Dickensblog

Dickens Fellowship Conference information

The 2014 Dickens Fellowship Conference will be held in Chicago, July 16-21. If you're interested in going, you need to get your $200 non-refundable deposit in by Saturday, February 15. Here's the page where you can find the forms to fill out (there's one for singles and one for couples), and here's some more information on the conference.

Two silent Dickens films rediscovered

Writing in The Buzfuz e-newsletter (e-mail [email protected] to join), Fred Guida reports that two lost Dickens films from 1912 have been recently discovered: Martin Chuzzlewit and Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgers. The films are being restored by Dino Everett of the University of Southern California.

Following Dickens

"I walk because Dickens walked and in that year of reading Boz, his accounts of London by night and on foot cast a spell."

Inspired by several of Dickens's essays, especially "Night Walks," editor and journalist Laura Freeman took a few night walks of her own through London. She recounts them in this fascinating essay for the Financial Review.

 

One more Dickens birthday photo

I just had to add this one from the Daily Mail, captioned "Three of Charles Dickens['s] great great great grandchildren, siblings Tom Dickens 15, Lydia Dickens 14 and Oliver Dickens 9 take a selfie with their ancestor's new statue in Portsmouth today."

 (Image copyright Matt Scott-Joynt/M and Y News Agency Ltd)

Happy 202nd birthday, Charles Dickens!

There was much celebrating in Portsmouth today, as the city's favorite son finally had his new statue, by Martin Jennings, unveiled on his birthday! Members of the Dickens family and the Dickens Fellowship were on hand for the festivities, along with actors Edward Fox and Joanna David. BBC News has the story and some great photos, including a lovely one of the writer's great-great-great-grandon, Oliver (yes, Oliver!) sitting on his lap. 

More details and more photos are at the Express & Star, The (Portsmouth) News, and the Guardian.

I hope the writer we love would have been pleased and proud of this very special gift. Happy birthday, Mr. Dickens! 

All at sea

As another birthday event, a presentation called "At Sea with Dickens" will be given in Portsmouth on Sunday. Details are here.

And here's yet another birthday tribute: "Top 10 facts about Charles Dickens." Did you know he was the first writer to mention potato chips?

A birthday tribute

Dickens's birthday is Friday, and the tributes are starting to pop up. Here's a nice one all the way from Sri Lanka!

Blast from the past: The 1976 'Our Mutual Friend'

The 1976 adaptation of Our Mutual Friend, long unavailable in the U.S., has been put up on YouTube. It stars Jane Seymour as Bella, John McEnery as John, Lesley Dunlop as Lizzie, and Nicholas Jones as Eugene (a complete cast list is here) -- and for some unknown reason, it has English subtitles! Links are here and here. Thanks to The Buzfuz for the tip!

Gerald Dickens interview

On his great-great-grandfather's birthday, Gerald Dickens will be performing a one-man show of Great Expectations. Here's a new interview with him!

All about 'A Christmas Carol -- The Concert'

In December, a concert version of A Christmas Carol aired on PBS. I DVRed it but haven't yet seen it -- it's part of an enormous pile of DVRed stuff that I'm currently working my way through! However, I did get to hear the music on CD a while back, and reviewed it here.

In this interview, composer Bob Christianson talks about the project's background and about its possible future. And here's the project's website, where you can buy the DVD and soundtrack.