Sara Zadrozny on nature and emotions – some reflections

It was a real delight (as always) to attend the Brussels Brontë Group talks on 12 October. Joanne Wilcock’s presentation on her various trips to Brontë-related sites was thoroughly enjoyable, but I was especially interested in Sara Zadrozny’s fascinating look at landscape, weather and emotions in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 

In the footsteps of the Brontës with Joanne Wilcock

On Saturday 12 October, the Brussels Brontë Group enjoyed a morning’s immersion in Brontë-related places, including some fabulous northern English scenery. The first of the day’s two talks explored landscapes and buildings associated with the Brontës, the other focused on the symbolic significance of some of the landscapes in the sisters’ novels. 

Meeting Irish author Michael O’Dowd

Several years ago, I reviewed Irish author Michael O’Dowd’s book on Charlotte Brontë’s honeymoon in Ireland: Charlotte Brontë – An Irish Odyssey. On our trip to Ireland this summer, we managed to meet Michael and had a fascinating discussion about Charlotte and other Brontë-related topics – despite some unpleasant weather. 

Impromptu Brontë walk with poet Emma Conally-Barklem

I had a very impromptu Brontë walk on Saturday with the poet Emma Conally-Barklem. She had come all the way from Yorkshire to Brussels for the weekend with her partner to see Pink! on her Summer Carnival Tour in the King Baudouin stadium and to walk in the footsteps of Charlotte Brontë. 

In one weekend, she managed to combine “meeting” two of her idols: one a hugely popular singer songwriter, real pop royalty from the U.S.; and the other an equally popular novelist who has been dead for more than 150 years, but whose work has lived on and is loved by many generations of readers. 

'Oblivion: The Lost Diaries of Branwell Brontë'

We were delighted to welcome U.S. professor and novelist Dean de la Motte, who joined us on Saturday 15 June for our annual summer lunch and afterwards gave a talk on his novel Oblivion: The Lost Diaries of Branwell Brontë. The event, arranged to fit in with Dean’s annual summer stay in France, was well-attended and proved to be a very successful addition to the talks originally scheduled for this year.