In 1842, Charles and Catherine Dickens set sail from Liverpool for a 6-month tour of the USA and Canada. In this online event, I’ll be talking about their journey and how it inspired Dickens’s writing. This is the first in a series of talks I’ll be giving over the next year, inspired by the book I’ve just finished writing, Dickens and Travel (which will be published later this year, pandemic permitting!). https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/charles-dickenss-first-trip-to-north-america-tickets-142223553477
Charles Dickens by Francis Alexander, painted in Boston in 1842.
The following article first appeared in The Independent newspaper in March 2016.
On my first visit to Italy I was 13. It was on a Schools Abroad trip, on which we spent a night in the port of Brindisi, where I and my fellow schoolmates were sexually harassed by scary sailors, made sick by the stink of diesel and where nothing could have been further from the Italy of Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson. The next time I went to Italy I was about to go to university – I was in love with life, in love with travelling, in love with love and more than ready to fall in love with the Italy I knew from the works of E M Forster. It is a love affair that has never ended.
The British Institute in Florence, Italy, displaying copies of my book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards – Facial Hair in Art.
I first read A Room with a Viewat the age of 14 – and have continued to do so, on a regular basis, ever since. I turn to it whenever I need comfort reading; it’s the literary equivalent of hot buttery mashed potato on a miserably cold day. Despite having read it so many times, I seem to discover something new each time I read it.
Lights on the River Arno, in Florence, Italy, at night.
The first time I visited Florence, I felt I knew it already. Seeing the Arno and knowing this was the same river on which Lucy, Charlotte and the Emersons also gazed, gave me a thrill of connection to a past age. In 2015 I gave a talk on my biography of Princess Louise at the British Institute in Florence. Stepping into the building, on the banks of the Arno, was to enter a world where nothing seemed to have changed since Princess Louise’s time (incidentally, a woman whom Forster knew). I felt as though I’d stepped into the Florence the Rev Eager would recognise, and was sure I could discern some of his “flock” in the audience.
There are so many books one should never re-read: books that spoke soulfully to your younger self seldom work when read again (most notably, for me, Paolo Coelho’s By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept).A Room With A View, however, has entertained me at all stages of my life so far. Wherever I’ve travelled, I’ve encountered Forster’s characters. In Jordan, I could discern Mr Beebe and Mr Emerson visiting the temples of Petra. Last year I was in Norway when I saw a family sit down for a picnic – and they actually possessed “mackintosh squares”. I have visited churches, temples and mosques all over the world and have lost count of the times I have been informed “this was built by faith”, to which I always intone in my mind Mr Emerson’s words: “Built by faith indeed! That simply means the workmen weren’t paid properly.” So far, I have managed to prevent myself from saying it out loud. I hope E M Forster would smirk a wry smile at that.
3 February 2021
Napier – New Zealand’s architectural gem
I have been lucky enough to spend a great deal of time in New Zealand, a country that will always be very special to me. The following article appeared in Oberoi Magazine.
On the morning of 3 February 1931, people in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island woke to what seemed like a particularly calm day, although the summer heat felt oppressive, as though a storm was brewing. One peculiarity noticed by several residents of the seaside town of Napier was that the sea was a strange colour. As they ate their breakfast or took early morning walks, they were unaware that their life was about to change forever. At around 10:46am, the earth heaved and shuddered. The second shock was even more violent and the earth seemed to rip apart. Freda Sharp, a schoolgirl in Napier, wrote to her relatives in England that “the ground came up in mountains beneath our feet”.
The earthquake, which reached 7.8 on the Richter Scale, lasted for just under three minutes, but it – and the ensuing fires – devastated the region. 256 people were killed and thousands more injured. Throughout New Zealand, many of the buildings had been created by European architects, settlers who had no concept of the need to create earthquake-proof buildings.
Before the earthquake, Napier hadresembled other fairly prosperous New Zealand towns, its architecture a mixture of styles, having grown up and been added to with every new influx of settlers. Immediately after the earthquake, with thousands of people in temporary accommodation and so many surviving buildings now declared unsafe, the town desperately needed rebuilding. While much of the world, including New Zealand, was struggling under the Great Depression, architects and builders were starved of work. There was little money to spare and the lavish building projects of the 1920s had been replaced by the belt-tightening of the 1930s. Napier, however, needed to be reinvented. One of Napier’s home-grown architects was Louis Hay, who was enamoured of the very fashionable style of Art Deco. Hay helped to rebuild Napier meaning that New Zealand now boasts one of the world’s most complete Art Deco towns – and a place where, uniquely, Art Deco design incorporates Maori patterns.
Today, Napier makes the most of its iconic 1930s architecture, a time period still redolent of glamour and glitz – despite the Great Depression. The town’s now-famous buildings draw as many tourists as the nearby wildlife and wineries. Every February, the town hosts its hugely popular annual Art Deco festival, which began as a relatively humble affair in 1989, but now lasts for five days and draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. It’s one of those occasions where people notin fancy dress are the ones who look ridiculous. People aren’t the only attendees to arrive in droves: magnificent vintage cars are shipped by enthralled owners from all over the world, just so they can take part in the parade.
Whatever time of the year you visit, you can join an Art Deco walking tour, or enjoy a journey around the town in a stylish Art Deco-era car, both of which are run by the Art Deco Trust. There are also self-guided walks and driving guides for the region – and if you’ve hired a car, travel on to Hastings, 20 kms from Napier, which also boasts its own post-earthquake Art Deco buildings.
The region is also rightly famed for its wineries. Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s second-largest wine-producing region, and one of the oldest wine-growing areas in the country. The first vines were planted here in 1851, by missionaries. Since then almost 40 wineries have grown up in Hawkes Bay. The region also has beaches, wetlands, hiking trails and it boasts the world’s largest and most accessible mainland gannet colony: the fabulously named Cape Kidnappers.
Amongst the historic buildings to be visited in Napier are the Daily Telegraph building, the National Tobacco Company Building, the Masonic Hotel, the ASB bank, and the Art Deco Centre (formerly the Napier Fire Station), which is where the Art Deco tours begin. When you’re walking through Napier, along the pretty walking and biking trail known as Marine Parade, you will also discover a fascinating stucture: the Soundshell. Its design was inspired by the glamour of 1930s Hollywood. The Soundshell was built in 1935 and became a centre of town life and especially of teen life, because its collonaded courtyard provided a dancefloor that doubled as a rollerskating arena. Walk a short distance from the Soundshell to find the tourist information centre, where you can book winery tours, wildlife tours – and encounter possibly the world’s most friendly tourist information staff.
To find out more about Napier visit https://www.napiernz.com
To find out more about visiting New Zealand go to https://www.newzealand.com
3 February 2021
Street Art in Melbourne
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, I was lucky enough to return to Melbourne, Australia, one of my favourite cities. The following article appeared in Oberoi magazine (unfortunately, with half of the final sentence cut off by the printers!)
Melbourne has a long history of loving art. The first art gallery in Australia was opened here, in 1861, and the city has always had a reputation for being “arty”. Today, alongside all the official galleries, tourists and locals are eager to witness an ever-evolving art – the art of the streets. It changes, sometimes, daily.
A street artist working in Melbourne, Australia
The most famous street to visit is Hosier Lane (not far from Flinders Street station), where you’ll witness street artists at work, blithely ignoring all the tourists and clatter and comings and goings all around them, and working just as anyone else would do at their day job. This is because, in Melbourne, street art is now definitely art, not graffiti, and in these streets, it’s not only permitted, but actively encouraged. Gone are the days when street artists had to work furtively, under cover of darkness, risking arrest for their art. Now it’s mainstream, and even the local Melbourne authorities agree that it’s good for artistic expression – and the tourist dollar!
There are art-covered streets (with varying degrees of skill) all over the city. In the CBD (Central Business District) these include Strachan Lane, Rutledge Lane, Beaney Lane, Snider Lane, Rankins Lane, Caledonian Lane, Presgrave Place, Union Lane, Drewery Lane and Duckboard Place. But for fans of rock and heavy metal, there is only one place to get to: AC/DC Lane. Yes it is actually named after the Australian rock band. Until 2004, it was the much-more conservative Corporation Lane, but that didn’t attract anything like as many pilgrims seeking their heroes as AC/DC Lane does. Here, the art isn’t only painted on the walls, it’s coming out to get you. Former AC/DC singer Bon Scott (who died in 1980), has been sculpted bursting through the brickwork, created by sculptor Mike Makatron.
A street artist working in Melbourne, Australia
You can download an official street art map and visit the streets on your own, but there are great street art tours, led by working artists, which not only give you far more information that you’d find on your own, but also give you the chance to visit their studios at the end of the tours. Yes, it’s a blatant way for them to sell their work, but surely it’s better to go home with a genuine work of Australian art, rather than mass-produced tourist tat?
‘Real Australian’ by Peter Drew in Melbourne, Australia
Street art in Melbourne ranges from the simple but pithy stencilled slogans such as “Binge thinking is bad for your health”, to witty works by Stampz, including his kissing Disney princesses, and movingly beautiful images by @n20_jo, her works are so gorgeous that they make you stop, look and then keep looking. As with all the best street art, there are brilliant political works, such as pasted-up posters by Peter Drew, whose “Aboriginal Land Real Australians Seek Welcome” highlights injustices against the Aboriginal community, who are, despite many attempts to pretend otherwise, the original and only indigenous Australians. Another strikingly beautiful work, painted high over Hosier Lane is a massive, haunting portrait of an Aboriginal child, gazing across the top of Melbourne. He looks over what is now the city’s northern suburbs towards what was once a revered and sacred Aboriginal site. The portrait, by artist Adnate, stays in your vision long after seeing it. Long may it stay up there – as far as Adnate is concerned, it will be there until the elements destroy it, which seems a fitting analogy.
Street art by @n20_jo Street in Melbourne, Australia
There’s controversy here too: the working street artists, who lead the tours, despise over-commercialisation of the area. It might seem like a sweet irony, as they guide paying tourists through the maze of painted streets, but I understood what they meant, as we passed shops charging prices for so-called “street clothing” which only the only those in the salary bracket of a corporate lawyer (or drug dealer) could afford to buy with ease. These shops often pay street artists to create works – but isn’t that selling out? That was the question on seemingly all the artists’ lips. Though, having said that, UK street artist Banksy is still spoken about on the Melbourne scene with awe – yes, his works may be worth a fortune, but the reclusive Banksy still uses his talent to highlight social injustices and, often, to make others’ fortunes. When he paints on the sides of poor-looking buildings in the dead of night, he bequeaths a generous gift to the building’s owners, rather than making money from it himself. The greater irony I found on our tour was passionate way in which our street artist tour guide ranted against single-use plastics – whilst carrying a single-use-plastic water bottle….
Street art by Adnate in Melbourne, Australia
Lucinda Hawksley is an author and travel writer based in London. Find out more at www.lucindahawksley.com or @lucindahawksley (Twitter and Instagram).
Can you spot my big blue Charles Dickens book getting pride of place in this BBC video? I’m very proud! The updated version is available from the online giftshop at The Charles Dickens Museum and all good bookshops. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-55861947
1 February 2021
Happy Birthday Mr Dickens!
I’m very excited to announce this special event with the wonderful Miriam Margolyes, in aid of The Charles Dickens Museum. Join us on Sunday 7 February, at 7pm UK time (joinable from anywhere) for Happy Birthday Mr Dickens! Tickets are on sale now https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/happy-birthday-mr-dickens
In the 1850s, Augustus, the youngest brother of Charles Dickens, abandoned his wife in London and ran away to America with his pregnant girlfriend. He was barely spoken about in the family again. A few years ago, I travelled to Chicago to research what had happened to my great x4 uncle and Bertha, the woman who had been brave enough to run away with him. Join me for this online talk and find out about the life and quite extraordinary lies of Augustus – the original owner of the nickname ‘Boz’.
I was also lucky enough to meet the fab Ellie Harrison and film in Malton in Yorkshire for the BBC’s ‘A Very Country Christmas’. It’s available to watch in the UK on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qf9g
Outside the Counting House Museum in Malton, Yorkshire.
I’m so pleased to have been asked to take part in this writing festival in Melbourne – even if it’s only possible via the power of the internet. I’ll be speaking about Dickens with my friend and fellow patron of the Dickens Museum, Miriam Margolyes. Tickets are on sale now – and FYI, if you’re in Europe, it’s a morning event, not at evening event as it states in the write up (it’s an Australian evening!).
18 November 1910: “The date is now remembered in history as ‘Black Friday’, a day on which the police and any anti-suffrage men who cared to join in were permitted – and encouraged – to use not only violence but sexual violence against the women.” #MarchWomenMarch
My book March, Women, March is also available on kindle (the link shows the old book jacket, but is is still the same book) https://www.amazon.co.uk/March-Women-Lucinda-Hawksley-ebook/dp/B00CPKONG0
18 November 2020
1 December: Dickens’s Lost Portrait
This portrait of Charles Dickens was painted at the exact time he was writing A Christmas Carol, in 1843 – and then lost for almost 175 years. Join me to discover what was happening in Dickens’s life while he was working on his most famous Christmas book. I’ll also tell you about the talented female artist who painted his portrait and how she helped to inspire his writing. Fnd out the remarkable story behind the “lost portrait”, how it was re-discovered and how it can help us understand the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.
The talk is taking place at 6pm UK time, and is joinable from all over the world. Tickets are on sale via Eventbrite, but the event will be on Zoom.
The Lost Portrait: portrait of Charles Dickens, painted by Margaret Gillies in 1843, exhibited in 1844, then ‘lost’ for amost 175 years.
17 November 2020
Secrets and Surprises…
My next event in the #InConversationWith series is ‘Secrets and Surprises in Biography’, with fellow author Julie Summers, on 22 September. This is an online event, starting at 7pm UK time, but joinable from all over the world. Tickets and more information are available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/secrets-and-surprises-in-biography-lucinda-hawksley-julie-summers-tickets-119874404571 The event itself will take place on Zoom (NB you cannot access the event through the Eventbrite website, that’s only a platform for buying tickets.)
8 September 2020
In Conversation With series
Last night was the first in my new series of online talks, #InConversationWith. It started with Dickens and Film with fellow #author, lecturer and #screenwriter James Clarke. It was so much fun and we had people joining from several parts of the globe. Watch this space for more information.
8 September 2020
My new online course in Life Writing
Have you ever wanted to write your memoirs, or are you yearning to write the story of someone else’s life? Why not turn the surreal year that is 2020 into the time when you make that dream a reality?
I have created this 8-week online course in Life Writing to enable you to develop your writing and research skills, give you the confidence to move forward with your ideas and help you to improve your manuscript.
My weekly classes will be taught in a small-group format via Zoom. You will learn how to begin and plan your book, how to overcome writers’ block, and how to analyse and critique your own work, all in a very supportive – and friendly – environment. This course is suitable for all levels, from aspiring authors to published writers wishing to hone their life-writing skills.
The course will begin on Wednesday 9 September 2020 at 2pm-6pm UK time. It includes eight online classes, guided writing tasks with feedback from the tutor, and a final one-to-one tutorial for each student. There will also be an opportunity to arrange ongoing tutorials after the course has ended, should you wish. Enrolment is open to participants from all over the world. The course costs £450 and can be booked any time up to 6 September. For more information and to book, please email info@lucindahawksley.com
6 August 2020
Eastbourne talk postponed
Today I should have been giving a talk about my book ‘Elizabeth Revealed’ at the lovely Langham Hotel in Eastbourne. Sadly, for obvious reasons, we’ve had to postpone it, BUT my author talk will be happening in 2021! (FYI, isn’t this book jacket gorgeous? Well done to the team at Scala books and HRP publishing.)
4 August 2020
Online talk: A hairy history of art!
Come on a pogonographic journey into the history of facial hair in art! A few years ago I was commissioned to give several lectures and tours of the National Portrait Gallery about hairy history, and this resulted in my book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, inspired by the gallery’s collection. It’s a fun look at history of art as well as the social history of bewhiskered men and women, taking place on Thursday 30 July, at 6pm UK time – but joinable from all over the world. You can book tickets by following the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-hairy-history-of-art-tickets-114670971964 Or by searching for “hairy history” on your Eventbrite app.
Once you have booked a ticket, please wait for an email, which will arrive on time for you to join the talk. That email will contain the zoom joining details of meeting ID and password. Please ensure you check your junk mail folders for the email, thank you. Please note I don’t record my talks, so I’m afraid it won’t be possible to watch the talk later.
Take care and stay safe in this surreal time.
24 July 2020
De Morgan Foundation talk, 31 July
Last year, I was invited to become a Patron of the De Morgan Foundation. On 31 July, I’m doing my first event for them. Obviously it has to be online, but the great news about that is that you can join from anywhere in the world! I’ll be talking about Lizzie Siddal with Sarah Hardy, from the Foundation. Advance booking is essential: https://www.demorgan.org.uk/event/online-talk-pre-raphaelite-sisters-with-best-selling-author-lucinda-hawksley/
17 July 2020
Lizzie Siddal online talk
On Monday 6 July, I’m doing an online lecture on ‘Lizzie Siddal, The Original Supermodel’. It starts at 6pm UK time, and is joinable from all over the world – as long as you’ll be awake at that time! I have been doing regular online lectures during the pandemic lockdown. Please also check my Twitter page @lucindahawksley for more regular updates. Tickets for my Lizzie Siddal talk are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lizzie-siddal-the-original-supermodel-tickets-111536286034
30 June 2020
Katey in the ODNB
My article on the artist Kate Perugini (née Dickens, also known as Kate Collins) has been published by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. It’s long overdue. In common with so many female artists, she has been unfairly forgotten for so long, and I’m so glad that Katey finally has an ODNB page. The pictures here are of Katey, painted by Marcus Stone, and perhaps my favourite of all her paintings ‘Flossie’. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-93816
Katey painted by Marcus Stone in 1865
Flossie by Kate Perugini, 1892
30 June 2020
#Dickens150
9 June 2020 is the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s death, and commemorative events had been planned for all over the world, which have sadly all needed to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. There will be, however, many online events happening, including an online conference, in aid of the Charles Dickens Museum in London (which is really struggling due to the UK being in lockdown). Find out more here: https://dickens150.wordpress.com I will be taking part, by interviewing Armando Iannucci about his love of Dickens, at 8pm.
2 June 2020
Online talk 3 June
I’ve started a series of online lectures to help us through this strange time of staying at home. The first was a virtual tour of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection and the second is about Katey Dickens – aka the artist Kate Perugini – and it’s happening at 6pm London time on Wed 3 June. More info and ticket sales via this link on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/manage/events/107229462208/tickets
Please spread the word, thank you. It is joinable from all over the world, to anyone who is awake at 6pm UK time!
Take care and stay safe.
2 June 2020
Lockdown Lectures
Tomorrow I was supposed to be taking alumni from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on a tour of the National Portrait Gallery in London. Now, we’ll be doing this online tour of the gallery instead, via Zoom. If you know anyone else who might be interested in an online lecture / gallery tour please get in touch. #StaySafe
20 May 2020
Dickens Lost Portrait podcast
If you’re looking for something to listen to during this strange time of lockdown, here’s a link to the podcast I made with Philip Mould, Emma Rutherford and others about the Lost Portrait of Charles Dickens. It’s in 3 episodes. https://browse.entale.co/show/790c94fe-cc89-45b5-90f3-b0defc7c7e24
Happy birthday to my great great great grandfather: Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812. Find out more in my book, which is available from the Charles Dickens Museum bookshop https://dickensmuseum.com/products/charles-dickens-by-lucinda-dickens-hawksley-1 and all other good #bookshops, as well as online.
7 February 2020
Learn to write in Tuscany – book now!
Places are now available for my Life Writing course in the beautiful Verrocchio Art Centre in Tuscany. The course runs from 25 June 2020 until 2 July 2020. Numbers are strictly limited so early booking is a must. Find out more here: http://www.verrocchio.co.uk/cms/index.php/2020-courses and email Hannah on office@verrocchio.co.uk with any queries. Please spread the word, thank you.
26 January 2020
Top Podcasts of 2019!
So pleased to see that my podcast “The Real Sherlock” made it into this article in Good Housekeeping Magazine: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a30194508/best-audible-podcasts/
26 January 2020
Dickens & Christmas walking tour – book now!
On 17 December, I’ll be leading a walking tour in London about Dickens and Christmas. Tickets are available on Eventbrite:
This week I was lucky enough to be invited to the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas, which is currently hosting an exhibition entitled Victorian Radicals, including many items from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in England.
I was invited to give development training to the musem’s docents about the Aesthetic movement and to give a public lecture on Charles Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelites, which was a packed house!
Thank you San Antonio, for making me so welcome. What a beautiful place. If you’re in Texas, make sure you visit the exhibition. You won’t be disappointed.
23 October 2019
Dickens in Dallas
Thank you to SMU for inviting me to speak about The Extended Dickens Family at your beautiful university campus in Dallas, Texas.
I am really looking forward to being a tutor on this upcoming writing course for the Arvon Foundation. Narrative Non-Fiction is taking place at Lumb Bank in Yorkshire, the former home of the poet Ted Hughes. The course is taking place on 23-28 September. https://www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/narrative-non-fiction-2/
I am very pleased to have been invited back to Galveston, Texas, for this year’s Dickens on the Strand festival. It is taking place on 6-8 December. Come along and raise money for the architectural charity, the Galveston Historical Foundation, which has helped to save and preserve so many 19th-century buildings. (Yes, I know the sunglasses in this photo aren’t very authentic, but they were necessary!)
26 June 2019
Dickens for 2020
Yesterday I popped in Carlton Books to fetch my very first author copy of my fully updated book about Charles Dickens. I think it is beautiful! Well done to all the team at Carlton, who have created a really lovely book.
Some of you may remember that this first came out in 2012, for the Dickens Bicentenary. This new version (priced £20 and coming out in September) is being published to commemorate the next Dickens anniversary: 2020 marks 150 years since his death. I’m already taking bookings for events, so please get in touch with me or my agent(s) to find out more.
26 June 2019
Meeting Fagin’s descendant
When I was in Sydney for the NSW Dickens Conference, I was fortunate to meet a number of great people, including the Australian authors Tom Keneally and Kate Forsyth. This photo is of me and Scott Whitmont, a bookseller and writer, who has a close connection to Dickensian history. Scott is the great great great nephew of Ikey Solomons, one of the inspirations used by my great great great grandfather Charles Dickens when he created the character of Fagin in Oliver Twist!
27 May 2019
Edwin Drood for Audible
Last week, I had the exciting experience of recording in the Audible office in Sydney, Australia – where I was visiting to attend the NSW Dickens Conference. I recorded my narration of the Afterword I had written to accompany the new narration of The Mystery of Edwin Drood – the best mystery story ever written, because Charles Dickens died before he could write the ending!
My new podcast, ‘The Real Sherlock’, is available to download from Audible. Discover the man behind the creation of Sherlock Holmes. The life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was as adventurous and exciting as that of his fictional detective. https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Real-Sherlock-Audiobook/B07NVNMCD9
8 March 2019
Lizzie Siddal inspiring Fashion
A fashion show from N’a Pas De Quoi inspired by Lizzie Siddal as Ophelia. Wonderful! You can find out more about Lizzie in my biography, published by Carlton Books https://www.carltonbooks.co.uk/lizzie-siddal-hb.html
31 January 2019
Walk Charles Dickens’s London
If you’re planning a trip to London – or if you live there! – my downloadable walking tour works with your smartphone and takes you on a journey from Dickens’s first adult home, to the Charles Dickens Museum via many of the London streets and sites from which he took inspiration. It is available to download from Voice Map:
If you’re seeking a great #audiobook, try ‘Our Mutual Friend’ by Charles #Dickens, narrated by Meera Syal – with an introduction written & narrated by me! https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Our-Mutual-Friend-Audiobook/B079LR2L6Q
29 January 2019
Plan your next holiday
If you’re dreaming of your next holiday, gain inspiration for your travels, with my beautiful book, The Writer Abroad, published by The British Library. It’s available from all good bookshops and from the British Library shop – either in person or online. https://www.bl.uk/shop/the-writer-abroad/p-922
22 January 2019
The Dickens Lost Portrait
This portrait of Charles Dickens was painted by the Scottish artist Margaret Gillies in 1843. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1844. Since then it has been considered lost, the artist herself had no idea what had happened to it and its fate became a mystery. Until now – it was discovered in a terrible state (now restored as you can see) in a box of ‘household junk’ in South Africa. Now the Dickens Museum is trying to raise funds to buy it for its collection. Can you help? If so, please follow this link:
It’s taken until early January for me to be able to update about the amazing response to the 175th anniversary of the publication of ‘A Christmas Carol’ – December was an incredible month and the outpouring of affection for Dickens’s “ghost story of Christmas” was really moving. As several people observed, perhaps it was because the world and the world’s media was exhausted with bad news and wanted a good news story.
Here is just a sample of some of the media around the #Carol175 celebrations:
I was really privileged to be photographed by the brilliant Charlotte Graham for the 175th anniversary of ‘A Christmas Carol’ holding the beautiful edition of Dickens’s classic story, which is owned by the people of Malton in Yorkshire (the home of Dickens’s friends, the lawyer Charles Smithson and his wife Elizabeth). Charlotte’s image was chosen as one of the ‘Pictures of the Day’ (the copyright for this image is with the photographer, Charlotte Graham). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/16/pictures-day-16-december-2018/lucinda-hawksley-great-great-great-granddaughter-charles-dickens/
2 January 2019
Doctor Who and A Christmas Carol
On Sat 15 Dec, I’ll be in Malton in Yorkshire talking about ‘Doctor Who and A Christmas Carol’, as part of the Malton Dickens Festival, with BBC producer and Doctor Who expert Gavin Collinson.
On Thursday 22 November, I’ll be talking about Dickens and Christmas at Fleet Library in Hampshire. Tickets are available from the library.
17 November 2018
175 Years of A Christmas Carol
Tickets are now on sale for a very special evening at the Charles Dickens Museum in London. 19 December 2018 is the 175th anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol. I am holding a celebratory evening, together with friends who will help entertain you, in praise of Dickens’s little ghost of an idea. You can buy tickets online, or from the museum itself. https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/celebrating-175-years-of-a-christmas-carol
This is my new book! Elizabeth Revealed: 500 Facts about the Queen and her World is available now worldwide, published by Scala together with Historic Royal Palaces. You should be able to get it at your local bookshop, or you can order it online here: http://www.scalapublishers.com/title.aspx?category=&subcategory=&id=3906 (isn’t this a beautiful book jacket?)
I’ll be talking about Lizzie Siddal, Kate Perugini and Princess Louise at the Red Lion Bookshop in Colchester, Essex, at 5pm on Tuesday 23 October. Come along and see the brand new updated version of my Katey biography!
Walk through the London of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes – two fascinating men whose lives were shaped by the streets of this fascinating, and often lawless, city. Find out how Arthur Conan Doyle created the world’s most famous fictional detective, and how Sherlock grew into a literary phenomenon. The walk will begin at Regent’s Park and end near Covent Garden.
16 July 2018
Walking tour: William Morris in West London
Book tickets now for my new walking tour, happening on Sat 28 July in London.
Walk along some of the prettiest river paths in London and discover the worlds of William Morris and his friends, as well as stories of feisty suffragettes, poets, designers, and ghosts of the old river. The walk will begin at Hammersmith station and end at Ravenscourt Park.
Last night I had great fun chatting with the presenters of The Project NZ (on TV3) about my book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, and about the Auckland Writers’ Festival. If you can access facebook, you can watch this video of the interview: https://www.facebook.com/TheProjectNZ/videos/1223716704431647/
16 May 2018
Auckland Writers’ Festival
I am doing 2 events at the Auckland Writers’ Festival this month, if you’re coming along, come and say hello and get your book signed! More info here: http://www.writersfestival.co.nz
4 May 2018
Also Festival
Tickets are now on sale for Also Festival, 29 June-1 July, “the best independent ideas festival in the country” – and I’ll be speaking there. (Wellies at the ready, just in case….) Find out more here: https://www.also-festival.com
Princess Louise was born 170 years ago today. Her life was fascinating to write about – even though my research was hampered by the mysteriousness of discovering the Royal Archives have closed off her files. Discover her story, available worldwide:
I have fully updated my 2006 biography of Kate Perugini (née Dickens). Katey, as I came to know her, was a superb artist and a central figure in the late 19th-century art world; she was also my great great great aunt. This updated version was made possible by the many kind people who contacted me after reading my first edition of the book to share news about previously ‘lost’ paintings. Researching Katey again has been so fascinating. Her new biography is being published by Pen and Sword on 30 April 2018. If you order it in advance (link below), you will get a discount of £3:
I am very happy to have been invited to take part in the Auckland Writers’ Festival in May. One of my events is a talk on my NPG book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, tickets go on sale today:
If you’re a member of the University Women’s Club in London, come along to my talk about Princess Louise on 22 November. If you’re not a member, call the number on the poster and if numbers permit you can also get a ticket.
Tickets are now on sale for my event in Broadstairs on 24 September with my friend & fellow author Hallie Rubenhold. Please spread the word, thank you.
Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter, my biography of the sculptor Princess Louise, is now out in paperback in the US, published by Thomas Dunne Books.
I know it’s still only July but, at the moment, if you pre-order my upcoming book Dickens and Christmas (which is due out at the end of October), you’ll get £4 off.
On 24 September I’m doing an event in Broadstairs, Kent, with my friend and fellow author Hallie Rubenhold. Twitter has been making me laugh today, as it has been pointed out that the lack of a comma in this flyer has turned Hallie into my great great great grandmother…
3 July 2017
Warwick Literary Festival
This October, I’ll be speaking about Bitten by Witch Fever at the Warwick Literary Festival. Come along and found out how Victorians were being poisoned by their own homes.
13 June 2017
Dickens in Carrara
This July, I’ll be one of the speakers at the International Dickens Fellowship Conference in Carrara, Italy. I’ll be talking about Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelites. http://www.dickenscarrara.it/en/programme/
13 June 2017
My Guardian article
In case you missed it the first time, here is my article on Charles Dickens and the Women Who Made Him:
Thank you to the Picton Little Theatre for inviting me to speak about Dickens in their beautiful Marlborough Sounds town, on the South Island of New Zealand. The theatre might be ‘little’ but the audience was huge! It was standing room only and a superb atmosphere (helped by the mulled wine, after all, it is Winter over here).
13 June 2017
Auckland Writers’ Festival
The Auckland Writers’ Festival was amazing and inspirational. Thank you to Anne and the team for inviting me. What an incredible week!
Last night I launched my new book The Writer Abroad, an anthology of historic travel writing, from authors as diverse in time and style as Herodotus and Roald Dahl. It’s being published by the British Library on 23 February, this photo has just been tweeted by the library – the start of the book signing after the event.
14 February 2017
Sexual Harassment on Planes: BBC 5 Live radio
Last night I was invited onto the Phil Williams Show on radio BBC 5 Live, to talk about my recent experience of being harassed by a male passenger, on a British Airways flight from India (an experience over which BA have really lost my former customer loyalty). Almost no airlines have made an effort to give their staff training about how to deal with, or help, customers who are assaulted on their flights and I was shocked to discover only THREE airlines even bother to record incidents of sexual harassment on their flights! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dnpmh
14 February 2017
The Writer Abroad
My next book, The Writer Abroad, is being published by British Library Books in February 2017. I’ve just received my first author copy and it looks beautiful, with such a gorgeously tactile cover. It is an anthology of historic travel writing and shows how much our view of the world has changed as travel and tourism have evolved. On 13 February, I’m giving a talk about it at the British Library. Tickets are on sale now.
I’m excited to be speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival this month. I’ve just been reminded of an interview I did for The Times of India, when I was travelling there in 2011.
This weekend I was interviewed (by the magic of Skype) by Lynn Freeman on Radio NZ. We talked about my book Charles Dickens and his Circle. You can listen to it here, wherever you are in the world.
