The current special exhibition continues at the Charles Dickens Museum with a series of free talks
The Charles Dickens Museum’s current special exhibition Extra / Ordinary Women opened in February and has received widespread praise from press and visitors. The exhibition celebrates the real women who influenced Dickens and reveal the clues which help match several of them to their fictional counterparts. Artists, writers, actors, philanthropists, Dickens knew plenty of extraordinary women, including those in his own family.
On until 6 September 2026 there will also be a series of free talks accompanying the exhibition, you can either come along in person or book a free online ticket, including access to a recording if you can’t watch live.
Wednesday 17 June, 1.30pm (online only) Author Livi Michael talks about the research and inspiration for her new novel, Elizabeth and Ruth, based on the real correspondence between Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens.
Thursday 25 June, 12.30pm (online only) Join Professor Christine Skelton as she delves into the life of Dickens’s ‘best and truest friend’, his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth.
Thursday 30 July, 12.30pm Lucinda Dickens Hawksley will be speaking about 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.
Thursday 20 August, 12.30pm Lucinda Dickens Hawksley will be illuminating the life of Frances ‘Fanny’ Dickens. Sister of Charles Dickens, in 1823 Fanny was accepted as a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music to train as a musician. Come and learn more about her life and how she also inspired several characters in her brother’s novels.
Thursday 10 September, 4pm (online only)
Caroline Malcolm Boulton will explore whether Dickens’s female characters are ‘mad, bad, or too good to be true’. Are they dramatic caricatures, or are they emblematic of women in the wider Victorian society? Do they also perhaps reflect Dickens’ own experience and exploitations of women? Come along to find out more.
To book, please visit https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events
