Dickensblog

Meet Augustus Dickens

On Tuesday, January 26, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Lucinda Hawksley will give an online talk about Charles Dickens's brother Augustus (her own "great x4 uncle"), based on her own research conducted in his town of Chicago. Click here to find out more and to sign up! 

The letter that wasn't?

British shopping channel Ideal World had to pull a Dickens letter they were offering for sale when Dr. Leon Litvack of The Charles Dickens Letters Project claimed it was a forgery. But the channel promises "further enquiries" to try to verify that the letter is genuine. Read more here.

A crown for Scrooge

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Dickens's death, Ascension Island released a commemorative Christmas Scrooge crown, available in Cupro Nickel or Proof Sterling Silver. I would have posted about this last month, but they were out of stock. They've since restocked, but the nickel have run out again and the silver are running low, so get them while you can! More information is here.

Some thoughts on 'Copperfield'

First of all, happy New Year, fellow Dickensians!

Second of all -- I feel like the last person on the planet to have seen The Personal History of David Copperfield! But now that I have seen it at last, if you can stand hearing a few more thoughts on it, here are mine.

Save Scrooge from an online escape room!

Go here and here to find out how to play!

Merry Christmas, fellow Dickensians!

May all your puddings be done enough, may all your fires have plenty of coal, and may you keep Christmas all the year!

Join the Dickenses!

The Dickens Museum will host a virtual Dickens Family Christmas at 7:30 p.m. London time (2:30 p.m. Eastern time) and all are invited to join in! Gerald Dickens, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, and other descendants of the author will be sharing readings, recipes, and more. Go here to read more, and go here to sign up and get the Zoom link. 

Hugh Grant reads 'A Christmas Carol'

Audible has just released Grant's new audiobook of the story. In this article from Good Housekeeping, the British star explains why he wanted to do the project: "Dickens . . . belongs to that rare group of great writers who actually loved human existence."

The need for Dickens and Muppets

At Slashfilm, Chris Evangelista explains why The Muppet Christmas Carol is "essential quarantine viewing."

A tale of four podcasts

I've recently been a guest on various podcasts to talk about Dickens! Here are some links:  

• The Christian Humanist with Michial Farmer (talking about The Gospel in Dickens)
• The Sectarian Review with Danny Anderson (talking about The Gospel in Dickens)
• The Great Books with John J. Miller (talking about A Tale of Two Cities)
• A Cozy Christmas with Art Kilmer, longtime Dickensblog reader and Facebook group member (talking about A Christmas Carol)

And don't miss Art's subsequent episode, where he continued the A Christmas Carol discussion, this time with Gerald Dickens!

In related news, I was on the radio show Chris Fabry Live today to discuss The Gospel in Dickens. I believe that episode will be archived online soon, so I'll post a link if and when it is.