Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 -- 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. Seth's comics and illustrations have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, McSweeneys Quarterly, and The New Yorker. He is Lemony Snicket's partner for the new Young Readers series, All the Wrong Questions, and the author of the Palookaville series of graphic novels.