Dickensblog

Upcoming Dickens conferences

Next year's Dickens Society Symposium will be hosted by the City University of London, July 8-10. Go here for more information.

Speaking of conferences, the virtual Dickens Universe begins today, with orientation at 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific. If any of you plan to be there, I look forward to seeing you via Zoom or Slack!

Dickens Fellowship virtual conference

If the virtual Dickens Universe doesn't provide enough Dickens for you in July, consider attending the virtual Dickens Fellowship Conference as well! The event will be held July 16-18. Information, including whom to contact about registering, can be found here. 

Registration opens for Dickens Universe

The Dickens Universe will be going virtual again this summer, running July 26-30. The registration page is here. Early bird registration is $100 with the promo code EARLYBIRD; after April 20, the cost rises to $150. This year the conference will focus on A Christmas Carol. 

Calls for papers

Here's one for "Dickens and Decadence," a September conference at the University of Stockholm; and here's one for papers on "Polyphonic Dickens" at the 2022 MLA Annual Convention. Thanks to Sara Malton of the Dickens Society for the tip!

Dickens Universe to be held online

The Virtual Dickens Universe will be held by The Dickens Project July 26-30. As was planned before the shutdown, it will focus on David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and Iola Leroy by Frances E.W. Harper (which will both be more fully discussed at next year's Dickens Universe). Go here for details and to sign up!

From yesterday's commemoration

The Dickens Museum has posted a couple of videos that fans will want to see: one of an amazing light and sound installation that was projected onto Westminster Abbey for yesterday's anniversary, and another of a special greeting from members of the Dickens family.

Yesterday's virtual conference went great, and there should soon be some videos from that online as well!

News roundup

On the eve of the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens's death, a few items of interest:

• The Jersey Post is releasing a new set of eight stamps in honor of the occasion: "Created by Mark and Julie Wilkinson, the stamps have been designed to look like classic leather book covers and feature key scenes and characters from some of Dickens’ best-loved works." Here's the direct link to order.
• Country Life put together a lovely tribute to some of Dickens's greatest characters. Meanwhile, The Conversation did a "data analysis" to gain some insight on Dickens's methods of characterization.
• The Dickens Theatre Company, unable to perform their new play Dickens' Dream because of the lockdown, have put a short teaser video online (click "Continue reading" below to see it). Their hope is to perform the play later this year.

Hope to run into some of you at the virtual #Dickens150 conference tomorrow!

More #Dickens150 conference news

I'm excited to announce that I'll be speaking at #Dickens150! My topic is "Heart of Darkness? Dickens in Dialogue with Himself via H.G. Parry's The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep." The full conference schedule is posted here (all times are BST, British Summer Time), and registration is still open, so I hope to be able to say hello to some of you there!

#Dickens150 calls for attendees and papers

In place of the Dickens conferences that had to be canceled this summer, a virtual conference will be held on June 9, the 150th anniversary of Dickens's death. Proceeds will be donated to the Dickens Museum, which, as we know, could really use them right now. 

Here's the website where you can register (starting tomorrow) and also submit proposals for presentations, panels, "lightning talks" of two to three minutes, and more (by May 10).

I hope to see you there!

(ETA: The event is not hosted by the Dickens Society, as I wrote originally. Thanks to Lydia Craig for the correction.)

Dickens conference updates

The Dickens Fellowship and the Dickens Society have announced that they will "bow to the inevitable" and cancel this summer's joint symposium in London. Also, the Dickens Project is pushing this summer's Dickens Universe to next summer.