WE HAD a busy half-term last week, despite the horrible weather.

Alongside families who braved the elements, we had visits from Keighley Highfield Community Association and Touchstones, Bradford, who brought groups of women and girls to take part in workshops led by theatre-maker Sophia Hatfield.

Sophia and I also visited Together Women Project in Bradford where a small group of women enjoyed a creative writing workshop – and all this work fed into a ‘work-in-progress’ event at the Old School Room in Haworth on February 29.

I was really looking forward to seeing how Sophia entwined the story of the Brontë sisters with the stories of the women she encountered in the workshops. It was fantastic to hear the different ways in which women and young girls today continue to connect with the Brontë story.

If a thriller story is more your thing, we have a treat coming up on April 4. The authors of two of the year’s most talked-about literary thrillers visit Haworth to speak about their new releases: Nuala Ellwood’s The House on the Lake and Jessica Moor’s Keeper. 

These novels explore landscape, feminism and abusive relationships in a tradition that harks back to texts like Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, considered shocking at the time of publication in 1848. Tickets cost £8/£6/or just £2 for 16-25 year olds.

Budding writers can also join Nuala on April 5 for a two-hour writing workshop exploring the impact of landscape upon fiction. The workshop will be relaxed and informal, and is suitable both for those new to writing and those with more experience.

Nuala will lead participants through a variety of writing exercises, sharing her expertise on writing landscape from a variety of perspectives. Tickets cost £27.50/£25/£15. Visit bronte.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 640192 to book.

Skipping further ahead to the end of the month, we’re really excited to be welcoming Andrew Michael Hurley to Haworth to discuss his new novel Starve Acre, set in the Yorkshire Dales, which was Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime at the end of last year.

Andrew’s first novel The Loney (2014) was described as ‘an amazing piece of fiction’ by none other than Stephen King, and won the Costa Best First Novel Award. It has been published in 20 languages, and his second novel, Devil’s Day, won the Encore Award. 

Described as ‘a notable writer of modern gothic’, Andrew has a ‘fine talent for evoking the menace of northern landscapes’ (Guardian), and Starve Acre is ‘a perfectly pitched tale of suspense and the dark side of folklore . . . perfect, page-turning reading for a dark night’ (Herald). Sounds like it will be the perfect event for horror fans!

Andrew will be in Haworth on April 25 at 2pm. Tickets cost £8/£6/£2.