General interest

Dickens Day 2026 will be held on Saturday 10 October at Senate House, London WC1E 7HU.

The theme will be 'Dickens and Family'. 

Coinciding with the 180th anniversary of the publication of Dombey & Son in Octoter 1846, the day will focus on how the concept of family informed Dickens's life and works. Dickens's novels show us the best and worst of family life; the intrinsic support and love demonstrated amongst the Cratchitts is contrast wildly with the in-fighting of the Chuzzlewits. Then there are the groups that challenge our notion of the traditional nuclear family unit: the found family of the Pickwick Club, or guardians and adoptive parents such as Dan Peggotty or Miss Havisham.

Beyond the novels, Dickens's relationship with his own family was complicated. There was the ongoing tension with his parents and siblings over money and debt; his great expectations and high demands for his children; and, of course, the conflict between his public persona as a champion of the domestic scene and his separation from his wife.

Discussion of all these points, and their impact on Dickens's writing and legacy, will be considered. 

To book your place, please click here.

Call for Papers - the deadline for this was 15 June 2026.

Papers were requested on topics including, but not limited to: 

• Parents and children: responsibility, nurture vs nature, and inheritance
• Siblings: rivalries, hierarchies, doubles, and mutual support
• Gender roles and expectations, both subverted and upheld
• Found and extended families; adoptive parents, guardians, friends
• Love, marriage and courtship
• Genealogy, heritage and genetics
• Family and class, public perceptions of private life
• Art imitating life: Dickens's own familial relations
• The generation gap: changing ideas and familial duty
• The Victorian child: education, training, and development

The Dickens Day committee can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.