A role model, even today

Brontë Parsonage Museum news and updates in Keighley News Chapter & Verse:

We’re still coming back down to earth following our Emily celebrations, which spanned four days and featured seven events, 600 ticketholders, a walk, a film premiere, a couple of storms and a grand piano!
It was a great way to mark the 200th anniversary of Emily Brontë’s birth, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to all of you who came along to celebrate with us, and to all the staff and volunteers who worked so hard to make it happen.
We’re looking ahead now to our upcoming Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing, which will take place on 22 and 23. This is our eighth festival, and we’ve got four writing workshops and a poetry launch lined up for you!
All of the workshops will take place at Ponden Hall, near Stanbury, a beautiful and atmospheric building with its own wonderful Brontë links. We’re looking into the nuts and bolts of writing in various genres, and have lined up an amazing selection of expert workshop leaders to guide you through.
On the morning of the Saturday, Frances Brody will lead a workshop on “Turning to Crime” – exploring the different approaches to writing a crime novel and jam-packed with practical advice. Frances Brody is the award-winning author behind the popular Kate Shackleton murder mystery series, which is set in 1920s Yorkshire.
Later that same day, journalist and author Marisa Bate, columnist and opinion-writer for award-winning website for women, The Pool, will teach participants how to “Write Online”. If you’ve ever wondered how to find the right tone and style when producing online content – for a blog, a newsletter or any sort of online platform – this is the workshop for you!
You’ll learn the differences between writing online and print content and how to formulate an original opinion in a sea of loud and ranty views – this is the perfect workshop for anyone with aspirations to write online.
From 7.30pm on the Saturday, our writer-in-residence Patience Agbabi will read from the work she has created during her time at the museum. Patience is one of Britain’s most prominent spoken word poets and, having heard a small preview of her new work over Emily’s birthday weekend, I can confidently say that this is an event not to be missed!
The workshops continue on the Sunday as creative writing tutor and Sunday Times bestselling author Emma Darwin hosts two sessions, one on self-editing – “Make Your Story Shine” – and another on “Writing Historical Fiction”.
Emma will use her expert knowledge to guide participants through tackling that crucial second draft between 10am-12.30pm, and then, in the afternoon, aspiring historical writers will explore the business of finding, imagining and writing stories set in the past.
This year’s Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing is sure to be another jam-packed celebration showcasing and celebrating women’sw riting, and if you’d like more information about any of the events mentioned above, or to book tickets, just visit bronte.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 640192. (Lauren Livesey)

Marina Saegerman posts about Emily Brontë's bicentenary and reviews enthusiastically Emily Brontë Reappraised - A view from the twenty-first century by Claire O’Calloghan on the Brussels Brontë Blog.

Broadway World gives details of next month's performances of Jane Eyre in Seattle:

Book-It Repertory Theatre will open its 2018-2019 season with Jane Eyre. Called the 'first historian of the private consciousness', author Charlotte Brontë explores classism, personal agency, and feminine spirituality in this Gothic mystery. Julie Beckman adapted and directed Jane Eyre for Book-It in 1999 and is directing the 2018 production.
"Considered by many to be the first feminist novel, Jane Eyre tells the story of a marginalized young woman, a 'poor orphan child' who rises above the trauma of her youth and the limitations of her situation to achieve self-fulfillment and love. Jane is not defined by the men in her world, nor does she accept the limiting doctrines and social norms of her day-many of which are still in place. Her passion, intelligence, capacity for self-examination, and independent spirit make her a role model, even today," says Beckman.

The pain and chaos of alcoholism on fiction as listed by The Literary Hub:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Probably the least-known work of the Brontë sisters, by the least-known sister, Anne’s second and last novel was published to great success in 1848. Its subject-matter at the time was so shocking that one reviewer declared it “utterly unfit to be put into the hands of girls.” The novel is vast but primarily tells the story of Helen, whose husband is abusive and dissipated, and the landscape is populated with various forms of alcoholic men. Helen ultimately escapes her marriage and pretends to be a widow, earning a living as an artist to care for herself and her young son. The book’s most shocking moments are the ones which depict Arthur’s abusive attempts to get the young child drunk, seemingly to spite and hurt his wife, and it’s clear from the narrative that Brontë had a lot of first-hand experience in dealing with and subduing drunk men. The book was so upsetting to her sister Charlotte that, after Anne’s death she passed on the chance to have it reprinted, and the book was neglected for a really long time. Today it is widely considered to be a landmark in early feminist literature, but its frank depictions of addiction within marriage are just as deserving of acclaim. (Laura June)

Forbes reviews the film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:

In 1946, author Juliet Ashton (Lily James) is on tour promoting her latest book, which she penned under the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff. Immediately, we catch her strained smile as she presents herself in a bookshop. Juliet mentions she previously wrote a critical biography of Anne Brontë that was a commercial dud. (Travis DeShong)

The Yorkshire Evening Post visits a pub in Roberttown, Liversedge:

Oh, and the Brontës have a connection. Charlotte Brontë taught at Roe Head just across the border in Mirfield, and there’s the Luddites, of course, which brings us to The Star.

Los Angeles Times reviews The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher:

To fight such a monster, Fitger needs his department to rally around him. Unfortunately, unanimity is as rare in the English department as it is on sports talk radio. Schumacher surrounds Fitger with a troupe of zany colleagues, including a post-colonial theorist with “a view of the classics that stank of disdain,” a Victorianist who dresses like a Brontë sister, and an ancient, hidebound Shakespearean who refuses to vote yea without an explicit Shakespeare requirement. (Paul Gleason)

The Pensive Quill reviews the documentary I, Dolours:

The whole scene, including an aerial shot of Dolours shaking as she brings the tray up a flight of stairs, puts the viewer in mind of Bertha Mason, the mad woman who lived in the attic in Jane Eyre. (Christopher Owens)

The author Simone Meier talks about her 'lesbian' life in Tages Anzeiger (Switzerland):

Restlos jedes der 5000 Bücher, die ich als Teenie gelesen hatte, beschränkte die Liebe auf etwas zwischen Mann und Frau. Nein, halt! In «Jane Eyre» von Charlotte Brontë gab es diese eine Szene, in der Jane sich im Waisenhaus zu ihrer typhuskranken Freundin Helen ins Bett legt, und die beiden reden miteinander, als wären sie ein Paar.
Als Jane am nächsten Morgen erwacht, ist Helen tot. (Translation)

El Universal (Colombia) mentions Emily Brontë in an interview with the poet Dagoberto Rodríguez; Books and Culture Fix posts about Charlotte Brontë visits to Derbyshire;