Tributes of shells and pretty stones

The New York Times asks bookish questions to author Annie Ernaux.

What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I was an insatiable reader: books, women's magazines, the local daily newspaper. “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Brontë; “Oliver Twist,” by Charles Dickens; “Gone With the Wind,” by Margaret Mitchell — they all left me with lasting memories. I thought the authors were talking about beings who had existed.

The Week has writer Julian Barnes pick his '6 favorite books that deserve all their praise' and while he doesn't actually pick any Brontë-related one, he does mention one:

'Persuasion' by Jane Austen (1817)

My favorite three 19th-century English novels are by women, Middlemarch and Jane Eyre being the other two. Persuasion is Austen’s last novel, dark, ironic and intense. Imagine what she’d have written had she not died at 41.

Salve Today features a student whose work has focused on the Brontës.

Taten Shirley ’22 (Ph.D.) always had a strong passion for the humanities, which led her to pursue years of higher education with the culmination of a doctorate in humanities from Salve Regina.  

Shirley has recently published a book based on her dissertation about the famous Brontë sisters, and she has another Brontë-inspired anthology she’s editing on the horizon. [...]

Lexington Books published Shirley’s book in March of 2023, which is based on her dissertation. The book is called “The Industrial Brontës: Advocates for Women’s Equality in a Turbulent Age,” and it examines the interaction of humanities and technology through the eyes of the Brontë sisters during the Industrial Revolution. 

“What I argue in my book is that the Brontë sisters took advantage of the many changes happening in the Industrial Revolution,” Shirley explained. “They argued for women’s rights.” 

The books historically contextualizes all seven novels that the Brontë sisters wrote, including better known works like “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights,” alongside lesser-known pieces like “Agnes Grey” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.” Throughout her book, Shirley examines the ways the Brontë sisters challenged traditional ideas of marriage, called for equality in education and explored the worth of all human beings despite class differences. It also shows how important work was to women in creating better opportunities for them.  

Shirley looks to further explore Anne, the youngest Brontë sister, in an essay that will be part of an anthology she’s editing — which she hopes will be sold on shelves in 2024. The anthology will be focusing on artistry in the life and work of Anne, an often overlooked Brontë sister who achieved much during her lifetime worthy of celebration. Shirley has also written many other nonfiction pieces over her career. 

The Guardian has an article on the Yorkshire coast.

A walk to the 12th-century castle, on its 6.5-hectare (16-acre) headland with 270-degree sea views, led past St Mary’s church, also started in the 12th century. In 1849, a desperately ill Anne Brontë came to Scarborough with sister Charlotte hoping sea air would give her strength, but died three days later. Her gravestone is in the churchyard, the words eroded but tributes of shells and pretty stones lined up on its top. (Liz Boulter)

And several Australian newspapers, such as Brisbane Times, list 'Six of the best towns and cities in Yorkshire' including

Haworth

Haworth has a completely different literary pedigree. This photogenic West Yorkshire town, all steep hillsides and stone buildings, was the home of the Brontë Sisters. The Black Bull pub was where their rogue brother Branwell got prodigiously drunk, but the Bronte Parsonage was where they lived – it’s now a museum devoted to the sisters’ lives and works. For the full Wuthering Heights experience, though, you need to go for a walk up the path behind the Parsonage onto the wild moorlands. The ruined Top Withens farmhouse is largely agreed to be the inspiration for Heathcliff’s home. (David Whitley)

Daily Mail gives 4 stars out of 5 to The British Library's exhibition Fantasy: Realms Of Imagination.

Perhaps my favourite display is a case dedicated to the Brontë's imaginary childhood world of Glass Town; delicate little, hand-scrawled maps and notebooks that add up to an entire universe. (Patrick Marmion)

Daily Dead features artist Abigail Jill Harding and her comic book series Parliament of Rooks.

"Parliament of Rooks is my homage to stories I grew up loving by fellow Brits like Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights,” says Abigail Jill Harding. "This is the first series I've written and drawn myself. It's very ambitious and I'm excited for people to read it." (Jonathan James)

L'avenir (France) gives 4 stars out of 5 to Paulina Spucches's Brontëana.

Les sœurs Brontë ont marqué, avec leurs romans, l’histoire du XIXe siècle. Plus exactement Emily et Charlotte Brontë sont célébrées et mondialement reconnues. Leur cadette, Anne, est souvent oubliée, au mieux décrite comme la plus sensible des trois.

Notre avis en un mot (puis quelques autres) : IMAGINAIRE

On sait tout de l’œuvre des sœurs Brontë, et beaucoup a été écrit aussi sur leurs vies. La Franco-Argentine Paulina Spucches nous surprend pourtant avec ce roman graphique qui la voit, aussi, se glisser dans leur dense imaginaire. C’est beau comme une peinture, et piquant comme une rose. (Michaël Degré) (Translation)

La opinión (Argentina) interviews writer Nancy Bonillo.

-¿Cuáles son tus autores referentes en el género que elegiste?

-Mis referentes son muchos, Jane Austen, las hermanas Brontë, Cristina Bajo, Gloria Casañas, entre otros. (Translation)

Televisual reports that the screen rights for Amanda Craig's novel The Three Graces have been optioned by Monumental.

Amanda Craig said: “I am thrilled that the great Alison Owen, whose female-centred dramas I have loved and admired ever since she filmed Tamara Drewe and Jane Eyre, and whose recent TV shows like Harlots and Ghosts I absolutely devoured, has chosen to adapt The Three Graces. With her knowledge of both the dark and the light sides of Tuscany, her sense of humour and intelligent sympathy for the human condition, she is the perfect person to bring my three 80+ year old heroines to a wider audience.” (Jon Creamer)

Vogue (Italy) mentions the Brontës' use of pseudonyms in an article on Louisa May Alcott.