Winners, methodists and other news

As you can see on the Brontë Society website, the winners of the creative competition 2013-2014 have been announced.

The Society takes great pleasure in announcing the winners of the recent Creative Competition. There were nearly 200 entries, many of very high quality. The short stories and poems were short-listed by the Publications Panel; the final stories and poems were forwarded to Dame Margaret Drabble and Simon Armitage, respectively, for their final decision. The illustration entries were judged by the artist, Victoria Brookland , with the help of the Contemporary Arts Office, Louisa Briggs.
The prizes will be awarded on Saturday, 14 June, at 5 PM, in the Baptist Centre, Haworth. This event follows the Annual Lecture and will be open to all.
THE WINNERS
The Short Story Section
First prize: Dr Tracy Rosenberg — for her story, ‘May the bell be rung for Harriet’
Second prize: Dr Miles Burrows — for his story, ‘The Voyage Back’
Third prize: Ms. Justine Ashford — for her story, ‘The Voyage Home’
The Poetry Section
First prize: Diane Pacitti — for her poem ‘A Dirty Black-haired Child'
Second prize: Louise Holmes — for her poem, ‘Oh, Mr Rochester’
Third prize: Emily Powell — for her poem, ‘Wuthering Heights’
The Illustration Section
First Prize: Nicki McNaney — for her illustration of Jane Eyre’s arrival at Thornfield Hall
Second prize: Barbara Webb — for her illustration of a scene from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Chapter 7
Third Prize: Andrew Hambleton — for his illustration of a scene from Wuthering Heights, Chapter 20

The Telegraph and Argus features the exhibition Artists of Faith at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

A new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum explores the connections between the Brontë family and Methodism.
Artists of Faith features ten works by modern British artists from the Methodist Church Collection of Modern Christian Art.
The Brontë family’s connection with Methodism mostly centres on the writers’ parents. The Rev Patrick Brontë’s career was nurtured by Thomas Tighe, a friend of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Patrick’s wife Maria Branwell’s family were devout Methodists from Penzance in Cornwall.
The pair met because Patrick had been invited to become the examiner for the Wesleyan Methodist Boarding School.
Aunt Branwell, a strict Methodist, was a powerful influence in the family’s lives.
Charlotte Brontë described the Methodist Magazine as “mad… full of miracles and apparitions, of preternatural warnings, ominous dreams and frenzied fanaticism”.
Executive director of The Brontë Society Professor Ann Sumner said: “This exhibition coincides with new research on the Wesleyan Methodist Branwell and Carne families.”
Artists of Faith will be on display until July 30.

Still locally, The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times recommends a visit to Wycoller, albeit not for Brontë reasons.

Many people go to Wycoller to enjoy a walk in the countryside in the knowledge they will be able to get some refreshments at the café and craft centre. Others associate the ruined hall with the Ferndean Manor of Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre”. I have to admit I can’t read the Brontës’ works so my reason to visit the village is rather different. (Roger Frost)

An article from The Washington Post on 'decluttering your bookcases' seems more appreciative of the Brontës.

But some people—myself included—prefer to organize their books by subject, to make them easier to find when they need them. It’s hard for me to imagine separating the brown-spined “Jane Eyre” from her black-spined Brontë cousins. (Mari-Jane Williams)

Entertainment Weekly reviews Phyllis Rose's The Shelf:

Maybe you shouldn't read this review. Phyllis Rose wouldn't want you to. A National Book Award finalist and Virginia Woolf biographer, she starts The Shelf: Adventures in Extreme Reading by lamenting that too many people choose what to read by listening to critics, rather than discovering worthy books on their own. So, attempting what she calls ''extreme reading'' — she largely means noncanonical exploration, though it's fun to imagine her kayaking over a waterfall with Jane Eyre in hand — she chose a library shelf at random, fiction authors filed under LEQ—LES, and began searching for greatness. (Melissa Maerz)

The Telegraph looks into the Scarlett Johansson vs Grégoire Delacourt case.

Scarlett Johansson is suing for €50,000 (£41,000) in damages the author and publisher of a novel that features a character who closely resembles her.
The American actress claims that La Première Chose qu’On Regarde (The First Thing We Look At) violates her privacy and constitutes a “fraudulent and illicit use of her name, her fame and her image” for commercial gain – allegations the book’s publisher has dismissed as “crazy”. [...]
Johansson’s action comes amid a wider international debate over real person fiction, which came under the spotlight when Sonia Ghandi sought to ban a novel about her dynasty in India.
Defenders of the genre argue it heralds from a long-standing tradition in Western literature such as when a youthful Charlotte Brontë’s opined about the Duke of Wellington. (Henry Samuel)

Advice for would-be science fiction writers on io9: read classic literature.

And finally, we have that sprawling, inter-generational novel, Wuthering Heights. From a modern perspective, there is some real villainy going on in this novel. From a historical perspective, there is some real villainy going on in this novel. Granted, it was set in the 1800s, but even then, people had legal recourse in matters that involved kidnapping, severe beatings, and forced marriages. And yet we see multiple characters witness these events and consider stabbing the culprit through the heart, but not going to a legal authority. If you want to look at a novel that shows that the stated values of a society are not the actual values of a society – without the discrepancy ever being acknowledged - look at this book. (Esther Inglis-Arkell)

Freie Presse (Germany) has a short piece on Jane, le renard et moi.

Andersherum und subtiler geht es dagegen das französische Duo Fanny Britt und Isabelle Arsenault mit seinem ausgesprochen reizend gezeichneten Band "Jane, der Fuchs & ich" an: Die Schülerin Hélène flieht vor den Nachstellungen ihrer Mitschüler in eine Phantasiewelt, die sie in den Büchern von Charlotte Brontë findet. Nur sehr mühsam gelingt es einer neuen Klassenkameradin, sie aus der selbst gewählten Isolation zu befreien - Schicht für Schicht stellt sich heraus, dass Hélène die vermeintliche Ablehnung in vorauseilendem Gesellschaftsgehorsam konstruiert hat. Sie findet langsam zu anderen Außenseitern, die plötzlich viele Gemeinsamkeiten feststellen und ihre Eigenheiten als Gewinn erkennen. Als Problem stellt sich allein die zwar tröstliche, letztlich aber doch irrige Fluchtwelt heraus. Ein beeindruckendes Buch, das nicht zuletzt mit seinem sanften Zeichenstrich gefangen nimmt. (Tim Hofmann) (Translation)

New Statesman mentions the Brontës' use of pseudonyms. CBBC Newsround has a video on 'bringing Victorian books to life'. Bright Young Thing posts about Wide Sargasso Sea.