Haworth, Glass Town, Little Ouseburn, Gomersal...

First of all, the Brontë Society has published a video summary of the Brontë 200 events at the Parsonage here. Unmissable:

Kristianstadsbladet (Sweden) has an article about the Brontës and how they still inspire and are celebrated nowadays:

Året var 1843. Den 27-åriga prästdottern Charlotte Brontë från avkroken Haworth i Yorkshire var bara en i folkmassan som välkomnade Queen Victoria till Bryssel. Charlotte var djupt olycklig, så besöket var ett välkommet avbrott i den dystra tillvaron som lärare på Pensionat Herger. ”Jag såg en glimt av henne då hon svepte förbi i sin landå på Rue Royal, omgiven av soldater ”skrev Charlotte hem till sin syster Emily. ”Hon skrattade och pratade så glatt.”
Fem år senare skulle denna obetydliga unga kvinna hålla drottningen och halva England i feberaktig spänning med sin roman ”Jane Eyre”.
I år är det Brontë-feber igen; man firar 200-årsminnet av Charlottes födelse. Tv-tablåerna är fulla av reportage och dokumentärer, BBC visar gamla och nya filmatiseringar och den senaste biografin, ”Charlotte Brontë – A Life”, har gått som Veckans bok i radio. Charlotte var äldst av de tre systrarna – Emily föddes 1818 och Anne 1820 – men det hade funnits två äldre systrar: Maria och Elizabeth. Flickorna hade skickats hem från internatskolan för att dö, smittade av tuberkulos. I ”Jane Eyre” fick Charlotte utlopp för sin egen frustration över den hemska skolmiljön, där de stackars flickorna frös halvt ihjäl, serverades usel mat och utsattes för kadaverdisciplin. (I ”Nicholas Nickleby” tog Charles Dickens upp samma missförhållanden på “goss-akademierna”.) (Catharine Miller) (Translation)

This article in The Independent about the Brontës' juvenilia is highlighted as a must in this selection of great recent articles in the New York Times:

In case you need further proof of the Brontë sisters’ genius, here’s an insightful look at one of their often overlooked creative endeavors: the dual fantastical kingdoms of Angria and Gondal, collectively called the Glass Town Federation. Comparisons to Tolkien and George R. R. Martin aside, the works are a testament to the breadth of the three sisters’ (and, in this case, their brother Branwell’s) creativity — and a reminder that, lamentably, their fantasy sagas have yet to be published in a single collection. (Stephen Hiltner)

The Northern Echo has some suggestions for this weekend:

Little Ouseburn open gardens, York, on Sunday, 10-5pm
Little Ouseburn is a small North Yorkshire village lying about 12 miles North West of York. The village centre is a conservation area and the 12th Century Church is a Grade I listed building. The Thompson Mausoleum, associated with Anne Brontë and now in the care of York Conservation Trust, is situated in the churchyard and will be open for visitors to the Open Gardens day. Around 11 gardens open for the public so far. The gardens range from the grand to the jewel-like in size, from traditional to contemporary in design, all lovingly tended. We will also be offering home baking at the village hall which will be open for morning coffee, lunch and teas. Afternoon tea will also be served at one of the gardens accompanied by a local band/choir. Plus lunches and teas, plant stall, classic car and motorbike stand. (Claire Hunter)

Los Angeles Review of Books reviews Pat Barker's Noonday:

Where memory, nostalgic longing, and eerie physical echoes — of one underground tunnel and another, say — will not do enough to open a “porous” conduit between the past and the present, Barker trots (or rather, shuffles) Bertha Mason onto the scene. Mason is named after the madwoman in Jane Eyre’s attic for no clear or obvious reason, unless it is perhaps, for the too obvious reason that she hears voices and lives in an attic. (Dehn Gilmore)

The Telegraph presents the story of a English owner of a French vineyard:

Luckily Katie is the sort of woman who can take such setbacks in her stride; she’s had to be as the 23 years she’s spent living in the wilderness of the south of France sound less rose-tinted Peter Mayle, more Cold Comfort Farm crossed with Wuthering Heights, with (I think she would argue) a touch of Manon des Sources thrown in. And good wine – her own good wine. (Victoria Moore)

A column in The Lewisporte Pilot about the closure of libraries with this very nice quote:

I spied a tattered copy of “Wuthering Heights” there one day, it was in a discard pile and the librarian gave it to me. I fell madly in love with the English moors and Cathy and Heathcliff. I still have that copy and I reread it every now and then as I’m pretty sure much of it went way over my 14-year-old head. (Bobbi Benson)

The Guardian's Books Podcast contains a discussion on Wide Sargasso Sea:

As the season for literary festivals in the UK hits its peak, we head for Trinidad, where we put Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea under the lens. Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and Sharon Millar examine what this classic of postcolonial literature means to Caribbean readers 50 years after it was first published. (Presented by Richard Lea with Claire Armitstead and produced by Susannah Tresilian)

One of the best books of the season so far according to MPR News is Rebecca Traister's All the Single Ladies. We have reported before what we think about her (twisted and misleading) reading of Charlotte Brontë's life:

Traister cites the influence of powerful single women from Queen Elizabeth to Charlotte Brontë, and interviews everyone from Gloria Steinem to current college students about the role of single women in modern culture. (Tracy Mumford)

From singleness to marriage life. The Huddersfield Daily Examiner lists several unusual wedding places around Huddersfield. Including the Red House Museum:

The Grade II* listed Red House museum was a favourite haunt of Charlotte Brontë, who featured it in her novel Shirley. Wedding ceremonies take place in the parlour or the hall, or smaller ceremonies can be held in the dining room or study. The gardens can be hired for a drinks reception after the ceremony and the barn is available for hire for buffet receptions. (Lauren Ballinger)

starMedia (Spain) lists five love quotes from Wuthering Heights. Vijesti (Serbia) announces the screening of Wuthering Heights 2009 in a local TV. Finally, an alert from the XIX Salone Internazionale del Libro, Torino:

Charlotte Brontë. Una Vita Appassionata
Lyndall Gordon presenta la nuova biografia della grande scrittrice inglese, a duecento anni dalla nascita
Babel - Spazio Internazionale
Narrativa straniera
sabato 14 maggio, ore 13:00
Babel - Spazio Internazionale
a cura di Fazi Editore
partecipanti
Annalena Benini
Lyndall Gordon
Rosa Matteucci
Nel ritratto di Lyndall Gordon, dietro la facciata di donna vittoriana ligia al dovere, la Brontë appare come una scrittrice in lotta con i limiti imposti alle donne dalla società, e al tempo stesso una donna che, dopo due passioni non corrisposte, intraprende un breve ma felice matrimonio.

EDIT: Rosa Matteuci talks about the event in Il Piccolo.