Dickensblog

'Great Expectations' at the London Film Festival

The new film will close the festival on October 21. This will be its European premiere.

(Still waiting for that U.S. release date . . . )

Follow-up on the Yonkers exhibit

Playwright and teacher James Armstrong, whom I met at the Dickens Fellowship Conference, writes in that he's going to be giving a talk at that Dickens exhibit in Yonkers, New York, that I mentioned yesterday. His talk is about "Dickens and His Illustrators" and will take place on October 13. More information is here. In case you're in the area, I'm sure it'll be worth hearing!

Exhibits and celebrations

• Dickens, A Celebration in Pictures in Yonkers, New York: An exhibition of illustrations by The Children's Book Illustrator Group.
• Dickens and Massachusetts: A Tale of Power and Transformation, at the Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts: An interactive bicentennial exhibit.
• Dickens in Teesdale: This group just retraced Dickens's steps from his research trip to the area while working on Nicholas Nickleby.

Our world takeover continues

Isn't it lovely to watch someone discover Dickens? Julie Davis, at the Happy Catholic's Bookshelf blog, is a brand-new Dickensian, and wrote a great blog post about the experience. Here's a sample:

I must concede Will Duquette’s contention that Dickens characters can be very unrealistic. But who would give them up for the realistic ones? . . .

You know, I expected that I’d read a few pages (slogging through them) and intersperse them with a newer book. But I’m hooked. I can never possibly convey how great, how riveting I am finding this book. It is a mystery, a horror novel, a romance, a look at character (or the lack thereof), and much more … all laced with a self awareness that I find startlingly modern. O Dickens. And here I thought A Tale of Two Cities was sublime. How little I knew…

Go here for more!

Dickens and 'Start Here'

The website Book Riot is putting together a new project: a book called Start Here, which will help people get started reading some of those authors they've never read but always meant to read. Charles Dickens is one of the authors who will be featured. More info is available here.

A tale of two Olivers

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre is doing a new audio dramatization of Oliver Twist. It's available for pre-order.

In other Oliver Twist news, the adaptation Olivia Twist is being filmed at Stoke on Trent College, and Dickens descendant Lucinda Hawksley has a cameo role.

Have Dickens over for tea

The shop Bloomsbury & Co offers a nice line of Penguin Classics gifts and accessories, including mugs, lawn chairs, wrapping paper, etc., featuring various Penguin Classics book covers. Among them is a Great Expectations mug. It's sold out at the moment, but they should be getting more in soon.

Passing Dickens down

The book that the most British parents would like their children to read, according to a new poll by the University of Worcester, is A Christmas Carol. Good choice!

We'll be the judges of that

Michael Pietsch, U.S. publisher of J. K. Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy, is comparing it to Dickens. That's quite a statement to make, sir. We'll just have to see . . .

Music for Dickens

Roxanna Panufnik has composed a new piece of music in Dickens's honor, called "Great Dickens." (I must say I like the title!) The London Mozart Players will perform it October 4 to kick off their new season. Info here and here.