First ever Banagher Brontë Festival

Offaly Independent has an article on what to expect from the first ever Banagher Brontë Festival which will be held over the weekend of Friday to Sunday, April 19-21.

The weekend will open on Friday, April 19, at 7pm with a premiére of An Evening with Charlotte Brontë devised specifically for the Banagher Brontë Group by Michael and Christine O’Dowd. The venue for this event is the Back Lounge of Corrigan’s Corner Pub. Seating is limited so come early to secure comfort. This presentation uses colourful slides to look at the works of Charlotte’s favourite writers, particularly Tom Moore and Robbie Burns. Scripts and lyrics will recall the songs and poems of her great favourites, many of which are familiar and still resonate in our ears today. As this is something of a gala occasion those choosing to come in their vintage finery are encouraged to do so. Registration is from 6.30pm, costs €10 and covers admission to all events over the weekend.

All events on Saturday will be held in Crank House starting at 11am with Joanne Wilcock’s talk called Falling in Love with Arthur. Joanne will explore the different opinions and feelings people had and still have about Charlotte Brontë’s husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls. She recalls how those who initially had negative views had been won over by his more positive aspects. So how will you be at the end of this presentation, on Team Arthur or elsewhere?

At midday Pauline Clooney will present Currer Bell's Silent Years 1852-1855, an examination of Charlotte Brontë's paths to publication and her attitude to a writing life, and how, consequently, this attitude illuminates her creative silence from 1852 until her death in 1855.

After lunch, at 2.30 p.m Maebh O’Regan will present The Art of Branwell Brontë. From their earliest years the Brontës were passionate about art and were particularly inspired by the wood engravings of Thomas Bewick. Branwell showed great promise as a portrait artist but he felt his true vocation was in literary composition and often his artistic skills were used for humorous sketches in letters to friends.

This will be followed by The Early Days of the B.B.G. short film by created by Maebh and Seanie O’Regan capturing some historic (and otherwise) moments of the early days of the Banagher Brontë Group. The day’s events will conclude with a short amble from Crank House up the Main Street to view the various works of art and displays in local shop windows which have been created by local artists and Brontë enthusiasts finishing with a close look at Sheila Hough’s portraits in Johnny Hough’s musical pub.

Proceedings will resume on Sunday morning at 11am. with a short walk from Saint Paul’s Church on the Hill to Cuba to look at the remains of the Royal School of Banagher. Matters will draw to a close with coffees and teas in Nicola Daly’s guest house, Charlotte’s Way, at 12.30pm. Here James Scully will give a brief reappraisal of the group’s progress so far, underlining the need for firmer structures and tighter organisation for the rest of the year.

Reader's Digest wonders, 'What can we learn from the "silent women" of literature?'

The first Mrs Rochester from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, the original "madwoman in the attic", is another meditation on this subject. On the surface, she is beyond rationality—a terrifying, mindless creature, stripped of language and humanity, standing in the way of Jane and Mr Rochester's happily ever after.

But then, if you'd been imprisoned far from your home, with an unsympathetic husband and little warmth or comfort for years, wouldn't you be desperate and frenzied too? (Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel that explicitly tells Bertha's story, is well worth a read.)

And yet, once again, despite the way in which she is denied a voice, Mrs Rochester "speaks" throughout the book anyway. While the fire that she sets at its conclusion can be viewed as yet another unhinged act, for me, it is more representative that sometimes simply enduring can be an act of courage. And that sometimes, what little agency we have left leaves us with no "good" choices. (Kate Townshend)

Good Housekeeping recommends 'The best fantasy novels to read' and one of them is

Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn

Every 50 years, a dark witch takes a new companion, never to be seen again. This time, 20 years-old Mina volunteers; her future looks bleak either way, but at least here she has agency in her decision. She travels to a fantastic German gothic castle, where doors open to random seasons and moments in the past. The witch’s only request: that she doesn’t visit her tower. A stunning meditation on loneliness, with nods to Jane Eyre, Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent and Naomi Novik’s Uprooted. (Lucie Goulet)

BBC Radio Leeds has an audio clip on the Brontë birthplace finally being in public ownership.