Jules Gabriel Verne was a renowned French novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born on 8 February 1828 and died on 24 March 1905. Verne is best known for his collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, which led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a series of bestselling adventure novels. These include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). His novels are noted for their in-depth research based on the scientific knowledge of the time and are generally set in the second half of the 19th century, reflecting the technological advances of the era.

In addition to his novels, Verne wrote numerous plays, short stories, autobiographical accounts, poetry, songs, and scientific, artistic, and literary studies. His work has been extensively adapted for film and television from the early days of cinema, as well as for comic books, theater, opera, music, and video games. Verne is regarded as an important author in France and most of Europe, with a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and surrealism.

Verne's reputation in the Anglosphere has evolved over time, where he was often seen as a writer of genre fiction or children's books due to the highly abridged and altered translations of his work. However, since the 1980s, his literary standing has improved. Jules Verne is the second most-translated author in the world since 1979, trailing only Agatha Christie and ahead of William Shakespeare. He is sometimes called the "father of science fiction," a title shared with H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback. In the 2010s, he was the most translated French author globally. In France, 2005 was declared "Jules Verne Year" to commemorate the centenary of his death.