Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189
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Contact: Communications and Development
FREE LIBRARY CELEBRATES YEAR OF DICKENS 2012 WITH LITERARY SALONS AND SPECIAL SPEAKER SERIES
Salons will focus on a different Dickens novel each month of the year
PHILADELPHIA, December 21, 2011—The Free Library of Philadelphia continues its Year of Dickens 2012 with monthly literary salons featuring a different Dickens novel each month. The salons will take place on the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. in the Elkins Room of the Rare Book Department at the Parkway Central Library. The salon discussions are free and open to all readers. Registration information is available at freelibrary.org/dickens.
The line-up for the salons is as follows:
• January 19 – The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
• February 16 – Oliver Twist
• March 15 – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
• April 19 – The Old Curiosity Shop
• May 17 – David Copperfield
• June 21 – Great Expectations
• July 19 – A Tale of Two Cities
• August 16 – Barnaby Rudge
• September 20 – Nicholas Nickleby
• October 18 – Bleak House
• November 15 – Our Mutual Friend
• December 20– A Christmas Carol
In addition to the group discussions, guest authors and writers with Dickens expertise will visit the Library during reading periods for the novels as a part of the Boz Bicentenary Speaker Series, named after Dickens’s self-stylized nickname. The schedule, which will be featured on freelibrary.org/dickens, includes Richard Bravo on The Pickwick Papers on January 11; Matthew Pearl on The Mystery of Edwin Drood on March 6; and Wesley Stace on David Copperfield on May 9. For more information on registering for these author events and the literary salon, visit freelibrary.org/dickens.
Siobhan Reardon, President and Director of the Free Library, praised the scope of the Year of Dickens 2012: “Each month we’ve got something new to add to the list of Dickens celebrations. It’s wonderful to see a historically important author like Dickens inspiring a whole new audience, 200 years after his birth.”
In addition to the literary salons, the Library’s Year of Dickens 2012 includes special exhibitions, author events, holiday celebrations, and more. For more information, visit freelibrary.org/dickens.
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The Free Library of Philadelphia system consists of 49 branches, three regional libraries, the Parkway Central Library, and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. With more than 6 million visits annually, the Free Library is one of the most widely used educational and cultural institutions in Philadelphia.
12/21/2011
Department of External Affairs, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189
(215) 567-7710, FAX (215) 567-7850