News & Announcements
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Peanut!
Friends of the Dickens Project Board President Mike Stern had a reverse Dickensian experience when he tried to adopt Peanut in 2015. Rather than being met with open arms as a prospective adopter of a little soul needing a home, the adoption agency raised doubts about Mike’s suitability to care for a dog. Here’s his story:
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Attending the Dickens Universe was nothing short of life-changing for me.
For a community college undergraduate, participating in the Dickens Universe’s welcoming and intellectually vibrant community fostered a deep sense of belonging while the collaborative study of ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ strengthened a passion for English and literature.
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Teresa Mangum Wins Award
Teresa Mangum, professor emeritus at the University of Iowa, was awarded the 2026 Francis Andrew March Award by the Associated Departments of English (ADE) in recognition of her significant contributions to literary studies and academic leadership.
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“Dickens and Soundscape: The Old Curiosity Shop“
Please join the Dickens Project for the rescheduled Dickens Universe talk by John Jordan, Dickens Project Co-Founder and Co-Director. Delve into the sounds of The Old Curiosity Shop on Sunday, December 7, from 1:00-2:30 PM (Pacific time).
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Festival of Monsters: Oh, the Horror!
Oh, The Horror!”, a panel where they will talk about monsters, horror, and why they write stories that scare.
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Talking Tales of the Undead
October 8, 2025 at 6:30 PM | Santa Cruz Public Libraries Downtown Branch Join UC Santa Cruz professors Michael Chemers (The Monster in Theater History), Renée Fox (The Necromantics), and Kimberly J. Lau (Specters of the Marvelous) as they discuss the histories and politics of vampires, ghouls, zombies and other undead monsters in literature, theater, and pop culture in this free…
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This spooky season, join UC Santa Cruz experts in exploring what scares us and why
As Halloween approaches, UC Santa Cruz faculty are undertaking scholarly investigations of zombies, digging up cultural histories of vampires, and delving deeply into the metaphysics of creepiness.
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The 45th Dickens Universe
The 45th annual Dickens Universe was held at John R. Lewis College/College 10 at the University of California at Santa Cruz, July 20-26. The book this year was The Old Curiosity Shop. There were 172 people registered; 26 of those attended virtually. The week started out with questions about narrators and protagonists. Teresa Mangum of the…
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The Profound and Lasting Effect of Dickens’s ‘Carol’
For Don Peri, a childhood comic introduced an enduring love for A Christmas Carol, leading to decades of rereading and reflection. The story has inspired holiday traditions, from decorating and gift giving to writing heartfelt letters to his family.
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Renée Fox Wins the 2025 Sonya Rudikoff Award
In April, the Universe’s own Renée Fox, Co-Director of the Dickens Project, Associate Professor in the UCSC Literature Department, and the Jordan-Stern Presidential Chair for Dickens and Nineteenth-Century Studies, was awarded the Northeast Victorian Studies Association’s (NVSA) Sonya Rudikoff Award for her 2023 book, The Necromantics: Reanimation, the Historical Imagination, and Victorian British and Irish…
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Arboretum Tour
The “garden was bright with flowers in full bloom, which shed a sweet odour all around, and had a charming and elegant appearance. Everything within the house and without, seemed to be the perfection of neatness and order.”
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The Pickwick Club presents Malcolm Andrews
Join us for the Santa Cruz Dickens Fellowship / Pickwick Club’s special discussion of The Old Curiosity Shop with Malcolm Andrews, author and Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Kent. Explore the intricate artwork and history of the original edition on Saturday, July 12, from 9:00-10:30 AM (Pacific time).