On the Brontës: Tracy Chevalier in conversation with Dr Katy Mullin

Acclaimed novelist Tracy Chevalier and the University of Leeds’ Dr Katy Mullin in conversation about the Brontë exhibition in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery

Why do the original manuscripts, handwritten notebooks and personal letters of the Brontës resonate so deeply with us?

The event is inspired by the precious material saved for the nation in 2021 from the Blavatnik Honresfield Library. This material is currently on display to the public for the first time in over 80 years at the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery in Becoming the Brontës. The exhibition is co-curated by the University of Leeds, the British Library and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Chevalier and Mullin will discuss their insights into the collection and what it reveals about Yorkshire’s most famous literary family, as well as their love of the Brontës’ work.

Tracy Chevalier is the author of 10 novels, including the international bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring. In 2016 she was a Creative Partner with the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth to celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë, editing the anthology Reader, I Married Him and curating an exhibition on site. Her new novel The Beadmaker will be published in Summer 2024.

Katy Mullin is Senior Lecturer the School of English at the University of Leeds. She has taught an MA module on the Brontës and has published widely on Victorian and modernist literature.

The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery's opening hours will be extended until 6pm to allow visitors to view Becoming the Brontës before the talk.

The event begins at 6.30pm in the Esther Simpson Building. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/campusmap?location=17420

The event will be followed by a short drinks reception.