IWD: Elizabeth Gaskell - "one of the greatest female novelists of all time” announces new writers
- Helen Clarke
- Feb 27
- 2 min read
MCRJourno
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has announced the three young writers in residence, who will be spending time immersing themselves in Elizabeth’s world and responding to her legacy in their words.
Georgia Affonso, Princess Arinola Adegbite and Guruleen Kahlo, who are all connected to Manchester through their life, education and creative work, will be exploring Elizabeth Gaskell as a writer and as a woman whose life was led by a sense of social justice.
Sally Jastrzebski-Lloyd, Director of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, said: "Elizabeth used her writing to record what she saw and to try and affect change, which makes her much more of an inspiring radical than her image can sometimes convey.
"We cannot wait to see how they use their words and voices to illuminate Elizabeth’s legacy as they see it today."
Georgia Affonso is a script-writer who has seen her work commissioned by BBC Radio 4, is co-director of No Door Theatre and has been selected for both the BBC Drama Room and as part of the Waterloo Road Shadow Scheme.
She arrives at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House with not so positive memories of visiting historical properties as a child and is enthused by the challenge this opportunity presents to test her own preconceptions.
Princess Arinola Adegbite is a multi-award-winning poet, filmmaker, musician and writer who has seen her poetry bridge the gap between different cultural spheres that range from Chanel’s Métiers d’art Exhibition to University of Cambridge.
She said: "I am intrigued by the possibility of crafting pieces that embody the physical artefacts of the house with themes of female authorship and social reform."
Guruleen Kahlo has recently completed an internship for the Long 19th Century Network in which she helped to run a Decolonising the 19th Century event, and she believes that "much of history was written by affluent white men - it is necessary to look further and to amplify a variety of voices."
After Elizabeth's death she was described as ‘one of the greatest female novelists of all time’, but never achieved the status of contemporaries such as Charles Dickens - why this was and Elizabeth’s experiences as a female writer is something that the writers will be addressing.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is open every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 11am to 4:30pm costing £8.50 for adults and free for children under 16, when accompanied by an adult.