2026 Events
Saturday, February 21 My Cousin Rachel
"There is no going back in life. There is no return. No second chance.." My Cousin Rachel
Love the novel but dislike the film adaptations (or some of them)? Professor Cele Otnes will give us some clarity on the reasons why. Retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a professor of marketing (specifically consumer behavior), Dr. Otnes became facinated by the enduring appeal of Daphne du Maurier's works. Her talk will no doubt induce some self-reflection on our own fascination with the stories.
Saturday, February 21 , 2026
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
5214 Palomar Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
Tea will be served.
ZOOM is available for meeting.
Saturday, April 4 - The Male Narrators in the Novel
"I realized, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined, that his face and voice were known to me too well. I was looking at myself." The Scapegoat
Oral historian and writer Leonard Cox will discuss the use of male narrators in Daphne du Maurier’s works. Cox will reflect on how the author leads the reader through five of her seventeen novels and many of her short stories with the use of a male voice. Cox will ask the listener to contemplate whether du Maurier preferred the male voice, and if so, why? Was it because, as du Maurier explains in her biography, her father wanted a male child instead of Daphne? As a result, she wanted to be a boy and created an alter ego for herself – Eric Avon. Or was it because in many of her writings, she continuously made insightful “explorations of gender, examining the societal restrictions placed on women and the failings of a society steeped in masculinity…?” (Thorton, J. 2022) Cox will encourage an active discussion on these and other questions.
Saturday, April 4 , 2026
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
5214 Palomar Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
Tea will be served.
ZOOM is available for meeting.
Sunday, August 2 - "Writers Should Be Read" Summer Meeting in Michigan
The Daphne du Maurier Society of North America will hold its annual reading retreat at Higgins Lake, Michigan. The afternoon will consist of coffee, treats, and discussion of Frenchman's Creek. Discussion will be lead by local DNA member Laura Kirklen.
Sunday, August 2, 2026
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Cottage Grove Association Dining Hall
Regrettably, ZOOM is not available. We are out in the woods of Michigan.
Sunday, October 4 - Hitchcocktober - Frenchman's Creek
Daphne du Maurier Society members Cindy Jones and Shirley Kinney will introduce and then lead a post film discussion of the 1944 film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek, the story of an aristocratic English woman who falls in love with a French pirate. What could possibly go wrong there????
Hitchcock lost out on the film after making a bid but Mitchell Leisen takes a beautiful leading lady, great supporting cast, lavish costumes and sets, and a good story and turns it into a memorable film.
Sunday, October 4, 2026
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Angekika Film Center
5321 E Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX 75206-5185
Society members and their guets will be provided tickets prior to the event. Reservations are a must. Soda and popcorn (and chocolate covered raisins) will be availabe at the concession stand for purchase.
ZOOM is unavailable for this meeting.
Saturday, December 5, The Winding Stair
Saturday, December 5, The Winding Stair
“Spouses are great impediments to great enterprises.” Francis Bacon
Come celebrate the 400th Commemoration of Francis Bacon's death with Baconian Principle, Sally Gibbons, as she discusses Daphne du Maurier's work on the Renassiance Man - The Winding Stair. The author's aim in this biography was to illuminate the many facets of Bacon's remarkable personality for the common reader. Not to be missed!
Saturday, December 5, 2026
Noon - 2:30 pm
Luncheon served.
Event location - Mena-kinney
5214 Palomar Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
Society members will be notified in due course if this meeting will be available by ZOOM.