The creative force of Robert Barmard

Joan Bellamy, author of a biography of Mary Taylor, has written a short letter to the Guardian about Robert Barnard's years in the Brontë Society:

Robert Barnard was a creative force in the endeavours of the Brontë Society, based in Haworth. A member of its council and chairman for many years, he encouraged and contributed to academic research into the works and lives of the Brontës while ensuring that the interests and enthusiasms of the less professionally engaged were catered for. After steering it through some quite stormy times, in the end he guided it safely into port. He will be much missed; the success of the society's activities today is largely due to him.

And indeed, the latest Brontë Society newsletter remembers him as well as highlighting other recent goings-on at the Parsonage, etc.

The New York Sun features the current Balthus exhibition at the Met.

By spotlighting early paintings of prepubescent girls, sometimes in sexually suggestive poses, the Met’s exhibit has run the risk of propagating Balthus’ reputation as an artist with “a very serious Lolita problem,” to quote WNYC art critic Deborah Solomon. “I always thought his fascination with girls explains his career,” she adds.
A more thorough exhibition of Balthus’ oeuvre would demonstrate Solomon has it wrong. Balthus’ paintings of girls are part of a larger body of work that includes landscapes, portrait commissions, still lifes and male bathers. Moreover, Balthus’ early paintings are not lecherous depictions of children, but, rather, paintings of childhood. In the tradition of Lewis Carroll and Emily Brontë, a dreamy world of youthful drama is the subject here. Solomon’s criticism of Balthus doesn’t do his work justice. (Xico Greenwald)

The Skinny interviews writer Rosie Garland. Surely there is some misunderstanding here, right? It can't be a blunder.

A reoccurring theme of your work seems to be a longing for a place, a physical location, where you can be accepted and belong. Do you feel you've found that in Manchester?
[...]I am inspired by its radical history: birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, site the world’s first passenger railway station, of the Peterloo Massacre. It’s where the Pankhursts started the Women’s suffrage movement, where Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England, home to Anne Brontë, Alan Turing – I could go on and on. Maybe there’s something in the water… (Ana Hine)

Manchester was home to Anne Brontë. Wait, what? - didn't you know that?

We are loath to publish spoilers, so skip the following if you are one of the few people out there who haven't heard yet about the turn of events in the third installment of Bridget Jones, coming out in a few days.

The Mirror looks at ten other characters 'who died too soon'. It comes with a huge blunder too!

8. Helen Burns: Jane Eyre, Jane Austen
Poor Jane Eyre. Life wasn't too easy for the clean faced yet plain old Jane. Jane's only friend Helen dies of consumption in her arms.
Shock factor: 1/5 (Lucy Buckland)

Jezebel discusses the 'turn of events' mentioning Jane Eyre along the way.

Singer Laura Marling is quite the Brontëite as you know, so she must love getting reviews where the Brontës are mentioned too. From The Telegraph:

Rather than stewing in misery or feeling vaguely ticked off at the fundamental unfairness of life and love, Marling puts her bruised sensibilities to work as building blocks, constructing huge gothic edifices that suggest the Brontë Sisters by way of Joni Mitchell. (Ed Power)

The Guardian suggests the 'top 10 autumn walks in Britain', as recommended by readers.

The Calderdale Way, West Yorkshire
The Calderdale Way is a 50-mile circular walking route around West Yorkshire, offering every type of view: windswept Brontë moorland, meandering canal towpaths and autumnal woodland, plus some of Yorkshire's best little towns, with great names like Lumbutts and Mankinholes. It's champion. Enjoy a good Yorkshire cream tea en route, such as the one at Holdsworth House) in Halifax.
Lizzywinker

And yet another blunder, as the German site Augsburger Allgemeine announces the screening of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights by accompanying it with a picture of the 2009 ITV adaptation. The Times publishes an obituary of actress Susan Fitzgerald. The end of Septemb-EYRE on Covered in Flour and The Blog of Litwits. A short reviw of Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy on Cakes, Tea and Dreams. Booktryst discusses the acquaintanceship between Charlotte Brontë and William M. Thackeray. Flickr user Fisarmonicista shares a couple of pictures of Top Withins. Book Professor interviews writer Fenella Miller.

What books did you love growing up? 
Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books and Adventure books, I still have some of my bookshelves. I loved fairy tales and fantasies, but by the time I was ten I was reading in the adult section. Leslie Charteris, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, HG Wells, then onto the Brontë sisters, Dickens, Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. In between the adult books I was addicted to pony stories, Lorna Hill was a particular favourite. 

Finally, the Brontë Parsonage Facebook page has posts and pictures of the North Kirklees Literature Festival 2013 and the Harrogate Antiques Fair, which includes a picture of Ann Sumner and James Northcote, who played Edgar Linton in Wuthering Heights 2011.