05/15/2026
Today marks the 140th anniversary of Emily Dickinson’s death.
Ron Charles took the time to honor her and also memories of our mutual friend and F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference member Ellie Heginbotham, a Dickinson scholar in D.C. who passed away a few months ago. Her specialty was the study of those stitched booklets, called fascicles, which Ellie saw as a kind of carefully edited publication.
From Ron's https://roncharles.substack.com/
When Dickinson was “called back” in 1886, she was virtually unknown and, except for a handful of anonymous pieces, unpublished. But the nearly 1,800 poems she left behind in hand-stitched booklets eventually found readers around the world and transformed American poetry.
Tomorrow morning at her home in Amherst, devotees will meet to begin their annual Poetry Walk through town to the West Cemetery, where they’ll lay daisies on her grave. All are welcome to join in (details).
For me, this observance is tied to memories of my friend Ellie Heginbotham, a Dickinson scholar in D.C. who passed away a few months ago. Her specialty was the study of those stitched booklets, called fascicles, which Ellie saw as a kind of carefully edited publication.
In 2024 — after years of planning — Dawn and I got tickets to see the Dickinson house for the first time. But we arrived on the wrong weekend, right in the middle of a special conference closed to the public.
Just as I was moping my way back to the car, Ellie’s voice rang out: “Ron?!” Of course she was there.
We got a special tour of the house. We stood at Dickinson’s desk, staring out the window where she realized “Forever — is composed of Nows —.”
I write about books, authors, and literary culture. Formerly a book critic at The Washington Post. Click to read Ron Charles, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
