China Mieville visits a British Library exhibition dedicated to science fiction

In 2011 a British Library exhibition entitled Out Of This World aimed to challenge visitors’ perceptions of the genre and explore its relationship with science. Books on show at the exhibition included a first edition of Thomas More’s Utopia and Luigi Serafini’s encyclopaedia of an imaginary world Codex Seraphinius. Sci-fi author China Mieville took BBC News on a tour of the exhibition to explain the genre’s importance and lasting appeal. - Images from Codex Seraphinianus copyright Luigi Serafini, illust