The Extraordinary Life of Amelia Edwards & Ghost Story reading @ The English Nationality Room

The Extraordinary Life of Amelia B. Edwards:

Victorian Traveler, Writer, Egyptologist, Suffragist + Ghost Story

Join us in the English Nationality Room in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, for a presentation on the life and work of British Victorian lady traveler, writer, suffragist and Egyptologist - Amelia Edwards, including public reading of her most famous ghost story, The Phantom Coach (1864).  

MEMBERS LOGIN FOR $8 REGISTRATION. To become a member, visit the Britsburgh membership page. 

Light Victorian-era British and Egyptian refreshments will be served.

"It may be said of some very old places, as of some very old books, that they are destined to be forever new . . . The more we study them, the more we have yet to learn . . . Time augments rather than diminishes their everlasting novelty."

                                                                 — Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards (1831-1892)

As a young woman, Amelia was a prolific novelist and short story writer, noted especially for her ghost stories.  At age 30, following the deaths of her parents, she began to travel extensively outside of England, including to Belgium and the Dolomites, and published successful books about her travel experiences. In 1873-74, she made the most significant journey of her life when she traveled "a thousand miles up the Nile" from Cairo to Abu Simbel and beyond in Nubia on a hired dahabiyeh or houseboat.  Uncommonly for the time, Amelia travelled alone with a female companion, hiring and managing her own crew and guides.  During this journey, she

developed a keen passion for Egyptology and dedicated her life to the discovery, exploration, and preservation of Egyptian antiquities.  She published her two most famous travel books about her experiences in Egypt, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile (1877) and Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers (1891).  Fans of Barbara Peters' popular Amelia Peabody mystery novels will recognize Amelia Edwards as the inspiration for Peters' Egyptologist heroine.

Kim Szczypinski of Duquesne University will give a talk about Amelia's many-faceted life and work, including her surprising connections to Pittsburgh.  Plus, as a special treat for Halloween, Andy Kirtland, actor and Artistic Director of Pittsburgh's New Renaissance Theatre Company, will do a dramatic reading of Amelia Edwards' most famous ghost story, The Phantom Coach (1864).

Programme:

• 6.30-7PM  Light British and Egyptian refreshments will be served in the Cathedral of Learning's Common Room.

• 7-8PM Presentation on Amelia Edwards in the English Nationality Room

• 7.45-8.20PM Live reading of The Phantom Coach.

• 8.20-8.30PM Q&A

Explore fascinating British-themed topics with the guidance of experts and enjoy the company and conversation of fellow enthusiasts as a member of one of Britsburgh Societies: Britsburgh Arts Society, the Britsburgh Beer Society, the Britsburgh History Society, the Britsburgh Literary Society and the Britsburgh Tea Society. If you are not already a member, I would like to invite you to consider becoming a Britsburgh Society member. 

THE BRITSBURGH TEAM