‘The High Flight: 50 Poems Inspired by Emily Brontë’s Hawk’
Speaker: Emma Conally-Barklem
Date: Tuesday 23rd June, 6:30pm
Location: Brontë Birthplace, 72-74 Market Street, Thornton, BD13 3HF
Join us for a fascinating journey through space and time as Emma discusses the process of creating an imagined world from one of the few details known about Emily Brontë. It is believed she rescued then kept a Merlin Hawk who she called Nero. Her bird of prey soars through history and the West Yorkshire landscape both quarry and predator. Conally-Barklem explores what it means to be captive and to be wild, the condition of the falconer, its lore and mystery through the enigmatic Brontë sister who stands both inside and outside of time.
‘By turns mythic, soaring, earthbound and unyielding, this collection is a dazzling addition to the Brontë canon.’
Karen Powell, author of Fifteen Wild Decembers
‘A truly astonishing collection bristling with piercing insight and originality- this is Conally-Barklem at the height of her powers’
Sharon Wright, journalist and Brontë biographer
‘One of the most interesting British poets working today’
Graham Watson, author of The Invention of Charlotte Brontë
Emma Conally-Barklem is an author, yoga teacher and workshop facilitator based in Yorkshire. Her first collection The Ridings was curated into an exhibition at South Square gallery in her hometown, Bradford. Hymns from the Sisters was written after a residency at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. She was a core poet for the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Poetry Festival 2025 and a guest on BBC Radio 4’s flagship arts magazine Front Row discussing the Brontës and their lives. Emma won The Society of Young Publishers First Chapter Award 2025. Emily Brontë’s Hawk is her first full collection.
Ticket Price: £10