Glyn Hughes. In Memoriam

The Halifax Courier publishes the sad news of the death of the poet, painter, author and playwright Glyn Hughes (1935-2011):

Calderdale poet, painter, author and playwright Glyn Hughes, whose books on the Pennines and local life won national prizes and awards, has died aged 76.
Hughes was chosen by The Times as one of the “six best authors ever on the north of England”.
He wrote and broadcast on the Brontës and subjects including a series following a journey across the north called “The Long Causeway”.

He was the author of a fictionalised biography of the Brontës in 1996: Brontë which the Washington Post described as:

‘Major biographies abound (...) What is left for a novel about novelists to add? Against all odds, the answer in Glyn Hughes’s case is a great deal. (...) Oddly, by fictionalizing the Brontës, Glyn Hughes has succeeded in bringing them out of the realms of fiction and back to the true astonishment of their lives and achievements.’ (Brigitte Weeks)

His BBC broadcasts on the Brontës include:

The Red Room ....  31.03.99
Recreation of the circumstances of the creation of Jane Eyre. Produced by Rosie Boulton.
"Cover Stories"  Wuthering Heights .... 27.06.02
Produced by Rosie Boulton.
Dr Stevie Davies, Glyn Hughes, Lucy Gough, Jackie Hollis and Mia Scott-Ruddock discuss the impact Emily Brontë's novel: Wuthering Heights has had on their lives.

We also have to remember Where I Used to Play on the Green (1982) which even though it was not about the Brontës was set in Haworth, Yorkshire, in the 18th century.

The Hebden Bridgen Web also pays tribute to Glyn Hughes.

EDIT: Check the obituary in The Guardian.

EDIT: The Telegraph also publishes an obituary:

Glyn Hughes, who died on May 24, a day short of his 76th birthday, was a poet turned award-winning novelist, best known for his imaginative insights into the Brontë family. (...)
For his enthusiastically received sixth novel, Brontë (1996), a fictional portrait of the three literary sisters, Hughes immersed himself in their lives, their works and what one critic called "the reeking squalor of the village and the wild moors around". (...)
His first novel, Where I Used to Play on the Green, published in 1982, saw Hughes acclaimed as Yorkshire's answer to Thomas Hardy. Set in pre-Brontë 18th-century Haworth, the book was AS Byatt's choice of the year's fiction in The Times. Its theme was the evangelical fervour of the early Methodists, and the poet laureate Ted Hughes (no relation, but a good friend) noted that the overall effect was "convincing, alarming and memorable. It seems to me a real book, full of truth, vividly imagined and felt".

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