Exploring the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary and the women’s suffrage movement, Pip Williams’ best-selling, award-winning novel The Dictionary of Lost Words has been adapted for the stage. Ahead of its world premiere, Cassie Tongue talks to Williams, adaptor Verity Laughton and director Jessica Arthur.

Pip Williams stands in a library.
Pip Williams. Photo © Ben Searcy/Fairfax Media

At first glance, a story about the ins and outs of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary seems an unlikely candidate for a bestseller, let alone a phenomenon. But when The Dictionary of Lost Words by Adelaide Hills author Pip Williams was released in March 2020, the story of Esme, the whip-smart daughter of a lexicographer who pays close attention to the words not included in each volume, captured the public consciousness. 

The book...