'A joy to bring together'

Keighley News features the forthcoming Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing.

A packed programme of activities is lined up for the festival, the 13th to be held.

The event takes place at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, from September 20 to 22.

Visiting authors will include former children’s laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling young adult novelist Bea Fitzgerald, Wildsmith fantasy series creator Liz Flanagan, and author and English teacher Carol Atherton.

There will also be an accompanying programme of workshops, and a series of talks.

Angela Clare, programme officer at the museum, says: "The Brontë children were writing and reading from a very young age, creating whole worlds for their own entertainment and completely engrossed in their unique, imaginary cities and complex characters. In drawing from their own lives to write their poems and stories, they produced work that related to and engaged their readers.

"It has been a joy to bring together such fantastic guests for the festival and we hope everyone who comes along is inspired to keep reading and writing, especially young people, by understanding just how important it is.

"The authors attending have spent years considering the needs of young people and creating work that they will enjoy and learn from, and be encouraged to dream. Seeing them all here – where the Brontë family wrote their own inspirational works from such young ages – sharing and engaging with audiences, will be incredibly special."

As part of the event, Clare Wallace – managing director and literary agent at Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency – will share tips for aspiring writers.

Rachel Dodds, education and business development lead at Seven Stories, will discuss the role that women like the Brontë sisters have played in inspiring writers and illustrators.

There will be a workshop with playwright and theatre-maker Nicole Joseph.

Author, TV critic and Guardian columnist Lucy Mangan will celebrate literary characters, stories and places that shaped her childhood.

A poetry-writing workshop focusing on feminism and the patriarchy will be led by Monika Radojevic, who will also join a panel of poets – including Kate Wakeling, Maria Ferguson and Emma Conally-Barklem – to discuss their writing and influences.

Running alongside the main programme will be a free Words on the Street festival, featuring chalk art, larger-than-life storybook witches, a poetry takeaway, and trails and activities with museum storyteller-in-residence Sophia Hatfield, in the meadow behind the parsonage.

The full programme can be found at bronte.org.uk/whats-on/1451/bronte-festival-of-women’s-writing-2024-webs-of-childhood (Alistair Shand)

Crime Reads discusses 'Gothic Fiction with a Twist'.

When most people think of gothic fiction, they envision a heroine dashing through a crumbling manor in middle of nowhere England, chased by the ghosts of her lover’s past, one as rife with secrets as the holes in her moth-eaten gown.

19th and 20th century classics such as Brontë’s Jane Eyre, du Maurier’s Rebecca, and Austen’s Northanger Abbey come to mind, as well as monster gothics like Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula. Many in non-publishing tend to believe the genre is as dead as these authors, maybe excepting fans of Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 gothic masterpiece Crimson Peak. (Olesya Salnikova Gilmore)

Big Issue also comments on CMAT's performance at End of the Road festival.

CMAT struts and shimmies through the highlight of the weekend – a power hour of Americana, pierced by an uncanny cover of Wuthering Heights, which will have the box of wine in your tote bag screaming at you like the Telltale Heart. (Greg Barradale)