All you need to know about Anne Lister – An Evening with Jill Liddington

As part of the Farsley Literature Festival we are excited to announce that this prize winning British writer will be joining us in The Constitutional to talk about Anne Lister – the real Gentleman Jack.

Jill is a writer and historian. Her main research interest lies with women’s history ~ most especially the Votes for Women story. She has always been fascinated by discovering the history of forgotten suffragists and suffragettes, wherever they lived. Indeed, ‘Votes for Women – everywhere!‘ 

Female Fortune is the book which inspired Sally Wainwright to write Gentleman Jack, now a major drama series for the BBC and HBO. Lesbian landowner Anne Lister inherited Shibden Hall in 1826. She was an impressive scholar, fearless traveller and successful businesswoman, even developing her own coalmines. 
Her extraordinary diaries, running to 4-5 million words, were partly written in her own secret code and recorded her love affairs with startling candour. The diaries were included on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2011.

Jill Liddington’s classic edition of the diaries tells the story of how Anne Lister wooed and seduced neighbouring heiress Ann Walker, who moved in to live with Anne and her family in 1834.