Join Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature John Bowen, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize winner Alex Wheatle and teacher-author Mary Hind-Porter for this one hour workshop.

Explore how Dickens’ childhood experiences, research and work as a journalist shaped his understanding of social inequality and injustice, and how this can speak to young readers today.

• John Bowen will talk about Dickens and his times, social injustice - and ghosts!
• Alex Wheatle will discuss Dickens as an inspiration and explore the key contemporary issues that might inform his writing if he were alive today.
• Mary Hind-Porter will share ready-to-teach classroom ideas using rich non-fiction sources from The British Library's Discovering Literature website.

Following the event, delegates will receive a digital resource pack, collated by Mary Hind-Porter, featuring practical teaching ideas for a range of Discovering Literature collection items.

Image: A Christmas Carol in prose. Being a Ghost-story of Christmas ... With illustrations by John Leech. 1843. The British Library.