Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was an English novelist and social critic who created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters. Born in Portsmouth in 1812, his childhood experience working in a blacking factory after his father was imprisoned for debt profoundly influenced his writing. Dickens used his immense popularity to advocate for social reform, exposing the conditions of the poor in Victorian England. His novels were originally published as serial installments, giving them their characteristic cliffhangers and vivid cast of characters. He gave public readings that were so popular they contributed to his early death in 1870.