Dickensblog

Olivia Colman to star in BBC 'Great Expectations'

As promised, the team behind the BBC/FX A Christmas Carol are working on their next Dickens project, a six-part adaptation of Great Expectations. Oscar winner Olivia Colman is the latest actress to tackle the role of Miss Havisham, with Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) playing Pip. Click here for more casting news.

As one who wasn't a big fan of Steven Knight & company's Christmas Carol, I just hope that they manage to make this one a little less dour!

(Thanks to Karen Swallow Prior for the tip.)

A few minutes with Lucinda Hawksley

Dickens's great-great-great-granddaughter, while promoting her new book Letters of Great Women in Dubai, answered some questions about her ancestor's life and works. Click here to learn which Dickens books she rereads, her favorite Dickens quote, and what surprised her most about him.

'Dickens and Staplehurst': A review

By Art Kilmer, Guest Blogger

On June 9, 1865, author Charles Dickens almost died. Pick up any biography of Dickens, and you will find at least a couple of pages about the Staplehurst Rail Crash. On that day, Dickens; his mistress, Ellen Ternan; and her mother were traveling by rail from Boulogne to London, when the train derailed at Staplehurst, Kent. Due to a miscommunication and negligence, the train plunged over a bridge that was only half finished. Ten people died that day, and many others were physically and, as in Dickens’ case, mentally impacted for the rest of their lives. For Charles, that would be another five years to the day.

Actor and author Gerald Dickens, Charles’ great-great-grandson, has made an effort to shed more light on this event. In his new book, Dickens and Staplehurst: A Biography of a Rail Crash, Gerald attempts to give full details of the event. Not only does he explain what happened to Dickens on that tragic day, but we also learn about the ten victims, some of the survivors, and the railroad employees who were involved with the crash.

As Gerald says of his book: “At its heart this is a story of a single moment in time: a biography of a day.” 

Happy 210th birthday, Charles Dickens!

All hail the Inimitable on this happy occasion! 

In honor of Dickens's birthday, the Dickens Museum is kicking off a writing competition. The writer of the winning short story or novel excerpt will receive this beautiful facsimile of the Oliver Twist manuscript. Click here to see all the details, and then put those quill pens to paper (or fingers to keys, if you prefer). It's not that easy to follow in Dickens's footsteps, but one can at least give it a try!

(Image made by yours truly!)

Dickens code cracked!

Diligent decoders have finally solved the mystery of Dickens's "Tavistock letter," which turned out to be about ... advertising. Apologies to all who were hoping for something more exciting! BBC News has the story of how the code was cracked and who earned the reward for cracking it. 

Keeping Christmas all the year

Even though it's no longer the Christmas season, my friend Hannah Long has some inspiring thoughts to share about why "'A Christmas Carol' offers a road map for change far more effectively than any New Year’s Eve film could."