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GEORGE ELIOT BORN 22 NOVEMBER 1819
GEORGE ELIOT BORN 22 NOVEMBER 1819
George Eliot
Bicentenary
1819 - 2019
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2019 marks the Bicentenary of the birth of Mary Ann Evans, better known as George Eliot, in Nuneaton, England, on 22nd November, 1819.

She is regarded as one of the world’s greatest novelists.

This site will promote all events being held to celebrate this remarkable woman and her literary achievements, locally, nationally and internationally.

Meet the Woman

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Conferences

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George Eliot Timeline

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GEORGE ELIOT BICENTENARY

Schedule of Events

  • Conferences
  • Plays and Readings
  • Other Events

8-10 December 2018

Beginning the Bicentenary: George Eliot in Geneva

This 2 day conference in December 2018 to be held in the English Language & Literature department of the University of Geneva will launch the 2019 George Eliot Bicentenary celebrations.

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17 May 2019

Queen Victoria’s contemporaries: born in 1819

This workshop collaborates with Glasgow Museums Resource Centre to investigate how generational identities – particularly that of the 1819 cohort – might look different when we view them through the lens of the material culture they generated and left behind.

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17-19 May 2019

Alliance of Literary Society Annual General Meeting

We have a varied program, including Kathryn Hughes, journalist and biographer, Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeny.

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24-25 May 2019

Queen Victoria & George Eliot

This conference will focus on the lives and afterlives of Queen Victoria and George Eliot, both born in 1819 and both defining figures in our understanding of the Victorian period.

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17-19 July 2019

International George Eliot Conference

This is a major event and will attract delegates from all over the world. Plenary speakers, Rosemary Ashton and Nancy Henry

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9 March 2019

Meet The Woman

Our theme for the year is “Meet the Woman” and our opening event will let you do just that. We are honoured to have secured the renowned actress/historian Lesley Smith to present her new persona; George Eliot.

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19 March 2019

An evening with Rosemary Ashton

“Friends of Highgate”, in, conjunction with GEF are proud to be hosting an evening when Rosemary Ashton OBE, FBA, will be talking about George Eliot’s (then know to her friends as Marian Evans) London Years.

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22 March 2019

George Eliot Fellowship Reading Group

We are looking forward to sharing together our responses to 'The Mill on the Floss', the story of Maggie Tulliver growing up with her brother Tom. Although set in the Gainsborough area, the emotional heart of this novel is surely Griff, Nuneaton. Discussion led by Viv Wood.

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13 April 2019

Scenes from George Eliot‘s ’Scenes’

We invite you to an entertaining evening, in Duesseldorf, of readings and dramatic performance of selected extracts from George Eliot’s first published and ground-breaking fiction, Scenes of Clerical Life (1857).

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28 June 2019

Meet the Woman

We are honoured to have secured the renowned actress/historian Lesley Smith to present her new persona; George Eliot. At

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3-4 July 2019

ADAM BEDE (a new play)

‘Adam Bede’, the George Eliot novel in a new stage adaptation by Ann Thomson. Peninsula Players are pleased to present its first production.

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12-13 July 2019

ADAM BEDE (a new play)

‘Adam Bede’, the George Eliot novel in a new stage adaptation by Ann Thomson. Peninsula Players are pleased to present its first production.

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17 August 2019

Mr Gilfil's Love Story

Sudden Impulse perform this gothic tale of love, longing, revenge and loss performed by Sudden Impulse Theatre Company. Written for the stage by Vivienne Wood

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5 October 2019

The Female Shakespeare

Dramatised readings from George Eliot's novels, letters, criticism and poetry

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15 November 2019

Meet the Woman

We are honoured to have secured the renowned actress/historian Lesley Smith to present her new persona; George Eliot. At Blablake School.

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26-30 November 2019

Silas Marner : The Musical

To mark the bi-centenary of the birth of George Eliot. Sudden Impulse Theatre Company have commissioned a brand new musical of one of her most loved works, Silas Marner.

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Ongoing

The Virtual George Eliot tour of Weimar

Wherever you are in 2019, welcome to Weimar in 1854. Accompany Marian Evans, aka George Eliot, and George Henry Lewes during their stay in the then capital of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (later Thuringia), three exciting, well documented months so crucial for Eliot‘s personal life, and her future career as a novelist.

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3 February 2019

Mayor's Civic Service

The annual civic service held annually by the mayor of Nuneaton and Bedworth

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10 May - 14 July 2019

Becoming George: The Unexpected Life of George Eliot

This exhibition will reveal the woman and explore how she became George Eliot.

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21-23 June 2019

Landmark Trust Open Weekend

This is the first of two open weekends at Astley Castle, curtesy Landmark Trust. George Eliot Fellowship is always invited to be present as Astley is an important location in “Scenes of Clerical Life”.

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30 June 2019

Nuneaton Wreath Laying

This is an annual event which we hope will attract more attention than usual. Again, if you wish to be involved, perhaps lay a wreath, please contact us.

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6 July 2019

Flamenco evening

During the course of the evening we will relate the experience to how Eliot used gypsies in her writing.

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26 October 2019 - 19 January 2020

Scenes of Eliot’s Life

A chance to see how Eliot’s life and her works have been interpreted by artists through the years.

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1 December 2019

The George Eliot Birthday Luncheon

The Fellowship hosts a luncheon every year to celebrate George Eliot’s birthday, this year we have booked the Great Hall at St Mary’s Guildhall. The Great Hall was the setting for Hetty Sorrel’s trial in George Eliot’s novel “Adam Bede”.

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GEORGE ELIOT BICENTENARY

Sudden Impulse Theatre Company

About Sudden Impulse

About Sudden Impulse

Sudden Impulse are an award winning theatre company from George Eliot’s North Warwickshire home town of Nuneaton.  They collaborated with the George Eliot Fellowship in 2016 bringing Viv Wood’s adaptation of 'Felix Holt: The Radical' to life, a production they took to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the same year.

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Mr Gilfil's Love Story

Mr Gilfil's Love Story

'Gilfil' is set at Arbury Hall. We are grateful to Lord and Lady Daventry for allowing Sudden Impulse Theatre company to perform it in the grounds of their beautiful home.  Come early, bring a picnic and settle down to a gripping evening's entertainment.

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GEORGE ELIOT BICENTENARY

Sudden Impulse Theatre Company

Rehearsed Readings

Rehearsed Readings

Mill on the Floss, Felix Holt,  Adam Bede.

Throughout the summer months Sudden Impulse will be bringing rehearsed readings of these George Eliot classics to audiences free of charge in some very special locations throughout North Warwickshire. Keep an eye on our website, visit us on Facebook, or why not follow us on Twitter.

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More about Sudden Impulse...
Where it's happening

Event Venues

Arbury Hall

Arbury Park, Nuneaton CV10 7NF

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Astley Church

Church Lane, Astley, Nuneaton CV10 7QN

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George Eliot Memorial Garden

Coton Road Nuneaton CV11 5TY

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Highgate Cemetery

Swains Lane, London N6 6PJ

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Highgate Cemetery

Swains Lane, London N6 6PJ

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The GE Bicentenary Committee would like to thank all our sponsors and contributors
Contact us
the George Eliot Fellowship
Sudden Impulse
University of Geneva
Volkshochschule (VHS)
Alliance of Literary Societies
English Speakers‘ Circle
Orange Planet Theatre
Landmark Trust
Loughborough University
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Planning an event?

If you are planning an event, please let us know.

If you are inspired to plan an event, small or ambitious, but for any reason would like support, please contact us, and let us know how we can help.

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Further Information

If you would like more information about George Eliot’s life and works, go to www.georgeeliot.org 

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