'Are unhinged women our new anti-hero?'

Country and Town House on 'What To Expect At The 2024 Brontë Festival Of Women’s Writing':

This year – the thirteenth edition – is part of a full year of events celebrating the formative years of the Brontë family – one of literature’s most famous families. The Brontë Parsonage Museum has been exploring how the childhood of Branwell, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë shaped them as writers under the theme ‘The Brontës Web of Childhood’. The 2024 Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing includes events for young people as well as for those keen to help the next generation of young people. [...]

‘The Brontë children were writing and reading from a very young age, creating whole worlds for their own entertainment and completely engrossed in their unique, imaginary cities and complex characters,’ says Angela Clare, Programme Officer for the Brontë Parsonage Museum who has spent months curating a diverse and eclectic programme for the festival. ‘In drawing from their own life to write their poems and stories, they produced work that related to and engaged their readers.

‘It has been a joy to bring together such fantastic guests for the festival and we hope everyone who comes along is inspired to keep reading and writing, especially young people, by understanding just how important it is,’ says Angela. ‘The authors attending have spent years considering the needs of young people and creating work that they will enjoy, learn from and encourage their readers to dream. Seeing them all here, where the Brontë family wrote their own inspirational works from such young ages, sharing and engaging with audiences will be incredibly special.’

What’s On The 2024 Programme?

Every year, a selection of renowned writers descend on Haworth for the Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing. With the theme of childhood for 2024, confirmed writers include former Children’s Laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling YA novelist Bea Fitzgerald, Wildsmith author Liz Flanagan, and author and English teacher Carol Atherton.

Meanwhile, grown ups can enjoy talks from literary agent Clare Wallace sharing tips for aspiring writers, Guardian columnist Lucy Mangan discussing the role of women like the Brontë sisters in inspiring writers and illustrators over the last century, a poetry writing workshop from Monika Radojevic, and plenty more.

There will also be an accompanying programme of workshops for all ages, tapping into subjects around childhood, nostalgia and, of course, the Brontës.

See the full festival programme here.

When Is It?

The 2024 Brontë Festival Of Women’s Writing will run from 20–22 September.

Where Is The Brontë Festival Of Women’s Writing?

The Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing is hosted at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth (Keighley, West Yorkshire BD22 8DR), as well as locations in the local area, including:

West Lane Baptist Church

Old School Room

Parson’s Field (Olivia Emily)

Electric Lit has an article by Dawn Kurtagich. About her novel The Madness. she writes:

We love women leaning into their rage, their darkness, their power—women taking up space. Are unhinged women our new anti-hero? The new villain we love to adore? I, for one, hope so, but I also know this isn’t a new “trope”. Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Chopin’s The Awakening (to name a few), illustrate this fact. It does seem, however, that we are salivating for this type of story more than ever before. 

The Sun had to withdraw--and apologise for--a column by Jeremy Clarkson. And now The Mirror reports on a recent TV interview with Lisa Hogan, his girlfriend where she sort of talked about it.

She shared: "He'll read me his column sometimes and I will say 'I disagree with every word of that'. He wrote something about Jane Eyre the other day and I said 'that is so lad, I disagree with everything on it'. (Matt Jackson)

Well, he's no Brontëite.