Charles Dickens effectively re-invented periodical literature in the nineteenth century, with his phenomenally popular serialised novels published in the weekly magazines 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round' between 1850 and 1870. 

Already a world-famous author, Dickens was often the principal contributor of these periodicals, and with that position of power, he was able to direct the gaze of his readership. Through he platform, he was able to encourage public conversation around the issues that most concerned him: poverty, crime, education, public health, women, social welfare and reform.

This is a collection of essays from Dickens Journals Online, edited by Hazel MacKenzie and Ben Winyard, exploring both the fiction and the journalism in 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round', and how they impacted both society in general, and the the wider publishing world.

Contributors include: 

• Laurel Brake
• Koenraad Claes
• Iain Crawford
• Daragh Downes
• John Drew
• Judith Laura Foster
• Holly Furneaux
• Ignacio Ramas Gay
• Clare Horrocks
• Louis James
• Patrick Leary
• Hannah Lewis-Bill
• Helen Mckenzie
• Pete Orford
• David Parker
• David Paroissien
• Robert L. Patten
• Jasper Schelstraete
• Paul Schlicke
• Joanne Shattock