Spanning over 50 countries, the British Council’s programme for Dickens 2012 will feature major UK writers including Claire Tomalin, David Nicholls, Louise Doughty, Toby Litt, DJ Taylor, Denise Mina, John Burnside and Philip Hensher as well as work by immersive theatre company Punchdrunk in Pakistan. Dickens themed English language teaching materials will be distributed across the British Council’s global English teaching network and schools in the UK will be linked with their peers overseas to explore Dickens’ work.
Dickens 2012 is a major programme of events and activities to mark the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, who was born on 7 February 1812. The British Council – the UK’s cultural relations body – is working with partners including the Charles Dickens Museum and Film London to develop global activity that will include brand new film adaptations, art exhibitions, public readings, immersive theatre, educational events and creative workshops.
Beginning in October and running until spring 2012, the programme will explore one of the UK’s most renowned and popular authors, engaging audiences overseas both with Charles Dickens and with the best of contemporary British creative talent. Participating countries include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Brazil, Burma, China, Columbia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestinian territories, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in over 100 countries in the arts, education and English and in 2010/11 we engaged face to face with 30 million people and reached 578 million. We have 6,800 staff worldwide. Our total turnover in 2010/11 was £693 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £190 million. The remainder was generated through trading activities such as English language teaching. For every £1 of taxpayer money invested we earn £2.65 in additional income. www.britishcouncil.org