I'm a Charlotte Brontë windswept moor

The Telegraph and Argus has an article which serves as a reminder of an upcoming event in Haworth: Inspired – The Brontës' Influence.

Three of the country's top women writers are to reveal how they have been inspired by the Bronté sisters.
Booker Prize nominee Michèle Roberts, author, critic and biographer Stevie Davies and award winner Patricia Duncker will tell of their love of the Brontës in the village where the sisters - Emily, Charlotte and Anne - found their own inspiration.
They have agreed to form a panel to explore the power of the Brontës on the invitation of Brontë Parsonage Museum deputy director Andrew McCarthy.
It is part of the Haworth museum's contemporary arts programme, which aims to show how the Brontes continue to influence artists, writers and film makers up to the present day. [...]
Mr McCarthy said the literary event was a coup for the museum because they were three of the leading British feminist writers.
"The Brontes' influence on other writers has been profound and it's wonderful to have contemporary writers of such prominence here in Haworth to talk about the Brontes in relation to their work," he said.
"They are hugely talented and this is a rare opportunity to hear what some of our best contemporary writers have to say about their literary forebears."
Patricia Duncker is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and her latest novel is called Miss Webster and Cherif.
She said: "I first visited Haworth with my aunt, the late Patricia Beer, who was giving the annual Bronte lecture in the church.
"Her topic was Transvestism in the Novels of Charlotte Bronte'. I was transfixed, not only by her lecture which was really rather shocking, but by the place, the cold, even in summer, the moors behind the house and strange intimacy of the parsonage.
"I have returned many times since then. These women were an inspiration to me - as writers and as survivors, writing against all the odds."
The event will take place on Wednesday, March 7, at 7.30pm in West Lane Baptist Chapel, Haworth.
Tickets cost £6.50 and include admission to the Brontë Parsonage Museum. To book telephone (01535) 640194 or e-mail andrew.mccarthy@bronte.org.uk (Clive White)

The Enquirer interviews musician Richard Thompson, who confesses to his share of Brontë influence as well.

Question: You live in Southern California and appear to have a relatively calm life. Where does all this angst and drama in your songs come from?
Answer: Musical landscape and creative landscape is something you carry around inside you. I'm not very influenced by the external as a writer. Internally, I'm a Charlotte Brontë windswept moor. (Gil Kaufman)

World Magazine carries an article on Islamic dissident Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who describes her life as a Muslim woman in a her autobiography, Infidel.

Hirsi Ali wanted to be independent, like the characters in the Western novels she read: Huckleberry Finn and Wuthering Heights from the Kenyan school curriculum, trashy romance novels from her classmates. (Priya Abraham)

As you can see the Brontës' influences sneaks into the most unexpected places.

There are many Brontë influences in J. Peder Zane's book The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, now reviewed by The Times.

In other news:

A French blog, Exquis Mots, reviews Jane Eyre enthusiatically.

The Globe and Mail has a short notice on the release of the DVD of Jane Eyre 2006.

A blogger from the Philippines is very concise when it comes to the film The Promise:

Do something noble: avoid it. Period. (Kiko Matsing)

And finally, the Brontë Parsonage Blog posts about Jane Eyre. The Musical, which will be on stage the Regent Centre, Christchurch, Dorset from April 11th – 14th. Tickets are available from the Regent Centre box office on 01202 499148.

One of the South’s largest youth theatre companies has embarked on its most ambitious project yet, and it’s leaving nothing to chance. The Big Little Theatre School brings new levels of professionalism to its production of the Broadway show Jane Eyre - The Musical Drama with West End directors and state-of-the-art stage effects and set design. (Julie Barnes)

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Talks,Theatre