Past Events
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 and their sleuthing adventures, as well as the real-life investigators and crime cases that inspired both his fiction and journalism.
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, including Dickens and Christmas and Dickens and Travel.
Photo credit: Katrina Campbell
‘Loving longest’: Women, constancy and care in Persuasion.
Join acclaimed author Emily Howes for a fascinating conversation about Persuasion and how it deals with women’s relationships, the intricacies of class and social mobility, and the expectations around caring and care.
Emily will consider comparison points in Persuasion and her novel The Painter’s Daughters which tells the story of Peggy and Molly Gainsborough and explores sisterhood, sex, control and individuality.
Emily will be in conversation with author, broadcaster and biographer Lucinda Hawksley.
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.
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.
Join Lucinda on a walking tour of Arthur Conan-Doyle and Sherlock Holmes’s London.
When Audible asked me to write a podcast about ‘The Real Sherlock’, I decided to create a walking tour of London that would take in some of the most important places in the lives of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – and the world’s most famous detective. Join me to discover the places that inspired the author and helped him to create Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson and many other memorable characters.
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.
Friday 4 July
Departure from Piazza Alberica
9:00 pm
Dickens and the Anglo-Americans in Carrara
Travelling conference
Curated by Davide Lambruschi and Marzia Dati
Saturday 5 July
Dickens Fellowship – Piazza Alberica
5:30 pm
Inaugural greetings
Marzia Dati
President of the Italian Branch of the Dickens Fellowship
Francesca Orestano
Emeritus Professor of English Literature – University of Milan, Honorary Member of the Italian Branch of the Dickens Fellowship
6:00 pm
Dickens and Travel
Lucinda Dickens Hawksley
International President of the Dickens Fellowship, writer, essayist, art historian and biographer
7:00 pm
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Presentation of the Italian translation of the unfinished novel by Dickens
Saverio Tomaiuolo
Associate Professor of English Language, Translation and Linguistics
University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
Talk with Francesca Orestano
Garden party to follow
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.