The BAFTA warning

The Guardian announces what could be one of the literary events of the year:
May 11.

The British Library exhibition on "British literature and place" will include such treats as the first hand-written and illustrated Alice's Adventures Underground; William Blake's notebooks; JG Ballard's handwritten manuscripts; the "suppressed" chapter from Wind in the Willows; a childhood newspaper written by Virginia Stephen (Woolf) describing a summer visit to a lighthouse and manuscripts of the Brontës, including Jane Eyre.

The Spectator interviews Pamela Nash, MP for Airdrie and Shotts:

Which books do you plan to read next?
I am trying to work my way through the classics that I missed as a teenager, so I have just downloaded Jane Eyre to my iPad.   (Fleur MacDonald)

And the Sydney Morning Herald interviews the author Penny Vincenzi:

One of the first adult books the 13-year-old teenager read was Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and dashing Rhett Butler had a huge influence on Vincenzi's tender romantic sensibilities until Jane Eyre's imperious Mr Rochester usurped him. (Linda Morris)

Adweek talks about Tranh Anh Hung's setting of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood:

Could be like last year's Jane Eyre though, which, while by no means a comprehensive retelling of the book, was quite brilliant. (Stevan Keane)

The film is the Best Remake of the year for the Cape Cod Times.

The Baftas 2012 long list have been published. The final nominations will be known next January 17. Jane Eyre 2011 is featured in Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay (Moira Buffini), Cinematography (Adriano Goldman), Production Design (Will Hughes-Jones), Costume Design (Michael O'Connor whi is the only one to who is in the Chapter selection from Round One),  Original Music (Dario Marianelli), Leading Actress (Mia Wasikowska) and Make-Up & Hair. Wuthering Heights 2011 doesn't appear in any category (not even Best Cinematography where was one of the favourites). This fact (and the general weakness of the BAFTA selection) is criticised on HitFix:

Just in case you were wondering, "The Iron Lady" is a better film -- and a better directed film -- than "Shame." Obviously. "Arthur Christmas" and "War Horse" are better British films than "Weekend," "Kill List" and "Wuthering Heights."   (...)
These golden truths all come to us courtesy of the BAFTA longlists, an annual preview (or, perhaps more appropriately, warning) of the British Academy's eventual nominations, in which 15 contenders are announced in each category, from which the five nominees will be chosen. Marked with an asterisk are the top choices of the relevant voting branch ("chapter" in BAFTA lingo) in each field -- in a reversal of the Oscar system, the general membership votes on the nominees in each category, while the chapter determines the winner in all categories except Best Film, Foreign Language Film, British Film, Documentary and the acting races. (Guy Lodge)

The Montreal Gazette doesn't seem very interested in the BabyLit books:

Not so the "BabyLit" books that crossed my desk several months ago. Small counting books by Jennifer Adams, with illustrations by Alison Oliver, they strike me as totally ludicrous. What infant could possibly take an interest in Romeo & Juliet (labelled Little Master Shakespeare) or Pride & Prejudice (Little Miss Austen)?
Amazon.ca tells me we can look forward to Jane Eyre: Little Miss Brontë and Alice in Wonderland: Little Master Carroll in February (all published by Gibbs Smith and selling for $10.99 each). (Bernie Goedhart)

The Guardian reviews The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner :

She speaks freely about this now, acting as an ambassador for those with "the condition whose name none of us can spell". She was 14 when she learned to read, by herself, from Wuthering Heights, having been declared "unteachable" by her boarding school. (Mary Hoffman)

The Globe and Mail reviews Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant:

She has great fun with the Brontë sisters, who fret over which male pseudonyms they should adopt in order to publish their novels: Wuthering Heights, by Bruce Punisher; Jane Eyre, by Johnny Guns. (Martin Levin)

Summer readings in El Observador (Uruguay):

La literatura romántica de fines del siglo XIX, es una puerta de entrada a la literatura.  Y en ese sentido, las hermanas Brontë, Jane Austen o Edgar Allan Poe son excelentes opciones. (Eleonora Navatta) (Translation)

An alert for tomorrow, January 8 in Minervino Murge (Italy):

Agro di Minervino
Murge Masseria Barbera (Minervino Murge)
L’Evoluzione del Paesaggio
15.30 Visita guidata alla grotta di S. Michele Arcangelo a Minervino Murge (a cura di CEA Ophrys) Lettura di poesie di E. Dickinson e di E. Bronte nella grotta (a cura di Andrea Cramarossa)  (Source)

Paperblog interviews the author Chiara Palazzolo:

Possiamo individuare un certo tipo di “scrittura femminile” ottocentesca nelle opere delle Brontë. Oppure leggere la Woolf per analizzare la scrittura al femminile nella prima metà del Novecento, o ancora la Yourcenar per il secondo Novecento. (Rita Charbonnier) (Translation)

Onirik (France) talks about the YA novel Chaque Soir à 11 heures by Malika Ferdjoukh:

Comment ne pas se régaler avec le style de l’auteur, sa manière de rendre les lieux et objets si vivants, l’humour de son héroïne, ses personnages (les relations entre Willa et ses parents sont particulièrement bien traitées), les situations et toutes les références parsemées tout au long du livre, de Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë à Papa-Longues-Jambes de Jean Webster en passant par Jane Austen et tant d’autres ! (Translation)

A reader of Palo Alto Online highlights Jane Eyre 2011 as the best film of the year; Kinokauz (in German) is not so fond of the film; La Tercera (Chile) talks about the screening of the film at the Festival de Cine Las Condes and myFanbase (Germany) reviews it;  En plats i bokhyllan (in Swedish), Apprendre... Autrement (in French) posts about the original novel; murray naish reviews Wuthering Heights; I Prefer Reading reviews Shirley; a local government representative has read recently Brontë in Il Giornale di Vicenza (Italy).