Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters and is considered to be one of the greatest novelists. He was born on February 7th, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. His father was an office man, who worked hard to provide for his family. Charles had many brother and sisters. When he was 10, his family moved to London, where his father got into debtor’s prison. After that, Charles left school to work in a factory. For two years he worked in a dirty room pasting labels on bottles. Then he went to school for three more years. He had little formal education but still succeeded in life. Over his career he wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. He also worked for 20 years as an editor in a weekly journal. Dickens’ other merits include campaigns for children’s rights, education and other social reforms. He obtained international attention and fame in 1836 with a series of publications called “Pickwick Papers”. He used to be a young and poor reporter at that time, who immediately became a famous writer. Dickens published many other novels later. Among them “Oliver Twist”, “Dombey and Son”, “David Copperfield” and many others. His books are rather interesting to read. He mostly wrote about the hard life of poor people in Victorian England. Even though he lived more than a hundred years ago, people still read his books with pleasure. One of his most influential works ever written was “A Christmas Carol” novella. His fellow writers of that time highly praised his literary genius. Leo Tolstoy, George Orwell, Chesterton were among them. Charles Dickens died on June 9th, 1870 and he was buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.
