Join the inspiring author and historian Lucinda Hawksley for an intimate salon, discussing all things Persuasion!
Over afternoon tea and cakes, 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. …
When researching my biographies of Lizzie Siddal and Kate Perugini, I kept coming across a mysterious princess, attending studio parties, helping fellow artists in times of need, and being linked with several scandals. I was amazed to discover Princess Louise was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and a well-respected sculptor. …
Katey Perugini (nee Dickens), Princess Louise and Lizzie Siddal are the intriguing subjects of Lucinda’s lectures on this Day of Special Interest. …
The life-changing power of the arts is revealed by Daisy Fancourt in Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health. Informed by the results of decades of scientific studies, her book demostrates how songs support the development of children’s minds, creative hobbies help our brains to stay resilient against dementia, and visual art and music help reduce depression, stress and pain. …
Charles Dickens was one of the very first people to whom the word ‘celebrity’ was applied. He lived in an extraordinary century, full of innovators and pioneers, and he was friends with many of the most interesting people of his day. The Focus Day will include talks that accompany Lucinda’s book Charles Dickens and his Circle which was written for the National Portrait Gallery in London. Discover the fascinating circle of Dickens’s friends and acquaintances including artists, actors, musicians, radical thinkers, philanthropists and politicians as well as many of his fellow writers. …
Charles Dickens returns to the big screen in spectacular style with a major new adaptation of A Christmas Carol, starring Johnny Depp as the immortal Ebenezer Scrooge. More than 180 years after Dickens first introduced the world’s most famous miser, his stories continue to captivate filmmakers and audiences alike. [..] Lucinda Hawksley joins film writer, screenwriting lecturer and cinema historian James Clarke to explore the extraordinary journey of Dickens from page to screen. …
Bah! Humbug! Get into the festive spirit with award-winning novelist Elly Griffiths, as she discusses her novella, The Case of the Christmas Card.
Elly is author of the Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries, the Brighton mysteries and now, the time-travelling detective series, featuring Ali Dawson. Ali is getting ready for Christmas, but she’s not in a very festive mood because her friend daughter has gone missing. So, when she sees a top hat outside her front door, she decides to give the carol singers short shrift. But it isn’t carol singers. It’s Charles Dickens. …
A dead judge. A silent defendant. A courtroom full of secrets. Guilty or not guilty?
Join two thrilling new voices in crime fiction for an evening exploring the darker side of justice, deception and the stories behind the headlines.
Putting these two formidable writers in the witness box is acclaimed author, broadcaster and historian Lucinda Hawksley, whose own work spans biography, history and literary storytelling. Expect a gripping conversation about crime, courage, research and the art of keeping readers guessing until the very last page. …
An online event presented by Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. Ever wondered why we send cards, pull crackers or decorate trees? It turns out we have the Victorians (and a certain Mr. Dickens) to thank for so much we love about the festive season. …
In the mid-nineteenth century, fears that France was about to invade England, caused a large number of army corps to be set up. Almost every trade – bakers, railway-workers, butchers, bankers – had its own regiment. Artists were no exception. The registration book of the Artists’ Rifles Corp reads like an artistic edition of “Who’s Who” …
When researching my biographies of Lizzie Siddal and Kate Perugini, I kept coming across a mysterious princess, attending studio parties, helping fellow artists in times of need, and being linked with several scandals. I was amazed to discover Princess Louise was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and a well-respected sculptor. …
Past Events
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Princess Louise was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and a well-respected sculptor. Her life and legacy has been locked away in the Royal Archives ever since her death in 1939, but her work was stunning, and her life fascinating.
Lucinda will be at the Charles Dickens Museum to speak about Fanny Burnett. Frances ‘Fanny’ Dickens was the oldest child in the Dickens family and adored by her younger brother, Charles. As children they did everything together, until 1823, when Fanny was accepted as a boarding pupil at the Royal Academy of Music to train as a musician. The siblings remained close throughout their lives, with Charles very proud of his sister’s achievements. Fanny also inspired several characters in her brother’s novels. Come and hear Fanny’s great great great great granddaughter, Lucinda Hawksley, talk about this unfairly forgotten Victorian singer.
There will be the opportunity for a short Q+A following the talk.
Join author, art historian and broadcaster Lucinda Hawksley for a fascinating journey into the motivations behind her writing, as part of the WEA’s Purpose to Pen series.
Lucinda specialises in 19th? and early?20th?century art, literature and social history. An award?winning travel writer and environmental advocate, she is also the great?great?great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens. Her books include The Mystery of Princess Louise, Lizzie Siddal, March, Women, March and Charles Dickens and His Circle.
In this event, Lucinda will discuss the intersections of biography, history and creativity – and why she continues to write about the people and stories that shaped our world.
Lucinda Hawksley is an author, historian, broadcaster and travel writer.
She has been in conversations with Rhys Griff Jones, Miriam Margoles and various other well known personalities. She appears at the Dickens festivals, speaks at book events and has written about a fascinating variety of things…
She has appeared on the One Show as well as on Songs of Praise, and several other television shows. This is a one-off opportunity to hear a fascinating evening of conversation, talk and questions over a complimentary glass of wine. The bar will be open for your second glass!
119th Annual Conference & Annual General Meeting: Dickens, Fairytales & Fantasy.
Keynote Lecture by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley: Princess Alexandra (Alix) and her connection to the wider Dickens circle.
2pm – 3pm on Thursday 6 August, 2026.
Lucinda will be at the Charles Dickens Museum to speak about Anny Thackeray. When researching her biography of Dickens’s artist daughter, Katey, Lucinda Hawksley became fascinated by Anny Thackeray, a close friend of the Dickens girls. Anny was the older daughter of the novelist William Thackeray and she became a famous novelist in her own right. In her own time, she was celebrated for her writing, like so many women, however, her achievements have since been forgotten by history. Come along on 30 July and find out all about the famous Victorian writer you’ve probably never heard of! Anny was a brilliant and fascinating woman, whose story deserves to be much better known.
There will be the opportunity for a short Q+A following the talk.
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was made up of seven precocious, talented and astonishingly forward-thinking young men who changed the face of 19th-century art and artistic society. They included in their number a Beethoven-style child genius; a romantic Italian obsessed with a long-dead medieval poet; a fervent traveller who spent years in obscure areas of the Middle East and whose fervour for painting by moonlight led his neighbours to believe him insane; and a young man who staked everything he had on the Australian goldrush. Their lives were as extraordinary as their art and the circle in which they moved makes for a truly exciting story.
Kvinderne i Dickens’ romaner
Charles Dickens is often criticized for writing stereotypical and submissive female characters, yet many of his female figures were anything but that.
In this lecture, author and art historian Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, Charles Dickens’ great-great-granddaughter, sheds new light on the often overlooked female characters in his novels. She explores women who were independent, had careers, or broke with the norms of the time regarding how a woman was expected to behave.
A fascinating look at 19th-century Great Britain and the strong women Dickens both knew and wrote about.
NB: The lecture will be held in English.
Author, lecturer, and Charles Dickens expert Lucinda Hawksley on the diverse, powerful and fascinating women in the works of Dickens.
Charles Dickens is often accused of writing only unbelievably compliant and domesticated women in his novels, but many of his female characters have very strong personalities and fascinating lives, reflecting the strong and interesting women Dickens knew.
Lucinda Hawksley is an author, art historian, broadcaster, lecturer, and an expert on the writings and the life of Charles Dickens, of whom Hawksley is also a descendant, being the great-great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated author.
The event is in English.