From Offaly to Hathersage and Thornton through Haworth

Offaly News (EDIT: and Ireland Live, Offaly Express) marks the birth of a new Brontë group: the Banagher Brontë Group, recently formed after a successful gathering of Brontë enthusiasts at The Hill House in Banagher, aims to cultivate awareness of the connection between Charlotte Brontë and her husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, with the town.  The group plans annual literary events in late April and December, coinciding with Charlotte's birthday and Arthur's death anniversary, respectively. Activities include talks, walks, exhibitions, films, and commemorations. 

The group also intend to publish as many of the letters and manuscripts relating to Arthur Bell Nicholls as possible. (...)

The group also intend further promote a travelling exhibition of entitled The Legacy of the Brontës made up of embroidered works by the Banagher Crafting Group and Maebh O’Regan of NCAD, Dublin. (...)

The memorials of Arthur and Mary Anna and other members of the Bell Family are in need of greater care. Contact has been made with Nigel West, a descendant of Arthur with regard to the possibility of cleaning and refurbishing them. The same Nigel West is deeply involved in the current project to save the Brontë Birthplace at Thornton, near Bradford, Yorkshire. Several members of the Banagher Brontë Group have generously subscribed.

BBC makes a selection of the most "striking pictures from around the UK in 2023". One of them is in the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Conservators David Everingham and Alison Aynesworth worked to restore 12 oil-painted panels on the Apostles' Cupboard on display at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth. The pair spent 12 weeks working on restoring the paintings on the cupboard that is described by Charlotte Brontë in her novel Jane Eyre.

Collider lists the best film directorial debuts of 2023, according to the ratings in Letterboxd:

9. Frances O'Connor - 'Emily'

Letterboxd score: 3.6/5

Blending fiction and history in a unique take on the biopic film, Emily captures a nuanced portrait of the life of Emily Brontë (Emma Mackey), the author of Wuthering Heights and lesser-known sister of revered author Charlotte Brontë. Quiet and profoundly moving, the film tracks Brontë's tumultuous family life alongside her intriguing romance with William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) as she recounts the events leading her to write her only novel.

Yet another actor turned director, Frances O'Connor paints a vivid and compelling image of the complicated writer in this impressive feature debut. Her astute direction allows Mackey to shine in the titular role, as her performance breathes life into the often-overlooked literary figure. Yet, the film's reliance on fiction proved controversial for some viewers, and O'Connor's direction, while beautiful, occasionally left Emily's writing as an afterthought in service of the central romance. Regardless, it is easy to get swept up in O'Connor's gorgeous worldbuilding, which isn't afraid to tell a unique story about a troubled outcast. (Faith Terrill)

Express recommends visiting Hathersage, "UK's best-hidden gem" :

Bookworms should visit nearby North Lees Hall - the inspiration behind Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. (Fiona Callingham)

Precisely, Through the Eyes of the Brontës revisits "Hathersage in the Hope Valley, in the Dark Peak, Derbyshire with Charlotte Bronte - July 1845".

The Yorkshire Post talks about the rise in housing prices in the Bradford and Huddersfield areas:

The wider Bradford district does have some hotspots, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire and the Worth Valley villages of Haworth and Oxenhope, known for their Brontë links. (Grace Newton)

The Espinoff helps with romantic complications:

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go around emotionally devastating people if that’s where your true happiness lies. There’s nothing better than a tortured romantic confession, even if it disrupts a wedding. Especially if it disrupts a wedding. Let’s not be so puritanical we throw the Brontës out with the bathwater. What’s not romantic is keeping your current girlfriend on ice, in case your big declaration doesn’t land. (Hera Lindsay Bird)

The Daily Mail has a "fiendish" literary quiz for you: 

5. In February, the novelist Jessie Burton admitted she had never enjoyed which novel written by a Brontë sister?

a) Jane Eyre.

b) Wuthering Heights.

c) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Stars Insider lists settings from books that you actually can visit:

Brontë's Moors 

The Yorkshire Moors, a character in their own right in Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights,' are as hauntingly beautiful in reality as they are in the novel. Visitors to Haworth, the Brontë family home, can roam these wild, windswept landscapes, imagining Heathcliff and Catherine's tumultuous romance.

Broadway World talks about the upcoming (next February) performances of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble's production of Drinks with Death Poets in the Off-Broadway. Describing the plot of the play it mentions:

A traveler (named Max, an obvious reference to the author) wanders into a bar where a woman named Ashling works.  (Her name means "dream" or "vision," referring to the aisling, a poem where Ireland appears as a vision to the poet lamenting her people's hardships.)  She is redacting "Wuthering Heights" and wrapping it in Saran Wrap. (Chloe Rabinowitz)

Il Libraio presents new Italian novels to be published in 2024. Among them, Qualcuno che Conoscevo by Francesca Mautino:

Cambiamo decisamente atmosfera, per parlare di uno dei debutti più attesi di inizio 2024, quello di Francesca Mautino, che vive a Torino e che ha una laurea in Storia del cinema. Mautino, che ha scritto per la televisione, il 16 gennaio pubblica per Longanesi il romanzo Qualcuno che conoscevo. La protagonista è Valentina Bronti, trentenne torinese alle prese con un parto trigemellare. Valentina, che ha messo tra parentesi la sua carriera professionale, ha scelto per le sue tre bambine i nomi di Emilia, Carlotta e Anna, come le celebri sorelle Brontë. Per Valentina, personaggio “in cui convivono senso di inadeguatezza, acume e un’ostinata vitalità“, conservare alto l’umore non è facile, in una vita incastrata tra illusori tutorial sulle pulizie domestiche e una relazione fallimentare con Marco, il padre delle bimbe, che si è ritirato a dormire nello sgabuzzino. Finché, un giorno, viene convocata all’asilo perché le tre piccole hanno tentato la fuga trascinando con sé una compagna. E qui inizia tutta un’altra storia, piena di ombre e bugie… (Antonio Prudenzano) (Translation)

Latido Beat (Uruguay) interviews the painter and graphic designer, Fidel Sclavo:

Si pudieras invitar a tres personajes literarios a cenar, ¿quiénes serían y por qué?
Rodión Raskólnikov, Jane Eyre y Lady Chatterley. Para calibrar intensidades de lo íntimo. (Translation)

Home Beautiful includes a quote by Emily Brontë, you know which one, in a list of Valentine Day quotes. QueroBolsa (Brazil) recommends Jane Eyre as a 2024 imprescindible reading.