Bridging Space and Time with Victorian Literature
The Dickens Project promotes innovative and public-facing research on Charles Dickens and nineteenth-century literature and culture
During Dickens Project events, students, teachers, scholars, and members of the general public think and learn together to build a community of readers
The Dickens Project creates programs with schools, theater groups, book clubs, and other community organizations to help people enhance their love of literature
Save the Date
The Bleak House Dickens Universe will take place from Sunday, July 26–Saturday, August 1, 2026. Please stay tuned for details.
Santa Cruz Pickwick Club
The Santa Cruz Pickwick (Book) Club, a branch of the Dickens Fellowship, is a community of bookworms, students, and teachers who meet virtually on the fourth Sunday of the month, from September–June, to discuss 19th-century novels. This year, the focus will be on Charles Dickens’s masterpiece Bleak House.
Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. — Bleak House
Signature Events
Annual Conference
Winter Conference
Graduate students present their work to faculty at the winter conference, in contrast to the Dickens Universe where faculty present to students. Beforehand, each student pairs with a faculty member from another university for feedback and mentorship. The conference fosters continuing conversations, collaboration, and skill development in public speaking and teaching.
Annual Multi-City Writing Retreat
The Dickens Day of Writing
This annual event combines a writing retreat with a competition for high school juniors and seniors. Guided by a short essay from Dickens, participants strengthen skills in reading, analysis, writing, creativity, and cultural history while preparing for future academic and professional paths.
Summer Educational Offering
NEH Summer Institutes for Teachers
Our summer NEH programs invite teachers into sustained study of major texts and ideas in the humanities, encouraging reading, discussion, writing, and reflection. The goal is to expand knowledge and deepen engagement with scholarship beyond the classroom curriculum.
Support the Dickens Project
Help us bring Victorian literature to learners of all ages!
Santa Cruz Pickwick Club presents: Bleak House
Santa Cruz Pickwick Club presents: Bleak House