A FORMER director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum has published a collection of short stories.

Andrew McCarthy, who now lives in Oxenhope, penned 14 stories for the compilation Let Not The Deep Swallow Me Up.

Andrew, who was born and grew up in a Hull, has lived in the Bradford area for the past 20 years.

He said: “During that had the good fortune to work quite accurately for some great cultural institutions in the region.

“I spent 15 years at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, as director between 2008 and 2012, as well as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and currently Bradford Cathedral.”

Andrew began writing after joining a ‘creative writing for mental health’ group, and Let Not The Deep Swallow Me Up is his first publication.

The stories explore themes of childhood, loss, memory, and coming to terms with the past.

They have titles such as The Fall, Magnolia’s Ark, Ashes to Ashes, The Laughing Captain, Blue Spanish Eyes and The Heart and the Feather.

He said: “I am a great believer in writing as a therapeutic tool that more people should be encouraged to explore.

“I’ve worked for Bradford-based mental health charity, The Cellar Trust, and have an interest in the relationship between mental health and creativity.”

Andrew said he was also a big fan of self publishing, including Kindle Direct Publishing, through which he published Let Not The Deep Swallow Me Up.

In his time at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth Andrew served as education officer, audience development manager and deputy director, eventually taking the top job in 2008.

He developed the museum’s education programme and was responsible for several large-scale arts education projects in Haworth including The Wind on the Moors, bringing schools together with musicians to create a new opera based on the Brontë’s life.

He also initiated the museum’s contemporary arts programme. As director he delivered a development programme at the museum including a major refurbishment of the exhibition space, and the redisplaying and reinterpreting of the museum’s historic rooms.

Let Not The Deep Swallow Me Up, available as a paperback and e-book, is available to buy visiting amazon.co.uk.