The Latest Breaking News from Charlotte Brontë

Artists as varied as Sarah Lucas, Gwen John and Georg Baselitz are called upon by critic-curator Hilton Als to chime with the writer of Wide Sargasso Sea

From the pompous vanity of Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion (1817), to the shallow reading habits of Isabella in Northanger Abbey (1817), few characters in the works of Jane Austen are spared the gentle satire of her famously ironic narrative voice. Similarly, some of her best remembered characters, like Elizabeth…

Letter: Michèle Roberts responds to an article by Sarah Moss on literary heroines being thin

This joyously bananas look at the nine-day queen features shapeshifting servants transforming into owls. It’s a wild, fun bit of escapism – perfect summer viewing

Local authorities are thinking of plugging budget shortfalls by raising millions selling off public assets

A snail in space, dinosaurs on the beach, a fresh take on Jane Eyre, and a kebab-eating incarnation of Otis Redding

Crowdfunding and significant donation from Nigel West – who has a family connection to Charlotte’s husband – secure property, with plans to transform it into a cultural and education centre

From Charlotte Brontë grieving Emily to Ted Hughes lamenting a lamb, this exceptional anthology of poems is full of scholarly discernment

A crowdfunding drive led by TV presenter Christa Ackroyd aims to make the first Bradford home of the literary siblings a tourist destination and source of inspiration