Virtual Event: Pip Williams
In conversation with author Simon Winchester
Promotional Partners: Friends of Dallas Public Library and Texas Library Association
Recording available through June 1
Set during the height of the women's suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams is a novel about the magic of growing up in a world of words. At its heart is the story of Esme, a young woman who has grown up in the “Scriptorium,” where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers work to select words for the first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme takes it upon herself to collect and preserve words that have been neglected or discarded by the male lexicographers who are shaping the English language.
Inspired by actual events, Williams delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to create a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.