Hear celebrated poets recite new work to celebrate Dickens' 200th birthday
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Charles Dickens
ÔÇÿEnjoy a Dickensian Sunday lunchtime in a place where the great novelist himself once gave a readingÔÇÖ
This Sunday afternoon (12 February), renowned poets are gathering at the Great Expectations Hotel & Bar in Reading to launch an anthology of new poems that celebrates the life of Charles Dickens in his bicentennial year.
Edited by Professor Peter Robinson, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Reading, A Mutual Friend: Poems for Charles Dickens contains work prompted by incidents from Dickens' life, the characters and plots of his novels, or their afterlife in other arts and cultural memory.
Several of the anthology's contributors, including Jane Draycott, A. F. Harrold, Susan Utting and Adrian Blamires will be present to read their poems.
Professor Robinson said: "This is an opportunity for the local community to enjoy a Dickensian Sunday lunchtime in a place where the great novelist himself once gave a reading. The anthology includes contributions from more than fifty poets of national and international standing, their work offering a series of intimate glimpses into Dickens' place in the current poetic imagination."
The anthology is beautifully designed in the best traditions of Two Rivers Press. The front cover is an illustration by Martin Andrews, formerly of the University of Reading's Department of Typography. It depicts the Mechanics Institute, Reading, now the Great Expectations Hotel & Bar, where Dickens himself visited and read.
Copies are priced at £10, ISBN: 978-1-901677-78-2 and can be ordered from Two Rivers Press www.tworiverspress.com
The event will take place in the Great Expectations Hotel & Bar Library, 33 London Street, RG1 4PS, on Sunday February 12, 12pm until 3.00pm