'More popular than Dickens' Corelli celebrated
- Published
A festival to celebrate a writer said to be the most popular author of her day will take place to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of her death.
Marie Corelli eclipsed "Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells and Wilkie Collins combined", the Stratford Society charity said.
Corelli, from Stratford-upon-Avon, wrote novels exploring romance, spirituality and gothic drama.
A festival of talks, exhibitions and a recital will be held in the town this weekend.
Nick Birch, from the Stratford Society, said: "One of her books called The Master Christian, which was published in 1900, sold 260,000 copies in the first year.
"She was getting advances of, in today's terms, about half a million pounds, so at the time she was the best-selling and most successful author of her time."
Historian Anouska Lester stated Corelli had "incredible characters".
She said: "She invented these elaborate scenarios of science fiction, fantasy, gothic. At [the] time that was quite unusual, so... she was a bit of a pioneer."
Corelli lived in townhouse Mason Croft, now home to The Shakespeare Institute, with her lifelong companion Bertha Vyver.
On Saturday, the site will host an academic centenary conference, a keynote speech and a question and answer event.
A public exhibition has been organised at Harvard House between Saturday and Monday,
The Town Hall schedule on Sunday includes an exhibition, a reading, a lecture, a piano recital of music she composed and a guest appearance by a Corelli in costume.
Queen Victoria was "a great fan", the society said.
Besides writing, Corelli was a passionate conservationist, campaigning to save and preserve many of Stratford's timber-framed buildings.
But while she liked to give the impression of being of Italian stock, and could often be seen riding up and down the River Avon in a gondola, it was not true.
One fan, who has come from Brazil to pay homage to the author, Thelma Crespo, said: "Every book has a message, a good message for humankind. It's very interesting."
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