If, like us, you have an appetite for the curious and odd*, then don’t miss this free talk to be held in association with the Christchurch Art Gallery.

We are pleased to welcome Lucinda Hawksley, award-winning British author, art historian and travel writer, with a special interest in literature and art from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She also happens to be the great-great-great granddaughter of one Charles Dickens.

In this talk Lucinda will explore the history of facial hair, from prehistoric times to the present day, taking as her starting point images from the holdings of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Since time immemorial, men have grown, trimmed, shaped and used the hair on their faces to make social, religious and fashion statements. The National Portrait Gallery holds hundreds of images of bearded, whiskered and moustached men (as well as the occasional bearded woman) – images that form the basis of this entertaining and informative pogonographic exploration.

She may even let slip some juicy tidbits about her famous ancestor.

For more information on the book the talk is based on, go here. A selection of Lucinda’s many books will also be on sale at the event.

*Keep an eye out for our Cabinet of Curiosities lecture series at the 2018 WORD Christchurch festival, 29 August – 2 September

Lucinda Hawksley is an author, broadcaster and lecturer in art history and literature, as well as an award-winning travel writer. She has written, or co-authored, more than 20 books, including three biographies of female artists: the Pre-Raphaelite Lizzie Siddal, the portrait painter Kate Perugini (née Dickens) and the sculptor Princess Louise. Her other titles include March, Women, March: Voices of the Women’s Movement; 50 British Artists You Should Know; The Writer Abroad; Moustaches, Whiskers and Beards and Bitten By Witch Fever. She is a great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens, and has written three books about her ancestor; the most recent being Dickens and Christmas. At the moment, she is researching and writing a book about Dickens’s travels. Lucinda is a Patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London – and the Patron of the Norwegian Pickwick Club!