Lucinda’s Diary

Persuasion Salon with Lucinda Hawksley at Jane Austen’s House

Date: 21 September 2025
Time: 10-11am
Location: Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire, GU34 1SD
Talks & Events
Jane Austen's House Museum, Chawton
Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Join the inspiring author and historian Lucinda Hawksley for an intimate salon, discussing all things Persuasion! Over tea and cake, Lucinda will share some of her favourite scenes, characters and moments from the novel, and lead a discussion on everything from long engagements to hedgerow rambles, romantic letters and seaside ramparts. …

‘Loving longest’: In Conversation with Emily Howes at Jane Austen’s House

Date: 21 September 2025
Time: 12-1pm
Location: Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Hampshire, GU34 1SD
Talks & Events
Emily Howes Author Credit Katrina Campbell
Emily Howes - Photo credit: Katrina Campbell

Join acclaimed author Emily Howes for a fascinating conversation with Lucinda Hawksley about Persuasion and how it deals with women’s relationships, the intricacies of class and social mobility, and the expectations around caring and care. …

A Dickens walking tour of London

Date: 24 September 2025
Time: 2-4pm
Location: From Bloomsbury to Marylebone
Talks & Events
Dickens walking tour LH

Walk around Charles Dickens’s London from his former home in Bloomsbury to where he was living when he wrote A Christmas Carol. Your guide, Lucinda Hawksley, is a great great great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens and the author of more than 20 books […]

Dickens And The Detectives

Date: 25 September 2025
Time: 7-9pm
Location: Medina Bookshop, 50 High Street, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7RR
Talks & Events
Dickens And The Detectives event poster

Join authors Angela Buckley and Lucinda Hawksley for a special event looking at Victorian detective stories, from real-life mysteries to those created by Charles Dickens (Lucinda’s great great great grandfather). The talk will explore the legendary author’s fascination with detectives …

Judge at Isle of Wight Book Awards 2025

Date: 7 October 2025
Location: Isle of Wight Literary Festival
Talks & Events
Isle of Wight Book Awards 2025

This year’s award ceremony marks the opening event of the Isle of Wight Literary Festival. Taking place at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes on Tuesday 7th October, the Presentation Lunch will include an opening speech by award founder Hunter Davies, with all three judges in attendance. …

Lucinda in Conversation with Tim Spector, Author of Ferment: The Life Changing Power of Microbes

Date: 17 October 2025
Time: 7.45-8.45pm
Location: Wells Festival of Literature
Talks & Events
Tim Spector Ferment: The Life Changing Power of Microbes book cover

This riveting read provides a vital look at the inside story of our food: what we eat and how we should be eating it. Tim Spector introduces us to a way of eating that’s not only nutritious and cheap but also one of the longest and best-established systems in the world. Something that’s both simple and fool-proof but at the same time life-changing! Fermentation. …

Interviewing Miriam Margolyes at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton

Date: 19 October 2025
Time: 7pm
Location: Mayflower Theatre Commercial Road Southampton Hampshire SO15 1GE
Talks & Events
Miriam Margolyes From A to Z

Miriam Margolyes From A to Z

Whether sharing daring declarations, behind-the-scenes antics, or the indignities of ageing, Miriam’s insights will touch your heart, provoke your thoughts, and leave you in stitches. With her signature candour, unpredictability, and unvarnished truth, the irreplaceable Miriam Margolyes will deliver an experience as unique and extraordinary as she is. …

An event with Shaun Usher at Whitby Lit Fest

Date: 7 November 2025
Time: 7-8.30pm
Location: Eighteen, 91 Brunswick Street, Whitby YO21 1RB
Talks & Events
Shaun Usher

Shaun Usher is a literary phenomenon – the appointed custodian of letters, lists and now, diaries. Join him in conversation with historian and author, Lucinda Hawksley, featuring actor Miriam Margolyes giving very special diary readings. …

Great Expectations: Barbara Havelocke and Lucinda Hawksley at Whitby Lit Fest

Date: 8 November 2025
Time: 10-11.30am
Location: Whitby Museum, Pannett Park, Whitby YO21 1RE
Talks & Events
Great Expectations LH event

Dubbed ‘gloriously Gothic’ (Daily Mail), Estella’s Revenge reimagines the story of Charles Dickens’ Miss Havisham – the world’s most famous jilted bride. Long fascinated with Miss Havisham’s daughter, Estella, Barbara asks the question: What kind of emotionally-scarred adult would Estella become? …

What the Dickens? Author Dinner with Lucinda Hawksley at Whitby Lit Fest

Date: 8 November 2025
Time: 7 for 7.30pm
Location: White Horse & Griffin, 87 Church Street, Whitby, North Yorkshire, Y022 4BH
Talks & Events
What the Dickens? Author Dinner with Lucinda Hawksley

Join a descendant of Dickens over a delicious dinner at The White Horse and Griffin, the original coaching inn where Dickens stayed whilst visiting Whitby. …

An event with Miriam Margolyes at Whitby Lit Fest

Date: 8 November 2025
Time: 3pm
Location: Whitby Spa Pavilion Theatre, West Cliff, Whitby YO21 3EN
Talks & Events
Miriam Margolyes by Carole Barghi

A life-long Dickens aficionado, her recent Edinburgh Fringe show was Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits. She comes to Whitby at the end of a book tour for her latest memoir.
Join her for a candid interview with her long-time friend: Dickens’ great, great, great granddaughter, the author, art historian and broadcaster, Lucinda Hawksley, as she discusses her latest book: The Little Book of Miriam, an A-Z of wit and wisdom. …

‘Charles Dickens and his Legacy’ at Thomas Poole Library, Nether Stowey, Somerset

Date: 19 November 2025
Location: The Thomas Poole Library, Castle Street, Nether Stowey TA5 1LN
Talks & Events
Thomas Poole Library, Nether Stowey

An evening with writer and broadcaster Lucinda Hawksley, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Lucinda will explore the life and enduring influence of her celebrated ancestor, offering fresh insights into his world and the creative legacy he left behind. This promises to be a fascinating blend of literary heritage and contemporary perspective, bringing Dickens’s relevance to today’s audiences. …

Recent Events

A Remarkable Woman – May Morris and her Circle: Talk at May Morris Study Day

Date: 15 September 2025
Time: 12.15-1.15pm
Location: Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum East Cliff Promenade, Bournemouth, BH1 3AA
Talks & Events
May Morris

A child of the Arts & Crafts movement, May Morris was born at the Red House and grew up in the bohemian, complicated, and often heartbreaking atmosphere of her parents’ artistic milieu. She became a prolific artist, as well as a fervent suffragist, and cultivated her own fascinating circle of friends, yet May remained in the shadow of her famous father and – until recent years – was seldom given credit for her own work. …

Sherlock Holmes Walking Tour

Date: 31 August 2025
Time: 2.30-4.30pm
Location: Baker Street Station - 139 Gloucester Place, London NW1 5AL
Talks & Events
Baker Street station Sherlock Holmes profile design
The ghostly presence of Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street by Mike Quinn, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a great chance to see parts of London you’ve not been able to visit – or perhaps you live in London and have simply walked past without knowing their significance. Come and discover some of the hidden wonders of this wonderful city and be immersed in the London of Sherlock Holmes. …

Dickens and Unitarianism: Talk at Annual Conference of The Dickens Fellowship

Date: 15 July 2025
Time: 9am
Location: Conference Centre, Canterbury Cathedral - Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, The Precincts, The King's Mile, Canterbury, CT1 2EH
Talks & Events
Annual Conference of The Dickens Fellowship

Speaker at the 118th Annual Conference of The Dickens Fellowship. …

Dickens – A Never Ending Story at The Dickens Fellowship of Carrara

Date: 4 July 2025 - 5 July 2025
Location: Dickens Fellowship - Piazza Alberica - Carrara
Talks & Events
The Dickens Fellowship of Carrara

Carrara is preparing to welcome Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, the great-granddaughter of renowned English author Charles Dickens. Her visit, organised by the Carrara branch of the Fellowship, marks an important recognition of the cultural work the association has been carrying out locally and nationally since 2013. …

Southwold Arts Festival: Dickens and Travel

Date: 26 June 2025
Time: 11am
Location: Southwold Arts Centre, St Edmunds Hall, Cumberland Road Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6JP
Talks & Events
Dickens and Travel

Charles Dickens was fascinated by tales from other countries and cultures and longed to see the world. Lucinda Hawksley looks at the journeys made by the Victorian author – who is also her great great great grandfather. …

Doughty Street: the history of the area and its Dickens connections

Date: 10 June 2025
Time: 3pm
Location: Zoom / Live talk at St Dunstan's Church Hall, 80 London Road, Canterbury, CT2 8LS
Talks & Events
Dickens Fellowship logo

This is a hybrid meeting. Please join us in St Dunstan’s Church Hall, Canterbury, if you can, or request the Zoom details by email from [email protected]

Celebrating the 100th birthday of The Charles Dickens Museum, with free entry

Date: 9 June 2025
Time: 10-6pm
Location: Charles Dickens Museum, 48-49 Doughty Street, London, WC1N 2LX
Talks & Events
Charles Dickens Museum

On Monday 9 June, we’ll be celebrating the 100th birthday of The Charles Dickens Museum, with free entry. I’ll be there for most of the day, together with other family members. Maybe I’ll see you there? …

Freud’s 4 pm session: Dickens, Freud, and the Making of David Copperfield

Date: 7 June 2025
Time: 4-5pm
Location: Freud Museum London, 20 Maresfield Gardens London, NW3 5SX
Talks & Events
Freud’s Library

In this special event, Lucinda Hawksley will explore what was happening in Dickens’s life at the time of working on David Copperfield and the inspirations behind what is widely considered to be his most autobiographical novel. …