Welcome to the official website of The Philadelphia Branch of The Dickens Fellowship. You've just discovered one of the city's oldest and best kept secrets. Since 1907, lovers of Dickens have been meeting monthly in Philadelphia to discuss the life, the times and the works of one of the greatest writers who ever lived. There is no more appropriate place, anywhere in America, for the memory of the man who wrote A Christmas Carol to thrive, than in the City of Brotherly Love!

The fellowship meets one Saturday afternoon a month to share good food and conviviality in the true spirit of Dickens and to enjoy the day’s Dickens presentation and discussions. If you do not live in the Philadelphia area and are unable to attend meetings, you can read about the meetings and about Dickens in general in our monthly newsletter, The Buzfuz Bulletin, which will be mailed to you. Our season opens in September with an overview of a chosen Dickens book of the year. At Christmas, we celebrate the immortal Christmas Carol by engaging in some spirited fun. In February, we pay our greatest homage to Charles Dickens as we celebrate the anniversary of his birth with a Toast to the Immortal Memory of the man who truly made Christmas merry! Our season ends with a June Outing.

The Dickens Fellowship is a worldwide organization with branches in twenty-three cities in America, as well as branches throughout Europe, in Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. It's said to be the largest literary society in the world. The Central branch in London was founded in 1902, with our branch coming into existence just five years later, in 1907. We celebrated the 100th anniversary of our founding by hosting the Annual International Conference here in Philadelphia in 2007. We now look forward to joining in the world-wide celebration of Dickens’s 200th birthday by planning celebratory events to be held right here in Philadelphia in February 2012.

I personally extend an invitation to all of you who have been touched by the magic of Charles Dickens's words, to join our branch of the Dickens Fellowship and begin a fascinating journey of knowledge; learning about the man who defined the Victorian age in the literary works he left behind. It is from these works and from the extraordinary events of his own life as a journalist and famous author that we fully realize his unique place in the history of civilization.

Yours in fellowship,

Patricia A. Vinci
President

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