author
Charles Kent
1823–1902
A lively Victorian man of letters, he moved easily between journalism, poetry, and literary biography. Best remembered as an editor and essayist with close ties to the literary world of his day, he also wrote warmly about Charles Dickens.
1 Audiobook
Charles Dickens as a Reader
by Charles Kent
About the author
Charles William Mark Kent was an English poet, biographer, and journalist born in London in 1823. Educated at Prior Park and Oscott, he became editor of The Sun while also studying law, and although he was called to the bar in 1859, he chose to devote himself mainly to literature and journalism.
His career ranged across newspapers, essays, poems, and literary studies. He later edited the Weekly Register and Catholic Standard, wrote under the pseudonym Mark Rochester, and is noted as a friend of Charles Dickens as well as the author of Charles Dickens as a Reader.
Kent died in 1902. He may not be a household name today, but he was a well-connected and versatile figure in Victorian literary life, with one foot in the newsroom and the other in the world of books.