Juliet Barker

Sharon Griffiths talks to author Juliet Barker about research, awards and why she will never leave Yorkshire
Juliet Barker is a Yorkshire woman through and through. Despite the fame and success she has achieved through her writing, she has never been even slightly tempted to move further than from the West Riding to Wensleydale. “Never,” she says firmly. “I can’t imagine living anywhere other than Yorkshire.” It’s certainly been inspirational.
From her study window in a converted hay loft, she could gaze out at Penhill – “I couldn’t work anywhere without a view,” – and get down to work, usually at 4am, finishing her latest book. “The swallows would swoop in and around and out again as I worked.” Read more: .thenorthernecho/.Author_vows_to_never_leave_Yorkshire/

2015. A Brontë Year

2014 was a year of transition in many aspects, also as all-things-Brontë are concerned. And everything seems to point out that 2015 will also be a relatively uneventful year, just holding the reins for the big events that are being prepared for the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth in 2016. Except, of course, if we are talking about the Brontë Society which in the verge of the big celebrations of next year has nothing better to do than exhibit to the world intestine/internecine (cross out what does not apply) wars and absurd rivalries that nobody outside the stale air of the closed rooms of the Brontë Society (both the ruling board and the so-called dissenters) understands. Let's hope this new year will bring some common sense and less misused stamina based on pride (and prejudice) dressed as intelligentsia.

Nevertheless, we know of a few interesting things that the new year will bring and some hints of several others that it might bring: Read more on:

2015. A Brontë Year

Was Emily Brontë an Amateur Geometer?

Editorial
pp. iii-iv Author: Adams, Amber M.

Was Emily Brontë an Amateur Geometer?
pp. 1-10    Author:  Cooper, Christopher
Abstract:M. Heger claimed that Emily had a masculine mind, meaning that she had a well-developed capacity for logical thinking. To assist her drawing skills she worked through a drawing manual that was strongly based on Euclidean geometry. The Brontë Parsonage Library holds a manuscript of her drawings in which she practised several methods for constructing ellipses. Here we identify the drawing manual from which she worked and describe the geometry that lies behind the several ‘problems’.

The new issue of Brontë Studies (Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2015) is already available online
bronteblog/bronte-studies-volume-40-issue