Dickens Festival | December 12 & 13, 2026
Dickens Festival 2026
For over three decades, Dickens has been closely linked to Deventer and the historic Bergkwartier district. This year marks the 34rd edition of the Dickens Festival. Over 950 characters from the English author's famous books are brought to life: from Scrooge to Oliver Twist, from Mr. Pickwick to the Christmas Carol Singers, from orphans to office clerks and posh folk. Towering Christmas trees and beautifully restored buildings provide the backdrop. The anniversary edition, which brings Charles Dickens's 19th-century English city back to life in the Bergkwartier district, takes place on Saturday, December 12th, and Sunday, December 13th. Every year, thousands of visitors from the Netherlands and abroad flock to the narrow streets of the Bergkwartier district.
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Posh gentlemen on tall bicycles make their way through the narrow streets, office clerks and respectable ladies rush forward and bow deeply as Queen Victoria passes in her sedan chair. Christmas Carol Singers go door to door. Tramps beg for money, crooks steal, children sing and artisans demonstrate their craft. Merchants offer their wares: antiques and jewelry, books and art, gingerbread and cider. The smells of punch and roasted chestnuts greet you.
Encounters with famous characters from the books of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870 and is the most famous English writer of the 19th century . The world Dickens described was primarily the world of his earliest childhood. The Dickens Festival is the perfect opportunity to meet a large number of protagonists and characters from Charles Dickens' books.
Don't be surprised if you get scolded by the stingy, unfriendly Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol . Do you hear a bell ringing? Then you see the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley appear, announcing the arrival of the three spirits. The spirits of the Past, Present, and Future try to make Scrooge understand that he must change his stingy nature.
A little further on, the wealthy old lady Miss Havisham from the book The Great Expectations sits bitterly in her wedding dress amidst all the silver, waiting for her groom. This is how she spends her days, adopting girls whom she teaches to break boys' hearts. You might even run into one of her victims, Pip, madly in love with the arrogant Estelle.
Peek inside the home of Bob Cratchit, a poor clerk in Scrooge's office from A Christmas Carol . The Cratchit family enjoys Christmas dinner with turkey, during which the sickly and crippled son Tiny Tim shouts: 'God bless us, every one!'
You may come across a touching school class with a strict teacher along the way. It looks like they're out of the book Nicolas Nickleby have stepped.
Or follow the comic adventures of the eccentric, gullible Samuel Pickwick and The Pickwick Club The Pickwick Papers.
David Copperfield strolls through the streets with his beautiful, but also naive Dora. And perhaps you will see Mr. Micawber, David Copperfield's landlord. He is goodness personified, but has a significant hole in his pocket.
Father Dorrit from Little Dorrit also couldn't handle money, which led to him and his entire family ending up in prison. In the era of Charles Dickens, debtors ended up in the famous Marshalsea Prison. You can find the grim London prison at the Dickens Festival.
Around the mysterious graveyard at the Bergkerk, the widow Lady Dedlock from Bleak House mourns at the grave of Captain Hawdon, beside the gravestones of many other victims of the harsh living conditions of the 19th century.
But a number of curious figures also roam the festivities… Be warned of the cunning Fagin from Oliver Twist , a fence and instigator of many crimes in Victorian London. You will undoubtedly run into Oliver and his friends. Do watch your bags and pockets, though; they are thieves, after all!