Today, 1st August, marks Yorkshire Day, a day to celebrate all things Yorkshire. And as a native of the other side of the Pennines, I feel like a traitor to my people even writing this article. But my grandad was a Yorkshireman and I basically live next to the moors separating Lancashire and Yorkshire, so I think I'm good so long as I'm not wearing a red rose. Centuries-old rivalries aside, Yorkshire has produced some incredible writing talent. Here are just five examples:
Primarily a playwright, Leeds-born Alan Bennett has also worked as an author, screenwriter, audiobook narrator and actor. Amongst his best-known repetoire are the monologue series Talking Heads, the plays The Madness of King George and The History Boys, along with their film adaptations, and the Gary Oldman-starring Prick Up Your Ears, about fellow playwright Joe Orton. The source of Bennett's immense popularity come from his tremendous dry wit, and his distinctive Leeds accent that comes across in both his writing and his narrating work. Bennett focuses on the downtrodden in both life and relationships, perhaps popularising the "grim up north" stereotype, but his characters all have a charm and heart about them that endures in the memory.
Don't worry, the three Bronte sisters (and one Bronte brother) don't make up rest of this list, they're being counted as one. The three sisters are famous for some of classic literature's greatest works. Eldest of the three Charlotte (two other sisters were older, though both died young) wrote the endlessly popular Jane Eyre, along with the novels Shirley, Villette, and the posthumous The Professor. Emily Bronte only wrote one novel, but that novel was Wuthering Heights. Darker than her sister's Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights inspired such diverse things as three operas, a role-playing game, and the Kate Bush song of the same name. Youngest sister Anne wrote the largely autobiographical Agnes Grey, and the ambitious The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The sister's also had a brother, Patrick Bramwell Bronte, a painter who also wrote poetry in collaboration with his sisters, but never achieved their level of success.
Poet Ted Hughes was not just famous for being the husband of Sylvia Plath until her suicide in 1963. Hughes was considered one of Britain's greatest ever poets, the Mytholmroyd-born writer was the country's Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. Along with his famous poetry, of which his final volume Birthday Letters won the TS Eliot Prize amongst others, Hughes wrote short stories, plays, prose, and books for children, including The Iron Man, which later became The Iron Giant to avoid confusion with the Marvel character. A controversial character, especially given details of his marriage to Plath, Ted Hughes is nevertheless an important figure in British poetry and Yorkshire talent.
Val Wood is a prolific author operating out of the city of Hull. Her historical novels, all set in and around her home city, are numerous, with a whopping twenty-one releases so far! Published by both Transworld Publishing and Corgi Books, Wood is still going strong, with her latest, His Brother's Wife earning rave reviews from readers and currently listed as 5 stars on Amazon.
York-born Kate Atkinson's first release, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, was awarded the 1998 Whitbread Book of the Year ahead of such established and notable authors as Salman Rushdie. Celebrated for her superb characterisation, her most notable body of work is perhaps her series of novels featuring the character of Jackson Brodie, a former detective and now private investigator. Outspoken, criticising the media for focusing on her being a single mother rather than her writing ability, Atkinson was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2011.