Dave Russell: The Writings and Career of Phyllis Bentley

Join Dave Russell as he talks about the 'one-woman Yorkshire institution' Phyllis Bentley, as part of The Book Corner's and The Grayston Unity's TOWN Festival.

The novelist and writer, Phyllis Bentley, probably best now remembered for her novel Inheritance, was born in Halifax in 1894 and spent most of her 82 years there. It was unusual for a successful cultural figure to remain so firmly in their home town but Bentley showed a particular commitment to Halifax and the wider West Riding. She used the region and its people as an inspiration for her writing, worked tirelessly for a variety of local cultural institutions and acted as an advocate for northern life within the national culture. This lecture explores these themes while also discussing the sense of constraint and even inferiority that, as a ‘provincial’ writer, she felt when dealing with the London literary elite and, most notably, her friend Vera Brittain.

Dave Russell taught in schools and in higher education and has lived in Calderdale since 1983. He is the author of Looking North, Northern England and the National Imagination and numerous essays and articles on cultural history, particularly in the fields of music, sport and regional identity. His speculative purchase of Bentley’s autobiography O Dreams, O Destinations led to a growing interest in her work and her role as a spokesperson for Yorkshire and the wider North of England.

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