Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) is an English writer and social critic who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and the creator of some of the world's most memorable fictional characters.

During his lifetime, Dickens's works enjoy unprecedented popularity and fame, and by the twentieth century, his literary genius is fully recognized by critics and scholars.

His novels and short stories continue to enjoy an enduring popularity among the general reading public.

Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens leaves school to work in a factory after his father is thrown into debtors' prison.

Though he has little formal education, his early impoverishment drives him to succeed.

He edits a weekly journal for 20 years, writes 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles, lectures and performs extensively, is an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigns vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens rockets to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers.

Within a few years, he has become an international literary celebrity, celebrated for his humor, satire, and keen observation of character and society.

His novels, most published in monthly or weekly installments, pioneer the serial publication of narrative fiction, which becomes the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.

The installment format allows Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modifies his plot and character development based on such feedback.

For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens had gone on to improve the character with positive lineaments.

Fagin in Oliver Twist apparently mirrors the famous fence, Ikey Solomon; his caricature of Leigh Hunt in the figure of Mr. Skimpole in Bleak House is likewise toned down on advice from some of his friends, as they read episodes.

In the same novel, both Lawrence Boythorne and Mooney the beadle are drawn from real life – Boythorne from Walter Savage Landor and Mooney from 'Looney', a beadle at Salisbury Square.

His plots are carefully constructed, and Dickens often weaves in elements from topical events into his narratives.

Masses of the illiterate poor chip in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.

His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre.

His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to G. K. Chesterton and George Orwell—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterizations, and social criticism.

On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Virginia Woolf complain of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism.