PATRICK’S year is drawing to a close, and as much as we’ve enjoyed focusing attention on the ‘father of genius’, we’re all really excited about next year, and we’re full steam ahead with our 2020 planning.

Next year’s programme will shine a light on the life and legacy of the youngest Brontë sister Anne, who in many ways is a more shadowy figure than her sisters, and yet her fiction was decades ahead of its time, so we’re looking forward to exploding some myths about Anne!

Anne’s 200th birthday is on January 17, which is rather inconvenient for us, as the museum is closed during January whilst we carry out conservation and maintenance work and have an early spring clean!

But Anne’s birthday will not pass unmarked, as we’ll be celebrating by previewing our new Anne Brontë exhibition in the Bonnell Room. The rest of the museum will still be under wraps, and so for Anne’s birthday only, admission is free, and all are welcome to visit the exhibition between 10am and 3.30pm.

Just a few days prior to Anne’s birthday, we’ll be screening To Walk Invisible at West Lane Baptist Centre on January 13 at 1pm. In previous years we’ve shown the 1939 Hollywood classic Wuthering Heights and the 1946 biopic Devotion, but this year we thought we’d show the grittier To Walk Invisible, first aired on BBC at the end of 2016. All are welcome, and the screening is free.

On the evening of Anne’s birthday, we’re joining forces with Thornton’s South Square Centre, to celebrate in style at the Delius Art and Cultural Centre in Bradford, at 7.30pm with an exciting line-up of musicians, poets and DJs.

Anne is often thought of as the ‘other Brontë’, less famous than her sisters, but she was a talented novelist, poet, visual artist and musician. This event is inspired by her creativity and promises to be great fun! It is a ‘Pay What You Feel’ event, so there is no set ticket price and no booking required, so just turn up and pay what you want!

Keep checking our website bronte.org.uk/whats-on for the full line-up.

Our popular Parsonage Wrapped event takes place on Saturday January 18 at 2pm, where we offer an opportunity to take a peek behind the scenes during the museum’s closed period. You get exclusive access during our busiest time of year, and the chance to experience the museum as you’ve never seen it before.

Tickets cost £25/£22.50 and places are limited. Visit the website or call 01535 640192.

More next time about our 2020 programme, but I can reveal that we have the brilliant Maggie O’Farrell joining us in June, along with Young Adult author Ruta Sepetys, and in April, Andrew Michael Hurley will be in Haworth discussing his new novel Starve Acre.