He is currently completing his Ph.D on contemporary metafiction at Indiana University – Bloomington.

ZYZZYVA reprinting "The Pedestrian"

Winter 2020 - 2021

The literary journal ZYZZYVA will publish Ray Bradbury’s  short story “The Pedestrian” in their fall-winter 2020 issue. Originally published in The Reporter on August 7, 1951 and then collected in The Golden Apples of the Sun, the plot of “The Pedestrian” was inspired by Bradbury’s own encounter with LA police who found his late night walk on Wilshire Boulevard suspicious.  Two years later, Bradbury would expand on the ideas he explored in “The Pedestrian”  when he wrote the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451.

Unbounded Exhibit

October - November, 2020
Indianapolis, IN & online

Unbounded, an exhibition curated by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, dives into the rich life and contributions of Ray Bradbury, a master storyteller, champion of creative freedom, space-age visionary, and guardian of the human heart. The exhibition offers a broad and immersive  experience  featuring a gallery guide, QR code captions, a 3D Animation of “The Halloween Tree” through the Artivive app, and a scavenger hunt.

The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies seeks  to fully document, preserve, and provide public access to its large and diverse collection that includes more than 100,000 pages of Bradbury’s manuscripts, his personal office and working library, correspondence, and a lifetime of his awards and mementos.

Unable to visit the exhibit in Indianapolis? Experience a virtual tour of the exhibition by clicking the button below.

Library of Congress Book Festival

September 25-27, 2020
Online

The 20th Library of Congress National Book Festival explored “The Ray Bradbury Effect” during its celebration of the nation’s most gifted authors in a reimagined virtual festival, designed for readers of every age and interest, from September 25-27, 2020.

Bradbury biographer and director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies Jonathan Eller  moderated a discussion of Bradbury’s enduring influence on literature, space exploration, and our collective curiosity with Ann Druyan, documentarian and author of Cosmos: Possible Worlds  and Leland Melvin, NASA engineer, astronaut, educator, and author of Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace and Second Chances.

The panel presentation is available online via the Festival’s online platform and YouTube. Eller, Druyan, and Melvin also participated in a live Q & A on Saturday from 4pm to 4:30pm EDT.

Watch
Info

Ray Bradbury Read-A-Thon

August 22, 2020 - September 5, 2020
Online

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ray Bradbury’s birth, the Bradbury Centennial, in partnership with libraries large and small,  brought people from across the United States together to take part in a live streamed reading of Fahrenheit 451. Honoring Bradbury’s life-long love of libraries as welcoming places that expand the mind and spark the imagination, writers, scholars, and readers of all ages brought the fantastical worlds of his timeless stories to life.

The Participating Partners: Library of Congress, Los Angeles Public Library, and Alliance for Young Artists & Writers

Contributing Libraries and Institutions are: Anchorage Public Library (Alaska), Athens Regional Library System (Georgia), Boston Public Library (Massachusetts), Broward County Library (Florida), Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY (New York), Center for Ray Bradbury Studies (Indiana), Central Arkansas Library System (Arkansas), Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (North Carolina), Columbus Metropolitan Library (Ohio), Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M University Libraries (Texas), Des Moines Public Library and Library Foundation (Iowa), Indian Valley Public Library (Pennsylvania), Pima County Public Library (Arizona), San Francisco Public Library (California), South Pasadena Library (California), The Friends of the Venice Library (California), The Seattle Public Library (Washington), University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library (Alaska), University of Iowa Library Special Collections (Iowa), University of Kansas Libraries (Kansas), University of Pittsburgh Library System (Pennsylvania), and the Waukegan Park District and Library (Illinois)

American Writers Museum

August 2020
Chicago, IL

The American Writers Museum in Chicago celebrated Ray Bradbury’s birthday by offering free admission on August 22, 2020. Visitors had the  opportunity to take a peek at some of the artifacts slated for the Ray Bradbury: Inextinguishable exhibit opening in early 2021–including one of Bradbury’s typewriters and copies of the widely translated Fahrenheit 451 in various languages.

In recognition of Bradbury’s lasting influence, the Museum also used its newly launched podcast to highlight conversations with four writers of contemporary speculative fiction. Podcasts were published each week between August 10-31 including conversions with J. Michael Straczynski, author of Becoming Superman; Annalee Newitz, author of The Future of Another Timeline; Hugo-Award winner John Scalzi, author of The Consuming Fire; and Isabel Ibanez, author of Woven in Moonlight.

Discussion: “Are We Living in a World Ray Bradbury Tried to Prevent?”

August 27, 2020 - 6:30 PM PDT
Online

Zócalo Public Square, Fowler Museum at UCLA, and ZYZZYVA brought together author Lilliam Rivera, Arizona State University Center for Science and the Imagination professor Michael Bennett,  and Jonathan R. Eller, Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University for a virtual discussion. The panel considered the lessons Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles offer about a present that has surprising and sometimes sobering similarities to the futures he imagined in his fiction. A spirited conversation that ranges among  topics as  various as the exploitation of imperialism and colonialism, the stultifying dangers of technology, the library as civic temple, and the power of generosity, was moderated by Oscar Villalon, managing editor at ZYZZYVA.

The program is sponsored by Zócalo Public Square, Arizona State University, the Fowler Museum at UCLA, and KCRW.

Read Jon Eller’s Green Room interview here.

Watch

Ray Bradbury: Waukegan's Influence on a Visionary Science Fiction Author

August 27, 2020 - 7:00 pm CDT
Online

Historian Ty Rohrer delivered a virtual presentation on Thursday, August 27 at 7:00 pm CDT that dove into Waukegan’s influence on a young Ray Bradbury.  Rohrer, director of the Waukegan History Museum in Bradbury’s hometown, illustrated this free Zoom lecture with photographs selected from the Historical Society’s rich collection. The event was hosted by the Woodbridge Public Library.

Los Angeles Public Library

August 22, 2020
Online

The Los Angeles Public Library, one of Bradbury’s favorite places from the time he moved to LA, joined in presenting the inaugural Ray Bradbury Read-A-Thon, premiering on Bradbury’s 100th birthday, August 22, 2020, and available through September 5, 2020. LA Public Library staff came together virtually with readers from across the nation in an evening reading of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Friends of the Venice Library

August 22, 2020
Online

This year’s annual meeting honored Ray Bradbury’s Centennial with a showing of the classic Twilight Zone episode “I Sing the Body Electric,” written by Bradbury.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s meeting will be held virtually and certain events such as the bike raffle will be rescheduled. For more information, please visit The Friends of the Venice Library webpage.

“Ray Bradbury and the Future of Speculative Fiction” event hosted by Pratt Library

August 19, 2020, 6:30pm - 8pm EDT
Online

The Enoch Pratt Free Library celebrated the centennial of Ray Bradbury’s birth with a program of readings and discussion moderated by author Sarah Pinsker on Wednesday, August 19 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm EDT. This virtual program brought together authors Justina Ireland and Michael Swanwick; and the presenter of the podcast Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups, Seattle Librarian David Wright.

“Ray Bradbury, A Master of Science Fiction” on BBC Radio’s The Forum

August 13, 2020 and available for streaming on demand
Online

The Forum, BBC’s flagship radio program of discussion and commentary, celebrates the centenary of Ray Bradbury’s birth with the program “Ray Bradbury, a Master of Science Fiction.” Award winning broadcaster and writer Rajan Datar moderates a thoughtful and informed exploration of Bradbury’s varied and voluminous body of work with a panel of Bradbury scholars: Jonathan Eller, Chancellor’s Professor of English and Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University; Miranda Corcoran specialist in science fiction and the gothic at University College Cork; and Phil Nichols who focuses on Bradbury, media, and film production at Wolverhampton University.

Listen

78th World Science Fiction Convention: "CoNZealand"

July 29–August 2, 2020
Online

Jason Aukerman, managing  director of the The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, appeared on panels and other programming at the virtual convention, including a tour of the Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Comic-Con International

July 23–26, 2020
Online

To honor and celebrate the Ray Bradbury Centennial, the Comic-Con souvenir book features over 30 pages of Bradbury-related articles and the author on its cover. It is available for download using the button below.

The 2020 San Diego Comic-Con@Home celebration was held online from July 22-26th and, unlike the events in years past, the event was free, with over 350 panels and programs and the 2020 Eisner Awards hosted on YouTube, 700 online exhibitors, Amazon Virtual-Con, Cosplay, and more! While the dates for Comic-Con@Home have passed,  the panels and programs continue to be available online.

Download Souvenir Book

Radio West Book Club discusses Dandelion Wine with Jonathan Eller

June 29, 2020
Online

Radio West Book Club and KUER public radio features Jonathan Eller, director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies and Chancellor’s Professor of English at Indiana University, in their spirited discussion of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, a semi-autobiographical novel about a boy’s magical summer in a small midwestern town.

Listen to Eller discuss the places and people that inspired the timeless stories in Dandelion Wine by clicking the button below.

American Library Association Convention

June 25–30, 2020 - cancelled due to COVID-19 virus
Chicago, IL

The Convention, neighboring libraries, and the association planned on hosting Bradbury-themed events and panel discussions, including his influence on such contemporary writers as Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Alice Hoffman.

21st Annual Dandelion Wine Arts & Music Festival

June 13, 2020, beginning at 10am CDT
Online

Bradbury’s hometown of Waukegan, Illinois celebrated Bradbury’s Centennial year with a reading of Dandelion Wine by celebrity fans. The readings was live-streamed on Facebook. Other programs and events for the virtual festival were also be available live on Facebook.

Selected Stories by Ray Bradbury

May 20, 2020 - cancelled due to COVID-19
New York, NY

Hosted by Neil Gaiman, Selected Shorts will pay tribute to Bradbury’s short fiction and its enduring influence.

Neil Gaiman at The Big Book Weekend festival

May 9, 2020
12:00 noon British Summer Time / 7:00am Eastern Daylight Time
Online

Author Neil Gaiman celebrated Bradbury during The Big Book Weekend,a 3-day virtual festival. Gaiman discussed Bradbury’s continued appeal for readers of all ages and his influence on their own work.

Wil Wheaton Reading of "Luana the Living"

May 3, 2020
Online

Actor & writer Wil Wheaton (Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, and Stand by Me) read Bradbury’s “Luana the Living” on an episode of his podcast, Radio Free Burrito. Wheaton describes this story of an explorer’s harrowing experience in the jungles of India as “*exactly* the kind of book I would have picked up from the spinning rack of fifty cent paperbacks in the drugstore.”

Published in 1940 in the fanzine Polaris when Bradbury was 19 years old, “Luana the Living,” offers a rare glimpse into the writers’ earliest works.

Listen to “Luana the Living” by clicking the button below.

Museum of Popular Culture Book Club

April 17 - May 15, 2020
Online

The Museum of Popular Culture’s book club read three short stories from The Illustrated Man: “The Veldt,” “The Rocket Man,” and “The Last Night of the World.” Events included online discussions and a screening of The Illustrated Man.

Los Angeles Times Book Awards

April 17, 2020 Awards Announcement - Public gathering cancelled due to COVID-19 virus
Los Angeles, CA

On April 17, 2020, the Los Angeles Times in partnership with the Ray Bradbury Estate announced that Marlon James was the winner of the inaugural Ray Bradbury Book Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction.

ConCoction

March 20-22, 2020
Online

Ray Bradbury was to have a significant presence at this full-spectrum, multi-genre fantasy and science fiction convention.

Due to COVID-19, the convention took place online with a virtual cosplay contest and gaming.

Caltech Presents the Plays of Ray Bradbury

February 21–March 1, 2020-additional dates cancelled due to COVID-19 virus
Pasadena, CA

The Caltech Beckman Theater presented plays and adaptations from Bradbury’s work including All Summer in a Day, A Sound of Thunder, The Flying Machine (in Mandarin), Marionettes, Inc., The Martian Chronicles, and Fahrenheit 451.  As of March 1, 2020 the remaining shorts  have been indefinitely postponed.