News
Race, Violence, and Form in Nineteenth-Century Ireland
March 27, 2025
Dickens Day Dances into the Kern River Valley
March 24, 2025
The 12th Grade Honors English class at Kern Valley High School in Lake Isabella, CA, participated in its first "Dickens Day of Writing" on February 7, the author's birthday. Teacher Ray Crosby, a longtime Dickens Universe participant, worked with the Dickens Project and UCSC to host the event at this small mountain school in the Sequoia National Forest, about an hour east of Bakersfield.
Father-Daughter Team Finds the Universe Delightful
March 24, 2025
"I had to bargain hard for my dad to come with me, but I eventually convinced him! I still remember when we got our room assignments, and my dad plopped himself down, and I said, 'How does it feel to be back at college?' and we both laughed. It really is an amazing experience, both academically and personally."
McGee is a “Little Dickens”
March 24, 2025
"'The Old Curiosity Shop' is a perfect read for those with pets, especially dogs. Phiz’s illustration of Jerry and his dancing dogs and Charles Green’s depiction of the dog troupe performing for Nell fit right into McGee’s lineage."
A “Sweet Störy”
March 24, 2025
Friends of the Dickens Project President Michael Stern wears another hat when he’s not performing his duties for the Friends—he’s a movie producer!
Grads Re-Connect at Winter Conference
March 24, 2025
"The winter conference gave us all space to learn from other students at different career stages—those in the job market, those completing graduate coursework, and those in the midst of writing dissertations—and to present our own research in a supportive environment in which we already felt seen, known, and at home."
Annual Dickens Day of Writing Celebrates Four Years
March 24, 2025
The fourth annual Dickens Day of Writing took place on Friday, February 7, Dickens’s 213th birthday. High school juniors and seniors from Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Clara Counties took part, as did students in San Mateo and even further afield—Atlanta, Cleveland, and this year, Lake Isabella, CA.
The Quintessence of Theater—Dickens Universe Style
March 24, 2025
John Bowen, Abraham says, is the one who suggested that he revive the farce. “He was my supervisor at the University of York, where I did the MA degree in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture,” Abraham says. “And I suppose he had a vague idea that I had a theatre or creative-writing background. It also helped that my master’s research was on Victorian imitations of 'The Pickwick Papers.'”
The 2024 Dickens Universe
November 15, 2024
Plans for the Dickens Day of Writing
November 15, 2024
A popular Humanities course is unwrapping the strange and fraught history and cultural afterlife of Egyptian mummies
November 15, 2024
A Christmas Carol at Santa Cruz Shakespeare
November 15, 2024
The Dickens Project is excited to announce a collaboration with Santa Cruz Shakespeare this winter to provide a freshly intricate telling of "A Christmas Carol" at the Santa Cruz County Veteran’s Memorial Building
Dickens Project gets prestigious $200,000 NEH grant to host institute for high school teachers
October 16, 2024
A $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities is funding a new Dickens Project initiative, an in-person institute for 25 high school teachers from across the United States. The institute will help teachers consider bold new approaches to teaching Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel Great Expectations.
Dickens Universe 2024: A Spirited Celebration of Great Expectations
August 9, 2024
This summer, Charles Dickens readers converged on campus for the 43rd annual Dickens Universe, where a shared familiarity with Great Expectations added a sense of kinship and intimacy.
A “Reunion” of Dickens and Shakespeare
July 17, 2024
A renewed collaboration between The Dickens Project and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, including a summer offer!
An Oral History of the Universe
July 17, 2024
An ongoing project about the creation and continuation of our cornerstone conference. A story of community.
Coming Back for More
July 17, 2024
Glenna Matthews recounts her fateful discovery of the Universe and why she now returns every year.
Hannah Baumgarten’s Havisham! Explores a Bitter Life
July 17, 2024
Learn more about the Universe's featured dance screening from an interview with Artistic Director Hannah Baumgarten, who has a generational connection to the piece.
NEW! Dickensian Pet Profiles and Pet Calendar
July 17, 2024
Join in on some furry, Dickensian fun inspired by the Charles Dickens Museum in London! In the best and worst of times, our pets are with us through it all.
Meet One of Our First-Time Speakers: Elaine Auyoung
July 17, 2024
In this profile piece, Dr. Auyoung, associate professor of English at the University of Minnesota, discusses her recent work and relationship to Dickens. She will be giving a lecture at this year's Universe titled "Learning to Feel Ashamed of Home".
Updated! Lura Johnson and Jason Rudy to Perform This Summer
July 17, 2024
This summer's Dickens Universe will feature a performance by pianist Lura Johnson, the Resident Pianist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Principal Pianist of the Delaware Symphony. Johnson will be joined by Jason Rudy, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, blending music, poetry, and discussion for a night to remember.
“I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.”
July 11, 2024
After missing last summer's Dickens Universe, the Project's Assistant Director, Courtney Mahaney, is overjoyed to return this year–now with a new gait!
