Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and journalist. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870; died at 58. Alive at the same time as Karl Marx, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Vincent van Gogh. Wiki link