Blogs & News

: Online Talk: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Short Stories – An Introduction

Comedy. Tragedy. Sensationalism. Realism. Gothic. Journalism. Elizabeth Gaskell was more than a novelist. Her short stories have got it all. Join popular speaker Elizabeth Williams for this intriguing introduction to a different side of Elizabeth Gaskell’s story-telling. Better known for her classic novels, Elizabeth Gaskell was a prolific writer of short stories. Charles Dickens knew this and encouraged her to write for his literary magazine. Works like the much-loved Cranford started as short stories. Others, like Libbie Marsh’s

: Online Talk: Ruth – Fact and Fiction: Social Class Divisions in Elizabeth Gaskell’s World

Class. Status. Sex. Elizabeth Gaskell’s controversial novel Ruth shocked Victorian society for its portrayal of a ‘fallen woman’ who had sex before marriage. But what of the true story that inspired it? Now you can uncover both fact and fiction including the story of Pasley, the young teenage girl Elizabeth met in Salford’s New Bailey Prison. Author Livi Michael looks at the real ‘Ruth’ and her background. How did creating this groundbreaking novel impact Elizabeth Gaskell as a

: Online Talk: Lancashire Day – Northern Writers

Northern writers from Elizabeth Gaskell to the Bronte sisters have created great novels and new genres that have transformed literature. But it’s not just the big names of Victorian literature… The North of England boasts a huge literary canon from The Hundred and One Dalmatians to Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Mancunian writers have often led the way, from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic The Secret Garden to Isabella Banks’ The Manchester Man. And don’t forget Lancashire dialect

: Online Talk: Halloween – Victorian Ghost Stories

You can step into the wild side for a new spine-tingling talk on Victorian ghost stories, just in time for Halloween! Terrifying tales, ghostly ghouls, helpless heroines – there is everything you want in the classic Victorian ghost story. Dr Diane Duffy is back with a spellbinding new talk starting with Elizabeth Gaskell’s short story The Old Nurse's Story. From there, you can brave the supernatural stories of Catherine Crowe including The Night-side of Nature and her later

: Online Event: International Women’s Day – Breaking Boundaries

Join our three literary houses in an evening to celebrate women writers who broke boundaries as we mark International Women’s Day. Step into the worlds of novelists Anne Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell, and their feminist predecessors Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Robinson. Celebrate how these four writers shook the world and broke the contemporary social constraints on women. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary Long remembered only for her relationship with the Prince of Wales, Mary Robinson has been reclaimed as one