Revision of Events, Books etc to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Wallace's Birth in 2023 from Tue, 2023-01-03 22:24

2023 sees the 200th anniversary of Alfred Russel Wallace's birth. He was born on 8 January, but the anniversary will be celebrated during the whole year. In fact, celebrations began in 2022, as several books were published in advance of the anniversary.

Here is a list of events, books etc designed to celebrate the anniversary. If you would like us to add any additional ones then please email George Beccaloni (g.beccaloni@gmail.com). If possible, please use the Wallace200 logo (above) when you publicise your event - for details please click HERE If you are a taxonomist, please consider naming a species/genus after Wallace - especially taxa from Brazil or the 'Malay Archipelago'.

CONFERENCES/SYMPOSIA

Symposium "Memories of Alfred Russel Wallace and the Direction of Research on the Island Bioculture of Southeast Asia". Organised by the Institute of Marine & Island Cultures and the National Institute of Biological Resources, South Korea on 6 January 2023. Click HERE for details.

Conference "Alfred Russel Wallace - 1823-2023", Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK on 9 January 2023. Click HERE for details.

TALKS

"Alfred Russel Wallace and his natural history exploration of the Malay Archipelago". A talk by Ah Tshen in Mandarin in Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia. 8 January 2023, 3-4.30pm local time. Click HERE

"Scientific Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace". A talk by E. Kunhikrishnan, organised by the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology at SKMJ School, Kalpetta, India. 8 January 2023, 10am local time. Click HERE.

"Alfred Russel Wallace’s 'Palms of the Amazon'". Online talk by Sandy Knapp, for the Linnean Lens series at the Linnean Society, London. 10 January 2023, 2-3 pm GMT. Click HERE

"Alfred Russel Wallace and the Origin of “On the Origin of Species”, a talk by Joe Laredo at St Mary and St Giles Parish Hall, Church Street, Stony Stratford MK11 1BD. 24 January 2023 at 7pm. Click HERE

"The Heroes and the Hidden: searching the truth of who really collected for natural history museums", a talk by Jack Ashby of the Cambridge Museum of Zoology. 8 February 2023 at 7pm GMT. Click HERE.

"The Search For Wallace's Spider", a talk by Rale Hale, arranged by Usk Civic Society, Usk, Wales. 8 February 2023.

"Radical by Nature: Celebrating Alfred Russel Wallace at 200", a talk by Jim Costa at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany. 10 February 2023, start 19:30h (doors open 19:00h). Click HERE

"Alfred Russel Wallace: Natural Selection and after", a talk by Ted Benton at Ealing Green Church, Ealing, London, hosted by the Ealing branch of the Historical Association. 14th February 2023, start at 7.30pm. 

"Wallace's Remarkable Discoveries in the 'Malay Archipelago'". Online talk by George Beccaloni for the Linnean Lens series at the Linnean Society, London. 14 March 2023, 2-3pm GMT. Click HERE

"Radical by nature". An 'in person' talk by Jim Costa for the Nature Reader series at the Linnean Society London. 30 June 2023, 18.00 GMT.

FILMS & VIDEOS

A 3 part TV series about Wallace's life and work, provisionally titled "The Great Journey", is being made by production companies in South Korea and Brazil. It will be released in the second half of 2023 and there will probably be English, Korean and Portuguese versions.

BOOKS

Children's book about Wallace entitled The Incredible Adventures of Alfred Russel Wallace in Eastern Indonesia. Published in both English and Bahasa Indonesia versions in September 2022 by SeaTrek Sailing Adventures, Bali. Click HERE

First French edition of Wallace's book The Malay Archipelago. Published November, 2022 by Plume de Carotte. Click HERE and HERE

First biography of Wallace in Norwegian, Barbeint I Amazonas: Historien om Alfred Russel Wallace by Markus Lindholm. Published November 2022. Click HERE

A facsimile of Wallace's own annotated copy of the 19th edition of The Malay Archipelago, with an introduction by Sandra Knapp, will be published by the Natural History Museum, London in January 2023.

Booklet entitled The Quest for the Legendary House of Alfred Russel Wallace in Ternate, by Nicholas Hughes & Rinto Taib. To be published by the City of Ternate and the Wallace Memorial Fund in early 2023.

The most comprehensive biography of Wallace written to date, Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace by James Costa, will be published by Princeton University Press in March 2023. Click HERE

A book of interesting quotes from Wallace's writings, compiled by Richard Milner, and illustrated with magnificent photos by Tim Laman and others, will be published by Princeton University Press in 2023.

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES

Ali, J. R. & Heaney, L. R. 2022. Alfred R. Wallace's enduring influence on biogeographical studies of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Journal of Biogeography, 50: 32-40. [https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14470]

Beccaloni, G. W. 2022. The 'Letter from Ternate': what happened to Wallace's legendary 1858 letter and Darwin's reply to it? The Linnean, 38(3): 16-24. [Download a pdf of it HERE]

POPULAR ARTICLES

George Beccaloni [To be published February 2023]. Alfred Russel Wallace and the Malay Archipelago. EVOLVE Magazine [Natural History Museum, London's members magazine]

EXHIBITIONS

An exhibition about Wallace's life and work will take place at the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Spain (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de España) in 2023.

OTHER EVENTS

Tree planting in Usk, Wales in September 2022 to mark the bicentenary. Click HERE

Plantasia Tropical Zoo, Swansea, Wales will be relaunching their exhibition "Wallace: the Forgotten Evolutionist" (produced in partnership with the National Museum of Wales) in January 2023. For information about the exhibition click HERE

Alfred Russel Wallace Bicentenary in Usk, Wales on 8 January 2023. Usk Civic Society and Usk Rotary Club, together with the Linnean Society have organised a day of special events in celebration of Wallace’s birth. Please see the list below. For further details please see Usk Town Facebook, the Civic Society website uskcivicsociety.org.uk or the new notice board outside the Co-op.

  • 11.30 am. Unveiling of the Alfred Russel Wallace interpretation board in Twyn Square. This plinth will stand next to the bust.
  • 12 noon Walk with Wallace Trail (guided) which takes in places that he mentions in his book My Life. There will be a Wallace exhibition at Llanbadoc Church during the day.
  • 1.00 pm Buffet lunch for guests at the Sessions House.
  • 2.00 pm. Tree planting at the Wallace Arboretum. The chosen tree is a Sorbus anglica, an evolving form of White Beam. Appropriate for Wallace the evolutionist!
  • 3. 00 pm "You Should Ask Wallace". A one act play starring Ioan Hefin. Theatr na nOg will put on two performances, afternoon and early evening in the Courtroom of the Sessions House.
  • 4.00 pm Tea and biscuits
  • 4.30 pm Wallace the Botanist. A talk by Dr Sandy Knapp FLS, FRS (Linnean Society) in the Sessions House.
  • 6.30 pm Pre-performance drinks
  • 7.00 pm Evening performance of "You Should Ask Wallace".

For more information about the play "You Should Ask Wallace" click HERE. The production will be performed twice on January 8th 2023, in the Victorian Courtroom at the Usk Sessions House, at 3pm and 7pm.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith