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Wednesday 5 October 2011

Contemporary Arts Programme


News Release from the Parsonage:

Autumn/Winter Contemporary Arts Programme

The Parsonage will launch its new season Contemporary Arts Programme with an event to celebrate National Poetry Day. On Saturday 8 October, poet Aoife Mannix will be resident at the museum throughout the day, inviting visitors to contribute to a crinolined dress ‘poetry installation’. Following the event, Aoife will weave these visitor contributions into new poetry which will be exhibited as a series of poetry installations in the rooms of the Parsonage in November.


Other events in the new programme, which will run from October until March 2012, include an afternoon with hugely popular children’s author Jacqueline Wilson (pictured above) on Thursday 27th October, and an event with the screenwriter for the upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering HeightsOlivia Hetreed, on Friday 9 December. Both events will take place at the West Lane Baptist Centre in Haworth.

The Parsonage will also launch a new project with Artist in Residence Rebecca Chesney. Preston-based artist Rebecca will be setting up a weather station at the Parsonage to record weather readings over the next twelve months. She will then cross-reference the data with descriptions of weather in the Brontës’ letters and novels to compare how the weather in Haworth has changed since the Brontës’ day. Working with local people to collect the information, Rebecca will use her research to create an exhibition of new work for the museum next summer.

A full list of events in the new contemporary arts programme is listed below:

Aoife Mannix: Poet in Residence
Saturday 8 October 2011
Brontë Parsonage Museum
To mark National Poetry Day, poet Aoife Mannix will be resident at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. She will be asking visitors to contribute lines of text to a crinolined dress installation that will evolve throughout the day into a sculptural piece. Aoife Mannix will weave these visitor responses into new poetry inspired by her residency, which will be exhibited as a series of poetry installations in the rooms of the Parsonage from 8th November 2011 until 1 January 2012.

Aoife Mannix is an Irish writer and poet based in London. Her first novel Heritage of Secrets was published in 2008.  She is the author of four collections of poetry; The Trick of Foreign Words (2002), The Elephant in the Corner (2005), Growing Up An Alien (2007) and Turn The Clocks Upside Down (2008).  She is currently poet in residence for BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live and for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Free with admission to the museum. Event takes place throughout the day.


Thursday 27 October, 2pm
Jacqueline Wilson
West Lane Baptist Centre, Haworth
One of the nation’s favourite authors, Jacqueline Wilson visits Haworth to read from and talk about her work, including her new book Sapphire Battersea

Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine years old. She has since gone on to write over forty books, and creating enduring characters such as the famous Tracy Beaker. Her books are loved and cherished by young readers all over the world, and have won numerous prizes including the Children’s Book of the Year, the Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award. In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was Children’s Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson. Jacqueline Wilson is also a great admirer of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and she has written the introduction to the Whites Pocket Classic edition of the novel.

Tickets: £5 and must be booked in advance.
Special ticket offer for talk with admission to the museum: £8.40 adult; £6.80 child.
Bookings: jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk/ 01535 640188.
Age guidance 8 + and children should be accompanied by a ticket buying adult.

Olivia Hetreed: Wuthering Heights
Friday 9 December, 7.30pm
West Lane Baptist Centre, Haworth
Andrea Arnold’s new film version of Wuthering Heights will be released in cinemas on 11 November. The film’s screenwriter, Olivia Hetreed, visits Haworth to discuss how she adapted the novel for the screen.


Olivia Hetreed’s first feature film, Girl With a Pearl Earring, was nominated for multiple Oscars and BAFTAs including Best Adapted Screenplay. The film starred Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth and was adapted from the novel by Tracy Chevalier. Olivia Hetreed started her career as a documentary, drama and film editor before moving into screenwriting for ITV drama, including adaptations of What Katy Did, E.Nesbitt’s The Treasure Seekers and The Canterville Ghost

Tickets £6 and must be booked in advance from jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.


Friday 24 February, 7pm
A horror of great darkness: Gothic from the Brontës to Twilight
West Lane Baptist Centre, Haworth
From Dracula to Twilight, the gothic has thrilled, disturbed and drawn out our darker sides for centuries. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights played an important part in the Victorian reinvention of the genre, and continue to have an influence on the contemporary interpretation of the gothic. Dr Catherine Spooner explores our continuing obsession with zombies and vampires, and shows how the gothic influences contemporary culture, from literature and film through to fashion, advertising and music.

Tickets £5 and should be booked in advance from jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.

The Garden of Oblivion
Friday 2 March – Thursday 5 April
Brontë Parsonage Museum
Franklin is an artist based in Brussels, Belgium, and has spent many years creating a body of intricate drawings inspired by the Brontës’ lives and works. Franklin has used brush, pencil, pen and china-ink to create this series of detailed drawings, each work taking months to complete. The small-scale works are layered with symbolism, taking inspiration from the Brontës’ imaginative and spiritual world. Franklin’s work draws heavily on poetry and literature, and has been exhibited in Belgium, including Musee Arts et Marges, Brussels and Ermitage Saint Hadelin, Belgium.

Exhibition free with admission to the museum

Ross Raisin
Wednesday 7 March, 2pm
West Lane Baptist Centre, Haworth
Novelist Ross Raisin discusses his new novel, Waterline.
Ross Raisin was born in Silsden in 1979. He went to Bradford Grammar School, studied English at King’s College London and has an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmith’s University. 


His debut novel, God’s Own Country was published to critical acclaim in 2008, and tells the dark tale of a teenage farmer’s son living on the Yorkshire Moors. Ross was shortlisted for 8 separate awards for the book, including the Guardian First Book Award, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and Portico Prize, and won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2009. He lives in London.

Tickets £5 and should be booked in advance from jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk / 01535 640188.


For further information please contact the Arts Officer:
01535 640188


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