Inaugural festival to be held honouring Charlotte Brontë’s honeymoon visit to Clare

A LITERARY festival honouring the visit of renowned classic author Charlotte Brontë to a Clare seaside town will take place this September.

The Kilkee Civic Trust will hold an inaugural festival marking the author's visit in 1854 on Friday, September 15 and Saturday September 16 at Cultúrlann Sweeney in Kilkee.

Brontë visited the town while on her honeymoon with her husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, an Irish curate to her father Patrick Brontë, in July 1854. The couple were married only for nine months before Brontë's untimely death during pregnancy in March 1855.

Labour party leader Dr Ivana Bacik will open the festival on Friday September 15 at 7.30pm, followed by a talk by Dr Michael O'Dowd entitled 'Charlotte Brontë - an Irish Odyssey".

All indoor events will take place at Cultúrlann Sweeney.

Admission to the entire programme of festival events is free of charge.

A donations box will be available, throughout the festival, to assist Kilkee Civic Trust in defraying essential and necessary expenses.