Past Events
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.
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]

On 9th June 1925 the Charles Dickens Museum first opened to the public. Eager crowds gathered on the street in a wave of jubilation that the home of the great author had been saved from demolition and was now a space to be admired and enjoyed.
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?

In June 1882, Sigmund Freud gave a copy of David Copperfield, his favourite Dickens novel, to Martha Bernays. This copy — one of the 1,600 volumes which were brought from Vienna to London in 1938 when the Freud family fled Nazi persecution — remains in Freud’s library at the Museum today. 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.
Photo credit: “Freud’s library” by Thomas Quine on Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Author, art historian, broadcaster and President of the International Dickens Fellowship, Lucinda Hawksley will talk about her life and work in conversation with James Clarke, writer and lecturer.

Join the English Department at the Dining Hall for an event in memory of Jackie Elmquist ’22. Renowned author Lucinda Hawksley will speak on Charles Dickens and travel, two of Jackie’s favorite topics, as all who knew her can confirm. Hawksley is a prolific writer who is in great demand as a speaker; she is also the beloved London professor of many a Skidmore First-Year London student. What’s more, she happens to be the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Dickens himself.
Come out to enjoy and to learn from a lively speaker and to honor the memory of a dearly missed alumna, who died tragically in December 2023. A reception will follow the talk.
This event is free and open to the public.