In conjunction with the Victorian Studies Centre at the University of Leicester the School of Humanities is delighted to announce an international Dickens Bicentenary conference on 28-31 March 2012, featuring the launch of the Dickens Journals Online project, and an exhibition of archive materials curated by Antony Burton. Our list of invited speakers currently includes: Laurel Brake, John Drew, Louis James, Hazel Mackenzie, Robert Patten, Joanne Shattock, Michael Slater, John Sutherland, John Tulloch, Cathy Waters, Tony Williams, and Ben Winyard.
Household Words and All the Year Round are key mid-century weekly journals, showcasing the work of over 350 contributors as well as that of their illustrious founder and ‘Conductor.’ Critical analysis of their contents is an increasingly diverse and dynamic field, soon to be assisted by an open-access scholarly online edition based at the University of Buckingham. To celebrate the Bicentenary of Dickens’s birth, and the public launch of the website, you are warmly invited to an international conference that aims to position Household Words and All the Year Round within the broader context of nineteenth-century periodical culture, through invited papers and contributions from experts in these and a range of rival publications, and website workshops.
Tickets
Full conference tickets, covering all 4 days inclusive of refreshments, lunch, excursion, Banquet and set of conference proceedings on publication, cost £245. The concessionary full conference ticket costs £180 (rate available to DJO volunteers; members of the Dickens Fellowship; staff, students and alumni of the University of Buckingham; University of Leicester staff and students; Plenary speaker; Panel speaker; Chair). A full day pass costs £90 (concessions £70) including Friday’s Fundraising Banquet (as relevant); tickets for the Fundraising Banquet only cost £45.
Tickets can be purchased online by following this link: https://extranet.buckingham.ac.uk/dickensconference/Default.aspx.
If you would prefer to pay by cheque, please print the booking form (available in 
PDF or 
Word format) and return it with a cheque for the relevant amount.
Accommodation
Accommodation must be booked separately. Special conference rates have been negotiated with the following hotels, which will be held until 31 January. The hotels are either in the town centre, or within easy reach of it, and between 5 and 15 minutes’ walk from the University campus.
Best Western Buckingham Hotel
A421 Ring Road South
Buckingham
MK18 1RY
Contact: Mary McCormack (Marketing Manager), +44 (0)1280 825443 / +44 (0)1280 822622
www.bw-buckinghamhotel.co.uk
Rates (bed & breakfast): £62 double room for sole occupancy; £68 double room for double occupancy.
White Hart Hotel
1-2 Market Square
Buckingham
MK18 1NL
Contact Natalie (Hotel Team Leader, white.hart.8394@punchtaverns.com); General Manager, Nigel Evans (+44 (0)1280 815151)
Rates (bed& breakfast): £49 single, or single occupancy of double room; £51 double / twin room (rates held until 31 January)
Villiers Hotel
3 Castle Street
Buckingham
MK18 1BS
Tel: +44 (0)1280 822444
Fax: +44 (0)1280 822113
www.villiers-hotel.co.uk
Rates (bed & breakfast): Single occupancy of a standard room – £79.00; Double occupancy, standard room – £90.00 inclusive of VAT & full English breakfast.
Travelodge Buckingham Hotel
A421 Bypass
Buckingham
MK18 1SH
Tel: +44 (0)871 984 6087
Fax: +44 (0)1280 815136
www.travelodge.co.uk
Rates (room only): Saver rate (non-refundable) – £39, Flexible rate – £51
Other local hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation are also available.