On 16 September I’m doing a talk on Lizzie Siddal, for the UK Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at the Cafe Royal in Piccadilly, London, tickets are available here: http://www.ukfriendsofnmwa.org/event/salon-series-lucinda-hawksley-on-women-pre-raphaelites/
In 2012, the Tower of London welcomed two new inhabitants: a pair of ravens named Jubilee and Grip. Their arrival celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth. This Grip was the third of the Tower ravens to be named after the novelist’s own pet bird. One of his predecessors was … Read more
When Queen Victoria inherited the British throne just a few weeks after her 18th birthday, there was immediate speculation about who she would marry. Few had foreseen that this little-known princess would become their monarch. But when the country found itself with a young queen after so many dissolute Hanoverian kings, it seemed that exciting … Read more
On 28 April I will be talking about Charles Dickens’s travels in Italy at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome. Many people aren’t aware that Dickens and his family lived in Italy for a year, residing in Genoa, and that he travelled widely around the country researching his second travelogue, Pictures from Italy. http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/events/events
At 7pm on 11 February, I’ll be talking about John Singer Sargent at Bristol Art Gallery. Tickets are just ?ú3. More info here: http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/john-singer-sargent-life-lived-canvas/
I’ll be talking about March, Women, March in Winchester on the evening of Friday 13 February: http://www.winchester.gov.uk/events/details/11854
On Tuesday 28 April, I’ll be in Rome to give a talk at the Keats-Shelley House, more info to follow soon: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org
My latest article for BBC Culture on the fascination with Charles Dickens all over the world: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141216-why-the-world-loves-dickens
In the winter of 1867 a work-weary Charles Dickens arrived in Boston harbour, following a long sea voyage from England. It was 25 years since he had last visited the US, at which time he had travelled with his now-estranged wife, Catherine, celebrated his 30th birthday in Massachusetts and realised that he was indeed an … Read more