Science fiction author James Gunn to speak at Bridgewater College

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, acclaimed science fiction author and scholar James Gunn will speak on “Star Trek and Beyond” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, in Cole Hall at Bridgewater College.

Gunn will discuss the heritage of science fiction, including his own work, and suggest some directions for its future.

In 2016, at the age of 92, Gunn released Transgalactic, the sequel to Transcendental and completed the final volume of the trilogy.

In 2015 Gunn was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame joining the elite company of Theodore Sturgeon, H.G. Wells and Isaac Asimov. He was named the “Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master” in 2007.

Gunn is the author of 26 books and the editor of 18. Four of his stories were dramatized over NBC radio’s “X Minus One.” The Immortals was dramatized as an ABC-TV “Movie of the Week” in 1969 as “The Immortal” and became an hour-long series in 1970-71.

He was presented the Bryon Caldwell Smith Award in recognition of literary achievement and the Edward Grier Award for excellence in teaching. He was presented a special award from the 1976 World Science Fiction Convention for Alternate Worlds, a Science Fiction Achievement Award (Hugo) by the 1983 World SF Convention for Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction and the Eaton Award in 1992 for lifetime achievement.

He served as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America for 1971-72 and president of the Science Fiction Research Association from 1980-82.

He has lectured in China, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union for the U.S. Information Agency.

Gunn is professor emeritus of English and founding director of the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to more than 1,800 undergraduate students.