I’m sure everyone has heard of Disney Land, and even Disney World. But what about DIckens World? No, it’s not some fly-by-night roadside attraction meant to milk money from wary travellers, rather, it’s a real theme park in the UK based on the works of the immortal Victorian novelist Charles Dickens!

But to appreciate Dickens World, one must understand how Dickens himself was viewed in his own time, while he was still alive:

With his long hair, bushy beard and fancy waistcoats, Dickens was the closest the 19th century had to a pop star. There were more than 200 different images of the author in circulation while he was alive, making him instantly recognisable. He was a celebrity, says Paul Schlicke, author of Dickens and Popular Entertainment. "When he first went to America in 1842 he was greeted that way. His trip there was rather like the Beatles going to New York more than a century later."

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There’s nothing new about fictional characters sitting down and chomping down on some good food during the course of a novel. Indeed, the "communion" of characters sitting down to eat, one of the primal desires we all share, is a fundamental pattern throughout the history of fiction. However, the evolution of food in novels is a little more interesting.

I recently ran across this article in The New Yorker. It’s about the varying degrees with which food appears in works of literature. For example, in the nineteenth century, the food is basic fare,  often  describing the meals of the working class (I’m thinking of the novels of Charles Dickens here). Perhaps the point of this elementary cuisine is to show the everydayness these characters dwell in.

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When some people hear the word "escort", it conjures up images that might not be so clean. The profession of being an escort usually involves the exchange of money for sex, or at least a hot date. So what’s this "literary escort" you ask?

First, it’s nothing quite as dirty as the above example I gave of what an escort can be. No. The escorts I’m talking about are actually quite lucky because they get to rub shoulders with some of the most well-known authors around. Not only that, but a writer that’s tired from a long plane ride might even catch a quick nap on the escort’s home couch!

That’s right, the escorts I’m talking about are the one’s who pick up the writer from the airport and drive them to the bookstore for their signings. They might also drive the writer to other places as well, such as the hotel they’re staying at, a bar for a nightcap, or even to the store to pick up some forgotten toiletries.

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