Today there are celebrations for Dickens’ 200th birthday across the globe. The British Council will stage a 24-hour global read-a-thon with people from 24 countries reading 24 of Dickens’ texts in 24 hours.

All 24 readings have all been pre-recorded and organised by the British Council global network and the readings will be available to watch via @britishcouncil Twitter where they will be uploaded on the hour from 8am to 7am between today and tomorrow.

The footage will be hosted on YouTube via unlisted links which will only be accessible via the British Council Twitter site. The readings will be five minutes in length and the passages have been chosen to reflect some of the most interesting, engaging and significant moments in Dickens’ literary colossus.

The read-a-thon will commence with a reading of ‘Dombey and Son’ from Australia at 8am. Highlights during the day include a reading from ‘Hard Times’ from Iraq at 10am and ‘Our Mutual Friend’ from Syria at 4pm. Reading of ‘The Chimes’ from Malta will start at 10 am today. The readings will conclude with Dickens’ last unfinished work, ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ in Romania in the early hours of tomorrow.

Audiences from across the world will be invited to see the readings travel across the globe through Twitter. A highlights reel of the readings will be available for viewing on www.britishcouncil.org today.

In Malta, the bicentenary of Charles Dickens is also celebrated with a film festival ‘What the Dickens?’ at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity. The Maritime Museum in Birgu will be hosting a Victorian night on 28 February, which includes an eight-minute excerpt from David Copperfield (1913), the first full-length feature filmed in Britain. More info: www.britishcouncil.org/malta-arts-and-culture-what-the-dickens.htm

All readings can be watched via @britishcouncil Twitter.