Sunday 20 August 2017

Brontë Festival of Women's Writing

The Brontë Festival of Women's Writing runs from 22 to 24 September:


 
 
 
Head to Haworth for the seventh Brontë Festival of Women's Writing, September 22-24
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were pioneering women writers and continue to inspire contemporary literature in limitless ways. The Museum is delighted to be hosting its seventh festival dedicated to showcasing and celebrating women's writing, featuring readings, panel sessions and workshops for teens and adults.
 
Getting Yourself Out There! Self-Publishing and Self-Promotion
The Festival kicks off this year with a free event at Cobbles and Clay on Friday 22 September, from 7pm. An expert panel of writers will share their experiences on Getting Yourself Out There, and the importance of self-promotion as an author. We'll be hearing from academic Laurie Garrison, whose #womenwriters Twitter chat was dubbed "hearteningly radical" by the Guardian Books blog, novelist Helen Taylor, who ran a crowdfunding campaign to get her second book published, local author Sarah Dunnakey on the importance of a social media presence even when publishing "traditionally", and Jane Davis, who turned to self-publishing and has never looked back. Come along for an evening that promises to be both informative and informal, get some tips from our panel, and meet other local authors.
 
Stepping into the Sister's Shoes - writing workshop for teens with Liz Flanagan
We're running our first ever Festival workshop for teens! If you're a teenage girl who likes to write, come along to the Brontë Parsonage Museum on Saturday 23 September, and join YA author Liz Flanagan to Step into the Sisters' Shoes.
There's just one place left on this workshop devised especially for girls aged 12-16, and Liz will lead a series of writing exercises designed to be fun and accessible. Attendees will draw inspiration from our Museum collections to create a new piece of writing, and the workshop is suitable for seasoned scribblers and those who are completely new to creative writing.
Liz Flanagan writes for children and young adults. She lives in Hebden Bridge and is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing. Her debut novel Eden Summer is published by David Fickling Books, and was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Follow her on Twitter @lizziebooks or visit www.lizflanagan.co.uk.
Tickets £5. Please book in advance at www.bronte.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 640192. Don't delay - there's only a single space left!
 
Adapting the Brontës with Rachel Joyce and Deborah McAndrew
The novels of the Brontës are among the most commonly adapted in literature. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall have been brought to life as plays, ballets, films, operas and radio dramas. Join novelist Rachel Joyce and playwright Deborah McAndrew as they discuss the challenges inherent in adapting some of the world’s best loved fictional texts to suit a new medium.
Rachel Joyce is the author of bestsellers The Music Shop, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey, and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languages.
Yorkshire born playwright Deborah McAndrew studied Drama at Manchester University. Her performed and published plays include new work and adaptations of classic novels and foreign language plays. Deborah’s moving WW1 drama An August Bank Holiday Lark won both the UK Theatre Award and Manchester Theatre Award for Best New Play 2014.
Tickets £10/£8 concessions and Brontë Society members (£2 for 16-25 year olds). Please book in advance at www.bronte.org.uk/whats-on or by calling 01535 640192.
 
Sarah Perry - Meet the Author of "The Essex Serpent"
Our 2017 headliner, novelist Sarah Perry, talks about her bestselling novel The Essex Serpent from 7.30pm on Saturday 23 September. Set in 1893 and firmly rooted in the author’s home county of Essex, The Essex Serpent follows Cora, a keen amateur naturalist convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a previously undiscovered species, and William Ransome, a local vicar who sees the rumours as a distraction to the true faith.
Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing from Royal Holloway, and has been the writer in residence at Gladstone’s Library and the UNESCO World City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. Her first novel, After Me Comes the Flood, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Folio Prize, and won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. The Essex Serpent is Waterstones Book of the Year 2016, and British Book Awards Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017.
Tickets £10/£8 concessions and Brontë Society members (£2 for 16-25 year-olds). Please book in advance at www.bronte.org.uk/whats-on or by calling 01535 640192
 
Writing for Stage and Writing for Radio
The final day of the Brontë Festival of Women's Writing takes place at the beautiful Ponden Hall, and features two complementary workshops on writing for different mediums - the stage and radio.
Join playwright Deborah McAndrew for a workshop on writing for the stage, which will combine her extensive advice and experience with more practical exercises, and a focus on the particular challenges of adapting classic novels.
Deborah’s produced commissions in 2017 include an acclaimed new stage adaptation of Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for Bolton Octagon and York Theatre Royal, a reworking of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac for Northern Broadsides, and adaptations of Arnold Bennett’s Anna of the Five Towns for New Vic Theatre and Dickens’  A Christmas Carol for Hull Truck. She is also the writer on The Chester Mysteries 2018, and produces her own work through her company Claybody Theatre, based in Stoke-on-Trent.
Rachel Joyce, award-winning novelist and author of BBC Radio 4’s Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Shirley, hosts a workshop on writing for radio covering the essentials of the medium – ‘telling’ instead of ‘seeing’ and some of the dos and don’ts of audio drama. Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Brontë novels.
Tickets £20 (£10 for 16-25 year olds). Please book in advance at www.bronte.org.uk/whats-on or by calling 01535 640192.
Transport to and from Ponden Hall can be arranged from the Museum car park, and a packed lunch is also available for those attending both workshops (at an additional cost).
 
Parsonage Unwrapped: A Day in the Life of a Museum Assistant
Ever wondered how we prepare the Museum for visitors each morning, or how we ensure the collection is cared for and preserved? If you're in Haworth for the Bank Holiday weekend, why not come along to this special event on Friday 25 August and meet members of our team who can give you a glimpse behind the scenes at the Museum? Go behind the velvet rope and come along after hours to have all your questions answered!
Tickets £18/£15.50 concessions and Brontë Society members – includes a glass of wine. Places are limited, so early booking is advised.
Why not make a day of it? Combine a Parsonage Unwrapped event with a Brontë Treasures session for £100 per person. Please call 01535 640192 for more information.
 
Stay in touch ...
We produce our newsletters every 4-6 weeks, but for the latest updates and photos of day to day life at the Museum, you can follow us on twitter @BronteParsonage / @BronteShop and Facebook @BronteParsonageMuseum.
Until next time,
From all at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

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