Last year Woking celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of HG Wells, the author who put the town on the map – or rather, wiped the town off it – with his novel The War of the Worlds, which described how an invading force of Martians landed in a sandpit on Horsell common – pictured above – and proceeded to obliterate all nearby civilisation.

The group Wells in Woking is committed to keeping the flame of HG Wells and the Martians’ devastating heat ray in Woking alive – and to that end is promising a series of events in September 2017.

They include The Time Machine, a “musical adventure”,  on 9 September;  an HG Wells “flash mob” in Woking’s Town Square on 12 September; a string of events on 21 September – “Wells in Woking Day” – from 12 pm onwards, when Community Players will re-enact the Martians’ arrival at the Statue in Woking, and including an evening talk at the Living Planet Centre. There will also be a couple of War of the Worlds walks led by local historian Iain Wakeford.

It all sounds a lot of fun. On its website Wells in Woking says: “ Wells in Woking was created in 2013 when three Horsell residents decided to mark the 150th anniversary of HG Wells, the author, who had lived in Woking when he worked on several of his ‘scientific romances’ which spawned the sci-fi genre: the most famous of his works being The War of the Worlds in which he had Martians landing on Horsell common.

“The trio took their thoughts to Woking borough council which embraced the idea and so the Wells in Woking events of 2016 came about. The project covered all aspects of Wells’ life and works and became not only successful in the Woking area but nationally and, indeed, internationally. Perhaps intergalactically, for all we know.

“After three years of hard work we do not want HG Wells to become The Invisible Man.  To that end we intend to continue to promote his works and to start an annual Wells in Woking Day, which would be celebrated on 21 September – the anniversary of his birth.”

The group is already thinking about events for 2018, with the theme of literature and writing, involving schools, and a poetry competition. Woking Writers Circle might have a role to play in all this. Watch this space!

Prize-winning translations by Woking Writers Circle member Carla Scarano D’Antonio  and Keith Lander of Selected Poems by Nobel prize-winner Eugenio Montale, pictured, have been published in Edinburgh University Press’s Comparative Critical Studies.

Last year the translations by Carla and Keith were awarded first prize in the John Dryden translation competition. Carla and Keith are pictured at the ceremony, below. Eugenio Montale was an Italian poet who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1975. He died in 1981.

Carla and Keith said: “Translating Montale’s poems was long and hard work. Sometimes we spent days on one word trying to find the best possible meaning but also a word that had the right sound, because in poetry it is not only the meaning that counts, sounds and rhythm are paramount as well. It had to make sense and sound beautiful in the other language. We always wondered if our translations conveyed the real meaning and were acceptable in English. In this way we were sure we were not misleading our future readers.”

Carla is currently undertaking PhD research on Margaret Atwood’s work at the University of Reading,  exploring works such as The Edible Woman; Surfacing; Bodily Harm; The Handmaid’s Tale; Cat’s Eye; The Robber Bride; Alias Grace; The Blind Assassin; The MaddAddam Trilogy; The Penelopiad; The Heart goes last; and Hag-seed.

Woking Writers Circle members Peter Morley and Heather Cook have poems published in a competition anthology produced by Surrey Libraries that is currently touring the county. In the summer of 2016, Surrey Libraries worked in partnership with Hurtwood Press and the Bluehouse Festival to host a competition, the winners of which would appear in a one-off photography and poetry book. The book was made up of a shortlist of poems and photographs of Surrey landscapes and was printed and handsewn by Hurtwood Press.

This books has been touring Surrey libraries, from Oxted to Godalming, and has found its way to Woking library, where it is on display until Friday 21 July.  Earlier this year it was available to look at  the Surrey History centre in Woking, from 1-31 March. Its next port of call is Guildford library, where it will be on display from 31 July to 11 August.

Peter’s poem in the book is titled ‘My Father’s Hands’. Heather’s published poem is ‘Box Hill Perspectives’.