'A brilliant recital of Wuthering Heights by someone dressed as a rabbit who had watched too much Clockwork Orange'

The Telegraph thinks that Boris Johnson's list of women who have influenced him is 'a well-tested formula, and Johnson’s is no exception'. The list is made up of the trailblazer (Malala Yousafzai), the relative (his grandmother), the historical figure (Boudicca), the unknown (director of the Number 10 Policy Unit Munia Mirza) and

The ‘cool’ one
In an apparent bid to distance himself from the enduring image of prime ministers dancing in their pants to the Pointer Sisters as per Hugh Grant in Love Actually, Kate Bush makes for a suitably eclectic choice. Johnson said that he wrangled to pick the woman who had “stirred his emotions” most – Debbie Harry and Joan Armatrading came close – but in writing Wuthering Heights, “part of the soundtrack to my adolescence” and “one of the world’s greatest ever pop songs,” Bush’s heroine status was sealed. (Charlotte Lytton)

The Times asks several writers about the Prime Minister's choices:

Will Hodgkinson
Kate Bush was scary, but I also fancied her. It was confusing
I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Boris Johnson about anything, but here goes: Kate Bush changed my life too. I was eight when in 1978 she appeared on Top of the Pops, singing Wuthering Heights while wafting about and staring out from the screen as if something were really wrong.

Monash University’s Associate Professor Simone Murray discusses why 'In the business of books, women are losing out'.

“I became aware of Virago when I studied for my undergraduate degree,” Dr Murray says, “but we only ever talked about the contents of the book. We never talked about how these books came to be and how they’d been rediscovered, and what the effect of that was. So, I got interested in looking at literary studies beyond the words on the page that would start to ask, who produces these books? How do they circulate? Who reads them? How do they get read?”
When Virago began, some people said a feminist publishing house was not necessary because “writing’s about the only art form in which women can claim a long history, from Austen and the Brontës and George Eliot, and so on”.
“But as the founders of Virago pointed out, women have been published, but the terms on which they've been published and the numbers who have been published, the ways in which they've been reviewed and the ways they're forgotten, really aren't equal with males.”

The Daily Evergreen tells about the plans of a local library for International Women's Day:

Books that put women on the forefront, such as “The Secret History of Wonder Woman” and “Jane Eyre,” will be on display this month at the Terrell Library in honor of International Women’s Day.
The display, “Strong Female Leads in Literature and Film,” can be viewed during regular library operating hours until March 31 at the Terrell Library Atrium. (Madysen McLain)

The Ridgefield Press reviews Hartford Stage's Jane Eyre.

What is even more memorable than the outstanding characterizations of the two lead actors and supporting characters is that the adaptation of the novel and its direction is so thorough. It is amazing that Elizabeth Williamson manages to get the entire story told within two hours and 15 minutes. All the major scenes that one remembers from reading the book are vividly played out on the set designed so subtly by Nick Vaughan. Large sliding doors suggest a massive house which upon being opened allows the audience to peek into Jane Eyre’s world, where the Gothic and Victorian come together. Whether that opening reveals a translucent screen through which the audience watch silhouette scenes from Jane’s childhood or an orange and red glow from a fire within, the less is more concept works perfectly in the set design.
Ilona Somogyi’s costume designs reflect the Victorian era while Isabella Byrd’s lighting design and Matt Hubbs’ sound design accent the action. (Joanne Greco Rochman)

Wokingham Today reviews The Studio Theatre Company's production of Wuthering Heights at South Hill Park.

[Heathcliff] has evolved from the archetypal Byronic Hero to a symbol of everything that is now unacceptable in gender politics – the archetypal abusive, unkind and manipulative man. [...]
Does this production of “Wuthering Heights” present a Heathcliff and Cathy that aligns with these modern ambiguities? [...]
The answer is “pretty well”, with director Sophie Pierce opting for a set design that is suggestive rather than literal. Small drifts of straw and a few tools next to a fine writing cabinet suggest the titular Heights’ combination of decaying finery and rural industry, while a few choice pieces of furniture across the stage give an impression of the comparative grandeur of The Grange and its inhabitant the Lintons – as in (fictional) life not physically far away from the Earnshaw’s abode, but infinitely distant in terms of social mobility.
 Sensitive lighting and sound choices courtesy of designer Matt Edwards help to transport the audience into the world of the play, with the desolate wind on the moors echoing across the stage when windows and doors are opened, and oppressive, hot lighting underscoring the confinement and tempers of the characters. It’s difficult to pull off epic theatre in a confined space, but the producers do a damn good job of it – if you’re willing to let your imagination (cued by these atmospheric prompts) carry you away. [...]
Curiously, Heathcliff and Cathy don’t actually command the bulk of the stage time. In Charles Vance’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel, the “lead” roles are arguably delivered by Heathcliff’s new tenant Mr Lockwood (Gordon Coe) and his housekeeper – and former maid to Cathy – Ellen Dean (Clare Bray).
 Following a disturbing visit to Wuthering Heights in its later years, Lockwood returns to his rented home of The Grange and implores Ellen to explain aging landlord Heathcliff’s disturbing behavior. In their subsequent conversation, the familiar story unfolds; and the audience is in capable hands with both actors. Coe becomes a sort of MR James figure, skillfully and atmospherically navigating the audience through a hellish ghost story for Christmas. Bray meanwhile is an exquisite narrator who flits effortlessly from narrating history in the “present day” to acting it out in the “past”, her body and voice conveying affection and pain for the doomed Cathy (Gemma Burgess) and Heathcliff (Lewis Richardson). [...]
However it is Burgess’s Cathy who presents the revelation here. There are no scenes in which her burgeoning, happy relationship with Heathcliff are shown, you see; we join her when she is debating between a life with the man who is “more myself than I am”, and the rich Edgar Linton (Robert Howard France) who can offer her a future. And so we witness a manipulative and aggressive portrayal; one of the scariest scenes in the play (and there are many) involves her verbally and physically intimidating Edgar before collapsing in tears as he moves to walk away, luring him back to her. And she is no less manipulative of the other members of her household.
Does this justify the subsequent abuses Heathcliff pours on her and the other characters? Is his character, if not rehabilitated, then perhaps contextualized, in light of her actions?
 I will leave you to decide… (Michael Beakhouse)

County Press tells about a recent fundraising event at a karaoke party:

“There was also a brilliant recital of Wuthering Heights by someone dressed as a rabbit who had watched too much Clockwork Orange". (Joshua Silverwood)

iLeón (Spain) finds out that writer Pilar Escamilla is a Brontëite. Women writers publishing under pseudonyms are discussed in El País (Colombia).