Nothing but admiration

We are still under the shadow of Charlotte Brontë's bicentenary:

Keighley News suggests a literary walk across Haworth moors until Top Withins:

Good moorland paths lead to a famous literary shrine.
Start from Penistone Hill Country Park, the car park on Oxenhope-Stanbury road at Tom Stell’s Seat.
Penistone Hill’s quarries are now put to use as car parks, offering fine views over the Worth Valley.
Rejoin unfenced Moor Side Lane on the north side of the brow, noting that on the brow itself, just up to the left, is Tom Stell's Seat, a gritstone block inscribed with the name of a local rambler.
Crossing straight over the road, a path runs to a kissing-gate in a fence and heads away across Haworth Moor, with immediate views over the valley to Stanbury. (Read more) (David Knights)

Also Keighley News covers the University of Bradford event where Jane Eyre was relaunched as an ebook:

The university relaunched Charlotte Brontë’s novel as an e-book as part of its Diversity Festival and to mark Charlotte Brontë's 200th birthday.
The university said the release featured a new foreword highlighting the diversity themes and celebrating Charlotte’s place as a strong woman in literature.
A spokesman said: “Jane Eyre is a novel that many consider ahead of its time, given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel’s exploration of classism, sexuality, religion and feminism.”
During yesterday’s planned launch, Brontë Parsonage Museum staff were due to be in the university’s atrium to answer questions about the sisters and their impact on the Bradford area. (David Knights)

BBC News reminds us that North Lees Hall opens this weekend to mark such an event:

A Grade II-listed hall that influenced Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is opening its doors to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the author's birth.
Brontë paid several visits to North Lees Hall in Derbyshire which provided the inspiration for Thornfield Hall.
Thornfield Hall was the home of the 1847 novel's hero Edward Rochester.
North Lees is now owned by the Peak District National Park Authority, which is holding open events on Saturday and Sunday.

Vaneesha Patel tells about how Charlotte Brontë taught her 'to believe in herself' in The Boar:

Brontë taught me that you’re not a bad person for having aspirations, and you are not a bad person for fighting back – it doesn’t make you a wicked person, it in fact makes you strong. Brontë taught me that you don’t have to be a damsel in distress, you don’t have be an ‘innocent good girl’ to get far in life; just be yourself and if that’s good enough for you, then it’s good enough for everyone else too.

Bookreporter reviews Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë biography:

Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart is by turns charming, devastating, heartbreaking and exciting. Claire Harman has meticulously researched the life of the Brontë family, and of Charlotte in particular, and brought them to life for 21st-century readers. You’ll never look at Jane Eyre the same way again. And you’ll feel nothing but admiration for the author who had to face so many obstacles, yet persevered and succeeded against all odds.  (Melanie Reynolds)

Several non-English newspapers and magazines have articles about the Brontës and the bicentenary:

The Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany):

Aus Sturm und Moor in die Welt hinaus.
Vor zweihundert Jahren wurde die Schriftstellerin Charlotte Brontë geboren. In ihrem nordenglischen Dorf schrieben sie und ihre beiden Schwestern einige der bemerkenswertesten Romane des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.
Wenn der Wind über den Mooren von Yorkshire richtig Anlauf nimmt, und was sollte ihn auch aufhalten, dann trifft er das alte Pfarrhaus mit voller Wucht. Ungeschützt steht es da oben auf dem Hügel in den Pennines, jener Gebirgskette, die man gern als das Rückgrat Englands bezeichnet. Von den hinteren Fenstern des Hauses aus blickt man über das kahle wellige Land, das nur einmal im Jahr aufblüht und für wenige Wochen im gedeckten Lila der Erikasträucher leuchtet. Jetzt, im Frühjahr, steht das Heidekraut noch braun und dürr herum, und das trockene Gras leuchtet strohig dazwischen hervor. Zwischen den Steinmauern grasen Wollschafe mit schwarzen Gesichtern, um sie herum springen die frischgeborenen Lämmer. Ab und zu neigt sich ein windgebeutelter Baum übers Feld. (Read more) (Translation) (Andrea Diener)

La Nación (Argentina):

Cuando se cumplen 200 años del nacimiento de la escritora inglesa recordamos la vigencia de su obra maestra, Jane Eyre, el punto en el que la narradora femenina comienza a devenir una voz abiertamente feminista.
Cuando hacia el final de Jane Eyre, la protagonista le habla directamente al lector -tal como lo hace desde el principio de la novela- para comunicarle su casamiento con el señor Rochester -de ahí, la frase famosa "Querido lector, me casé con él"- lo hace como si, de alguna manera, le estuviera pidiendo disculpas, como si se estuviera justificando, quizás, por desilusionarlo, por haber elegido al matrimonio por encima de la autosuficiencia defendida y proclamada como ideal durante las más de trescientas páginas previas de relato. La frase, incluso con la sutileza sintáctica de aclarar que es ella quien se casó con él y no él quien se casó con ella, funciona como la síntesis perfecta del texto autobiográfico creado por Charlotte Brontë, la célebre escritora británica nacida hace doscientos años. (Read more) (Translation) (Cecilia Acuña)

La Repubblica (Italy) talks about the events in Bronte (Sicily) celebrating the Brontës:

Un mese dopo la pubblicazione dell’articolo di Repubblica, che ha raccontato il legame tra il cognome delle tre sorelle inglesi e il paesino ai piedi dell’Etna, il Comune e le scuole organizzano una giornata studi. "Jane Eyre e Cime tempestose: capolavori da riscoprire"
Bronte riscopre le sorelle Brontë: una festa per festeggiare il bicentenario di Charlotte
Alcuni alunni del liceo Capizzi di Bronte che hanno lavorato sulle tre scrittrici inglesi
Bronte riscopre le sorelle Brontë. Un mese dopo la pubblicazione dell’articolo di Repubblica che ha raccontato il legame tra il cognome delle tre sorelle inglesi entrate nell’olimpo della letteratura e il paesino ai piedi dell’Etna, Bronte coglie l’occasione del bicentenario della nascita di Charlotte Brontë - l’autrice di “Jane Eyre” – per celebrare le scrittrici. Ieri all’auditorium del Real Collegio Capizzi il Comune e le scuole hanno organizzato il convegno “Onorate di chiamarci Brontë” al quale ha partecipato in videoconferenza Maddalena De Leo, presidente della sezione italiana della Brontë society. (Read more) (Translation) (Sara Scarafia)

Velvet News (Italy) recommends the Italian translation of Lyndall Gordon's Charlotte Brontë. A Passionate Life:

L’opera, vincitrice del Cheltenham Prize for Literature, restituisce un ritratto ben fatto di una delle più grandi scrittrici di tutti i tempi. Lyndall Gordon infatti, servendosi di materiali epistolari e di spunti autobiografici rintracciabili nella produzione letteraria dell’autrice (Shirley, Villette), offre un profilo artistico e, soprattutto, umano di Charlotte Brontë. Rintraccia momenti salienti della sua vita, come la sua natura passionale, il suo spiccato umorismo, i suoi istinti militanti nel far rispettare i diritti della donne e le sue vicende sentimentali. Si racconta ad esempio di un matrimonio felice seguito a due storie non andate a buon fine. Insomma, quello che tratteggia Gordon in questa biografia è un incredibile ritratto, dai colori limpidi e accesi, sicuramente uno dei più belli che siano mai stati fatti a parole su una scrittrice che, partita da una piccola cittadina a sud di Londra, è riuscita, con il suo talento e la sua sensibilità, ad attraversare gli animi di tutto il mondo. (Leonilde Zuccari) (Translation)

The Syracuse Post-Standard has a local alert:

The Seymour Library in Auburn, NY celebrates a famous author's birthday each month by inviting patrons to participate in a book club that explores works that are an homage to the work of the original author. This month the library celebrates Charlotte Brontë's April 21 birthday by reading "The Flight of Gemma Hardy", a book inspired by "Jane Eyre", and discussing the book on Saturday, April 23. Next month the club will be celebrating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday by reading "Dreaming Spies", one of the books in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series. (Casey Rose Frank)

On RAI 3 radio:

Fahrenheit - 200 anni di Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Bronte oggi compirebbe 200 anni. Dell'autrice di Jane Eyre, discutiamo con Bianca Pitzorno con Maddalena De Leo rappresentante italiana della Brontë society e con Dacia Maraini. 

And L'Orient Le Jour (France); Proyecto 40.

The Connecticut Post talks about the book Cocktails for Book Lovers by  Tessa Smith McGovern:

The book ranges from the brandy eggnog that characters in Anne Brontë’s “Agnes Grey” drink, to the mojitos that Ernest Hemingway loved during his Cuba years, to Dorothy Parker’s beloved Champagne Bellini. (Parker once quipped, “Three be the things I shall never attain: Envy, content and sufficient champagne.”) (Joe Meyers)

San Francisco Chronicle recommends Jane Steele:

Jane Steele, by Lyndsay Faye: An homage to “Jane Eyre.” Mystery, satire and romance ensue in the manor where our steely heroine was born, and now, as an impoverished young woman, returns incognito as a governess with a dark secret. (Towne Center Books)

The Celebrity Cafe reviews Lyndsay Faye's novel:

This story really captures the imagination. Being a huge fan of Charlotte Brontë, I was wary that the new tale might destroy the old, but it truly just used Brontë as a muse. The storyline is equally intriguing, yet exotic and dangerous in a way that Jane Eyre never was.
I highly recommend this book to lovers of the original Jane and those who like their mysteries or romances with a little darkness. (Jesse Cook)

The Guardian explores the politics of Wagner's Ring cycle:

 Yet, as the Ring progresses, the power of law seems to diminish, as the domain of love grows and grows. In a 2010 essay, Slavoj Zizek aptly compares the emotions that Siegmund and Sieglinde ignite in one another to the love of Cathy for Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.”) (Matthew D'Ancona)

The Albany Times-Union has a quiz with a Brontë question:

She was the eldest of three sisters and is best known for "Jane Eyre." 

What Hi-Fi? has a random Brontë reference in a review:

From the same gene pool as the Award-winning Marantz CD6005 CD player and PM6005 stereo amplifier, the NA6005 streamer has pretty high standards to maintain if it's going to give the brand’s 6000 Series Brontë sisters-style acclaim.

Another random reference in an article about boxing on Fightland:

It starts out like a gentle tween romance written round-robin style by two kids who learned everything they know about love and friendship from Judy Blume, then bumps itself up to sports metaphor sex-comedy Jane Austen, then tragically escalates into the forbidden love of the Brontë Sisters, before exploding into the tawdry world of Barbara Cartland romance novels. If there were a UFC/MMA counterpart to Lifetime, everything on it would be based on this. (Sarah Kurchak)

Libération (France) interviews Patti Smith:

Relisez-vous beaucoup les livres ? (Elisabeth Franck-Dumas)
(...) Je relis aussi le Journal du voleur de Genet, Une saison en enfer, les lettres de Rimbaud, les sœurs Brontë… Pour moi, les livres sont comme des disques, je relis Pinocchio comme je réécoute le Blonde on Blonde de Dylan. (Translation)

(Female) rebels with a cause in El País (Spain):

Coincidiendo en esa idea de representación de las mujeres empoderadas se han programado algunas actividades, entre ellas el curso que impartiré bajo el título “Rebeldes con causa. Mujeres libres de la realidad y la ficción”, un intento por glosar algunos casos emblemáticos de féminas empeñadas en no acatar los dictados de los otros, ellos. En la Historia, en la mitología, en la literatura y en el cine, de la última reina del Antiguo Egipto, Cleopatra, a la libertina Anaïs Nin, autora de un Diario incendiado e incendiario. De Venus a Diana, de la Nora de Ibsen a Jane Eyre, de Scarlett O’Hara a Lara Croft. (Mª Ángeles Cabré) (Translation)

Blasting News asks several Spanish writers their favourite books:

Marta Caparrós: Los primeros libros que me enamoraron fueron las historias del detective Flanagan, de Andreu Martín y Jaume Ribera. Descubrí que en las historias cabían personajes muy cercanos. El primer clásico que me cautivó fue Cumbres borrascosas, una lectura adolescente que he retomado posteriormente. (Laura Bech) (Translation)

Entreprendre (France) interviews the writer Guillaume Musso:

Avez-vous le temps de lire ?
Guillaume Musso : Oui, tout le temps ! Je lis depuis que j’ai onze ans. Ma mère était bibliothécaire et j’ai donc toujours été entouré de livres. A l’âge de 11 ans j’ai découvert Les Hauts de Hurle-Vent, le roman d'Emily Brontë. ça a été un basculement dans ma vie. J’ai éprouvé une telle fascination ! (Translation)