Third Brontë Festival of Women's Writing

Jane Austen will go ‘head to head’ with the Brontës in a battle between these great women writers, as part of the third Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing, to take place in Haworth from Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September 2012. The full programme of events has been announced and will feature readings, talks, workshops and family events dedicated to celebrating and showcasing women’s writing.

The weekend will feature writers Helen Simpson, Tiffany Murray and Claire Harman discussing whether Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters have had the greatest influence on contemporary fiction. Novelist Sadie Jones will also be in conversation about her work and latest novel The Uninvited Guests. An exhibition of new poetry by Zoe Brigley and Hebden Bridge-based poet Amanda Dalton, inspired by their previous residencies at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, will go on display in the period rooms of the Parsonage for the weekend, and Amanda Dalton will be reading from her Brontë poems as part of the festival. There will also be a variety of creative writing workshops taking place to enable emerging writers to develop their own creative skills, and a series of events for museum visitors and families. The full programme details are included below.

The first Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing was held in September 2010 and was supported by the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. The festival takes place as part of the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s contemporary arts programme and is funded by Arts Council England and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Third Brontë Festival of Women's Writing