'This isn't a novel that will sit quietly in its classic status and not disturb anyone'

2paragraphs interviews Claire Harman about her Charlotte Brontë biography in, well, two paragraphs.

2paragraphs: Why do you think your book is connecting with people?
Claire Harman: It's not just that it's the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë's birth this April, though that does focus people's minds in a particular way. Jane Eyre has never been out of print; it's been read by countless people and made familiar to even more people through films, adaptations, etc. But that sort of fame forms a carapace around a book, and I think when people are asked to look at the text afresh, and think about the author behind it, a lot of surprising things come out.
When it was first published, Jane Eyre scandalized readers with its revolutionary views, voiced by a plain and unfortunate young woman. Jane's fieriness of spirit seems to belong more to our own times than to hers, but what she talks about is still unachieved, and I think my book might have alerted some people to that fact. This isn't a novel that will sit quietly in its classic status and not disturb anyone. Jane's ardor comes straight from her author, and Charlotte Brontë intended us to keep listening.

A couple of stage projects for the autumn: Chicago Tribune reports that The Hypocrites has announced its 2016-17 season, which marks the company's 20th anniversary.

The season begins in the fall with "You On the Moors Now" (Sept. 9-Oct. 30) by Jaclyn Backhaus. Devon de Mayo will direct the Chicago premiere in which the heroines from novels by Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters reject their suitors who then, in retaliation, wage war. (Morgan Greene)

And Broadway World Montana announces the Educational Outreach Tour of Brontë to the Future!.

Montana Repertory Theatre presents the 2016 Educational Outreach Tour of Brontë To the Future! by Laramie Dean.
The Brontë sisters, Emily and Charlotte, having told their most well-known tales-Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, respectively-now want to leave the past behind and explore a future time in order to see what will happen to their characters in a more contemporary setting. Brontë to the Future! is a mashup that places the Brontës' beloved Jane and Rochester and Catherine and Heathcliff in the world of today-and possibly tomorrow-while retaining all the romance and Gothic splendor of the original stories.

Investor's Business Daily has an article on Agatha Christie:

“Agatha liked arithmetic and had a natural aptitude for music,” wrote Janet Morgan in “Agatha Christie: A Biography.” “She read voraciously, (with a library that included) compendia of general knowledge and books of lists and questions and answers, Jules Verne’s science fiction and … novels by Charles Dickens, Walter Scott, Rudyard Kipling and the Brontë sisters.” (Scott S. Smith)

Los Angeles Times argues that the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is fan fiction and so is Wide Sargasso Sea. Reading Teen reviews a new YA Wuthering Heights retelling: Stone Field by Christy Lenzi. Stories of Scarborough reposts Claire Mason's Anne Brontë: Scarborough Connections – Part I.