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Literature
If you like your literature then you'll like Kirklees. The area has provided much of the inspiration for numerous
authors and poets. You can uncover the history of the Brontës in the villages and towns in the area and take in
the landscape, the architecture and meet the people who help shape the work of several notable, current day
resident authors and poets.
Huddersfield Literature Festival - March
The Huddersfield Literature Festival, organised by the University of Huddersfield, aims to launch new literary
'voices'. A key feature of the festival is the support of established authors and poets who mentor new novelists
and poets that they admire, read works in a joint session and discuss common themes.
The Brontë Connection
Kirklees has very strong literary links with the Brontës, who lived in nearby Haworth. Both Oakwell Hall
and Red House were visited by Charlotte Brontë and feature in her novels - it's no surprise that there are still
significant links with the literary arts today. There are exhibitions at both Oakwell Hall ('Fieldhead' in Shirley)
and Red House ('Briarmains' in Shirley), which record the Brontë connections and include letters written
by Charlotte to her friends.
Simon Armitage
Originally from Marsden, Simon Armitage is an internationally renowned poet, writer and broadcaster, who has kept
his roots within the local area. He describes himself as "the apple that hasn't fallen very far from the tree."
Simon has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Author of the Year, one of the first
Forward Prizes and a Lannan Award. He has also been shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize, TS Eliot Prize and
Forward Prize. He writes for radio, television and film, and is the author of four stage plays.
Joanne Harris
Renowned authoress, Joanne Harris, was born in nearby Barnsley in 1964 and now lives in Kirklees. Joanne hit the
headlines through writing Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche
and Johnny Depp.
Derek Longden and Aileen Armitage
Derek Longden and Aileen Armitage are husband and wife. Both are well-known and popular authors in their own
right. Derek's first book, Diana's Story, was published in 1989 and became a bestseller. It was followed by Lost
for Words, The Cat who Came in from the Cold, I'm a Stranger Here Myself and Enough to Make a Cat Laugh. An
adaptation of Lost for Words, starring Dame Thora Hird and Pete Postlethwaite, was screened by ITV in January
1999, attracting an audience of more than 12 million viewers.
Aileen Armitage is a writer of historical romances, gothic novels and family sagas. Many of them are set in
Yorkshire. As a child her father would take her to Lindley Moor, near Huddersfield, to show her the old family
house and tell her stories about her grandfather who had owned a mill in the area. |
Trace your Family Tree
‘Ancestry’ is a new website providing access to births, deaths and marriages, census, emigration and military records from UK and USA available dating back to 1837.
Non Kirklees library members simply need to bring identification with name, address and signature.
To find out more contact Huddersfield Library on: 01484 221965.
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