British Council Global Read-a-thon – 7th February 2012
07 February 2012
On the 7th February there are celebrations for Dickens’ 200th birthday happening across the globe in China, Singapore, Albania, Argentina, Iraq, Russia and more. The British Council will stage a 24 hour global read-a-thon with 24 countries reading 24 of Dickens’ texts in 24 hours.
All 24 readings have all been pre-recorded and organised by the British Council global network and the readings will be available to watch via @britishcouncil Twitter where they will be uploaded on the hour from 7am to 7am between the 7th and the 8th February 2012.
The footage will be hosted on YouTube via unlisted links which will only be accessible via the British Council Twitter site. The readings will be 5minutes in length and the passages have been chosen to reflect some of the most interesting, engaging and significant moments in Dickens’ literary colossus.
The read-a-thon will commence with a reading of ‘Dombey and Son’ from Australia at 7am. Highlights during the day include a reading from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ from Iraq at 10am, ‘Our Mutual Friend’ from Syria at 4pm, ‘Bleak House’ from Argentina at 10pm, ‘Oliver Twist’ from Korea at midnight, ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’ from Pakistan at 4am and will conclude with Dickens’ last unfinished work, ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ in the UAE in the early hours of 8th February
At 7pm the UK will also take part in the read-a-thon with a live reading of ‘Great Expectations’ from a special guest speaker in the BFI as part of Film London and the British Council’s UK celebrations.
Audiences from across the world will be invited to see the readings travel across the globe through Twitter. Timeframes for the readings have been carefully calculated so that the recordings can tie in with the various activities occurring worldwide through the British Council Dickens 2012 celebrations. A full schedule of countries and times is included below and a highlights reel of the readings will be available for viewing on www.britishcouncil.org on 7th February 2012.
Additional global activity being coordinated through the British Council’s network and taking place live on the 7th February includes film screenings of Dickens adaptations in Bangladesh, Italy, Syria, Nigeria and Macedonia; a day of events in Albania including students from the capital's high schools performing and reading from Dickens’s work plus a lecture by Ian Hadyn Smith; Argentinean actors and writers performing in the old orphanage’s dining-room hidden within the walls of a 1700’s cloister in downtown Buenos Aires; teachers workshops in New York, literary salons in Beijing, and a Victorian evening of performance, readings and an exhibition in Singapore.
Amongst other countries, India, Pakistan and UAE will be hosting different activities on 7th February to celebrate Dickens’ influence on the concept of the modern city through a global creative writing programme.
A video of highlights can be downloaded from http://vimeo.com/36316658
Password: dever
