Welcome to the bicentennary

The Dickens Fellowship, founded in 1902, is a worldwide association of people who share an interest in the life and works of Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870). For more information about our organisation visit the organisation page.

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Message from the President

Spring 2012 issue of The Dickensian

The Dickensian

Howard Jacobson, Philip Pullman, David Mitchell, Simon Callow, Jacqueline Wilson, James Naughtie 

All Writing in the Spring 2012 issue of
The Dickensian

Great Expectations at The Charles Dickens Museum - Beyond The Bicentenary

Charles Dickens MuseumThe Dickens Fellowship showed great foresight in its initial purchase of 48 and 49 Doughty Street and establishing them as an independent charitable trust – now the Charles Dickens Museum. Far-sighted members of the Fellowship today will rejoice at the success of the Museum’s £3m Great Expectations project, which will safeguard the fabric of the two buildings and the security of the Museum’s unique collections.

Welcome to the Bicentenary

Mark Dickens The Bicentenary is here and it is thrilling to see the worldwide interest it is generating. I am sure you will join with me in thanking the Dickens2012 team and Film London who have done such a truly terrific job with their small dedicated staff. Their hard work is well demonstrated by the media explosion of all things Dickensian. Indeed there is so much to see and read, I hope you are able to keep up with it all. I would be very surprised if there are any newspapers at the moment that do not mention Charles Dickens in some way. I can’t imagine what coverage there will be as we approach 7 February!

Watch Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol - On Demand

Christmas Carol graphicEMPIRE magazine
“Indeed, Figgis succeeds in achieving a sense of well-being without suffusing it with the sentimentality that so often blights this happiest of endings……. However, he deserves most credit for remaining faithful to the tone of the text, as film fans and Dickens aficionados alike will soon appreciate on visiting”.

Jason Figgis’s film version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is the first ever full Irish film of a work by Charles Dickens. In this version the filmmakers have tried to keep wherever possible faithful to the great writers own words – “why change a perfectly written line in favour of something inferior”.  It is a very dark interpretation trying to reclaim the story from its Disneyification. For those wanting the jolly Christmas romp this is not for you.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL will be available from 12:01 AM on 1st January 2012 (UK time) making it the first new version of a work by Charles Dickens in his Bicentenary year.

Watch Charles Dickens's England - On Demand

Derek JacobiIn CHARLES DICKENS'S ENGLAND , Sir Derek Jacobi takes the viewer around the most important places, towns and cities that were the inspiration to some of the most famous settings in literature. The DVD features Cooling Church in Kent, used by the author in the opening chapter of Great Expectations; Miss Havisham's house in Rochester; the almost forgotten London Roman Baths used by David Copperfield; Joe Gargey's cottage in Chalk, the notorious Bowes Academy, the harshest of the Yorkshire schools and now known to the world as Dotheboys Hall. From Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight and then on to numerous London locations; from Chatham to Broadstairs; from Folkestone to Barnard Castle and then to St George's Hall in Liverpool.

This Web Site is dedicated to the late Martha Rosso

A member of the Philadelphia Branch for over 35 years, Martha Rosso (née Pamplin) was one of the Fellowship's most dynamic and best loved figures. She contributed unstintingly to its business right to the very end of her life. Click here to read more about Martha Rosso.