The Black Bull and Sunday Roast Dinner

Keighley News talks about the upcoming Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing in September:

The Brontë Parsonage Museum is organising the event with a host of workshops, discussions and readings.
A spokesman said the festival, now in its eighth year, was dedicated to both showcasing and celebrating women’s writing.
She said: “Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were pioneering women writers and continue to inspire contemporary literature in limitless ways.”
The weekend will begin on the Saturday from 10am to 1pm with a crime-writing workshop at Ponden Hall near Stanbury.
Radio, TV and stage playwright Frances Brody will explore the different approaches to writing a crime novel, and offer practical advice on creating characters, shaping plots and finding the right setting.
The spokesman said: “There will be writing exercises to stretch your imagination and sharpen your approach to rewriting, and useful tips range from developing your idea to finding an agent.”
Frances Brody is the award-winning author of three popular murder-mysteries set in 1920s Yorkshire featuring First World War widow turned detective Kate Shackleton.
Also at Ponden Hall, journalist, author and speaker Marisa Bate will lead a workshop entitled Write Online on the Saturday from 2pm to 4.30pm.
Marisa will base the session on skills learned from building and shaping The Pool, and award-winning online platform dedicated to creating inspiring and original content for busy women.
There will be tips about writing opinion and comment on current affairs, the differences between writing online and for print, and finding the right tone and style to engage with readers. (...)
The headline event on the Saturday will be readings by renowned poet Patience Agbabi, who will showcase work she has created during her residency at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.
The spokesman said: “Patience is one Britain’s most prominent spoken word poets and her electric performances mean that this will be a very special evening not to be missed!”
On the Sunday morning, Ponden Hall will host a workshop on self-editing, led by Emma Darwin and entitled Make Your Story Shine.
The spokesman said: “This practical workshop will think about structure and scene-building, then close-in to think about characterisation, voice, and finally the close-up focus that makes every word
count.
“Participants will develop a clearer idea of how to tackle that crucial second draft, and a bagful of tools to work with.”
Emma Darwin’s debut The Mathematics of Love is believed to be the only novel nominated for both Commonwealth Writers’ Best First Book, and RNA Novel of the Year awards.
Her second novel, A Secret Alchemy, was a Sunday Times Bestseller, and her first non-fiction book was Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction.
Emma has taught creative writing in many places including the Open University, and her blog This Itch of Writing is used by courses and editors around the world.
In the afternoon Emma will lead another workshop, Writing Historical Fiction, again at Ponden Hall, exploring the business of finding, imagining and writing stories set in the past. (David Knights)

The uncertain future of the Black Bull in Haworth in discussed in Keighley News:

The Black Bull shut on Monday August 6, but the pub’s owners say they are now working on finding a new licensee to take over and reopen the premises as soon as possible.
The prominent pub, which appears in many professional photographs and paintings of this part of the village, was a regular haunt of Branwell Brontë.
It is owned by Ei Group plc – formerly known as Enterprise Inns – which has confirmed the closure.
A spokesman for the firm said: “We’re working hard to find a new licensee to take on the pub on a five-year tenancy, which is the standard period for us.
“But it is possible that we will get a short term tenant in there to keep the doors open.” (...)
Commenting on the business, the regional manager for Ei Group said: “The Black Bull enjoys a loyal local trade within Haworth.
“It also benefits from being a tourist destination for anyone interested in the Brontës, as the family lived in the parsonage behind the pub.
“The family’s wayward son, Branwell Brontë, regularly frequented the Black Bull and allegedly his ghost, among others, is still around.
“An experienced publican with good ambition and drive is required here. (...)
Worth Valley ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen said: “With its Brontë connection and also because of its location the pub is a key historical point in the village.
“It does have competition in that part of Haworth but it has a unique selling point.
“The last thing we’d want is to see it all boarded up and closed down, that would be absolutely dreadful. (Miran Rahman)

BDaily News and Business Up North talk about the works at York Mills in Mirfield:

Huddersfield brand consultancy The Engine Room is making progress on a six-figure scheme to turn a 19th-century mill and former piggery into its new HQ.
The company secured £20k funding from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership’s Business Growth Programme to support a £100k-plus refurb of the complex, which is now halfway complete.
The site will serve as a 4,000 sq ft creative hub in the centre of Mirfield.
Engine Room bought York Mills in January last year for £250k. It was once owned by the Ingham family, who employed novelist and poet Anne Brontë as a governess. (Richard Bell)

Salt Lake Magazine recommends My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows:

You think you know Jane Eyre. Think again.
Salt Lake-based author Brodi Ashton has teamed up with Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows to write My Plain Jane, the second in their Lady Janies series and the follow-up to their New York Times best-seller, My Lady Jane.
Yes, there’s a theme of Janes in the books—and that’s not an accident. The authors started with the idea to humorously retell the story of Lady Jane Grey —Queen of England for nine short days—and from there decided there were more stories of Janes who had been done in by the patriarchy to tell.
That brings us to Jane Eyre. The authors want us to ask the following questions: What if Jane Eyre was real and not a fictional character? What if instead of a character created by, she was instead friends with, Charlotte Brontë? What if there were secret societies and madcap hi-jinx and, yes, even ghosts? And, perhaps most importantly: What is Mr. Rochester’s deal, anyway?
While technically a young adult novel, this one is good for all ages. It’s all told with laugh aloud witticism and a hearty tip-of-the-hat to the source material. But this Eyre’s got supernatural elements and maybe, even, a happier ending than even Charlotte Brontë could imagine.

Reader's Digest lists the novels at PBS's Great American Read:

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, first published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847, tells the classic tale of a young orphaned governess who falls in love with the master of Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester. Love isn’t without its complications, though; for starters, the eponymous “mad woman in the attic” will need to be sorted out. (...)
Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë’s classic Gothic novel is a love story set in the wild moors of England’s Yorkshire about Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by the wealthy Mr. Earnshaw. Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love and struggle through a tempestuous relationship. Brontë died just one year after her only novel was published, in 1848. (Rachel Aydt)

Rhino Times mentions The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (the movie):

The movie takes place in the aftermath of World War II. Lily James plays Juliet Ashton, a successful writer of nonfiction books and articles. Her biography of Anne Brontë sold fewer than a hundred copies – worldwide. But her publisher (and good friend), Sidney Stark (Matthew Goode) believes in her. He tries to get her to visit all sorts of bookstores and important literary societies to promote her newest book. (Orson Scott Card)

The actress Betty Gilpin on Decider:

“I’m at like a weird actor level where there are fleeting moments of feeling like a ‘Mariah Carey sultan’ when Netflix buys you a first class ticket,” Gilpin jokes. “Mostly it’s still self-taping for ‘Farts 2‘ on my bathroom floor, so I definitely haven’t entered the ‘sitting by the pool reading scripts for Wuthering Heights’ territory. So I definitely feel grounded in reality.” (Meghan O'Keefe)

Standout Books on beginning a book not at the beginning:

Likewise, there are plenty of stories, like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, that use clever tricks to skip uneventful middles, and some, like Garth Ennis’ Battlefields, that assume a setting like WWII brings enough knowledge with it to make a ‘beginning’ pointless. (Robert Wood)

PaperMagazine, OUT Magazine and i-D Vice are seduced by the Loewe Classics Set which includes Wuthering Heights. TravelBlog visits the KWVR railway and tries, with effort, the Sunday roast dinner in Haworth.