Riot Women may have arrived, but Anne Lister certainly isn't going away! As Good As A Marriage, the sequel to Female Fortune which inspired 'Gentleman Jack', came out in 2023 in paperback. Meanwhile, the 2028 centenary is looming of women winning equal political rights with men - at long last! And given the intrepid campaigns by both suffragettes and radical suffragists, it's never too early to celebrate this heroically fought victory.

January

Tuesday 20: Anne Lister: what did she ever do for Calderdale? Todmorden.

Jill Liddington, author of Female Fortune which inspired TV's 'Gentleman Jack', is joined by Rachel Lappin, Calderdale's Anne Lister Programme Coordinator.

Our answer is: Anne Lister did lots! Her magnificent five-million-word diary with its secret code is included in UNESCO's UK Memory of the World register. International recognition indeed! And when Sally Wainwright's 'Gentleman Jack' aired on BBC1 and on HBO in the US, it attracted a global audience - many of whom now head to Halifax to celebrate Anne's birthday each April. So, yes, Anne's contribution to Calderdale is amazing!

Venue: Todmorden Antiquarians, Todmorden Community College, Burnley Road, OL14 7BX.
Time: 7 pm for 7.30.
Bookstall with Anne Lister book-signing.
Tickets: for visitors: £3

February

Wednesday 11: Votes for Women across the North. Saddleworth.

Saddleworth lies mid-way between Lancashire and Yorkshire: both were key textile regions, yet each was so very different. In the Lancashire towns, no fewer than 90,000 women were members of the well-organized cotton trade unions. Annie Kenney from nearby Oldham was swept up by the Pankhursts as a suffragette, whilst socialist Selina Cooper from Nelson became a radical suffragist. Both campaigned passionately for Votes for Women. Yet their tactics were dramatically different.

Across Yorkshire, with its more mixed industrial economy, textile unions were less powerful. While Huddersfield recruited many textile workers as suffragettes, elsewhere in cities like York middle-class Liberal women were more prominent. Yet right across the North, women demanded the vote!

Venue: Saddleworth Historical Society, Museum, High St, Uppermill, Saddleworth OL3 6HS.
Time: 7pm for 7.30 start.
Bookstall with suffrage book-signing.

Friday 20: Votes for Women in Halifax
- and across Yorkshire.

Suffragettes in Halifax campaigned vigorously: women like Poor Law Guardian Mary Taylor and textile worker Lavena Saltonstall. In 1907, these local suffragettes went down to Westminster – where they were arrested and sentenced to 14 days in prison.

By chance, we know more about the Huddersfield suffragettes - because their WSPU minute book has miraculously survived. And artist Florence Lockwood from nearby Colne Valley recorded her life as a suffragist in her autobiography, An Ordinary Life (1932, 2024).

Time: 6.30-830 pm; please arrive by 6.15.
Doors: 5.30 to purchase drinks and refreshments at the bar.
Halifax Civic Trust, Albany Club, Hope Hall, 57 Clare Road, HX1 2JP.

Booking: £16.95. Book here

Bookstall with Rebel Girls and As Good As A Marriage book-signing.

April.

Monday 30 March – Mon 6 April:
Anne Lister Festival 2026.

Anne Lister Festival: see alisterofhalifax.co.uk to view the programme at a glance. Tickets are on sale from 5pm on Saturday 17th January.

Wednesday 1: Writing Women Up North. 

When we think about women's writing in the north, we often think of the Brontës. Yet, beyond the Brontës, there have been so many northern women who wrote compellingly about their own lives.

Join Jill for a revealing talk on some of the fascinating northern women writers she has introduced us to - from such icons as Anne Lister whose diaries run to five- million-words; to Selina Cooper, one of the 29,000 Lancashire women cotton workers who signed their suffrage petition and took it down to Westminster.

Time: 5 pm – 6.30.
Booking: £15.50 includes glass of wine.
Anne Lister Festival, The Hub, Northgate, Halifax.
Bookstall by Corner Books: with Female Fortune and As Good As A Marriage book-signing.

Friday 3: Anne Lister: what she inherited
and what she bequeathed.

A short Calderdale Heritage Walk round Shibden nearest the Hall. Anne inherited the estate from her uncle in 1826; and, always ambitious, in the 1830s she transformed it from a traditional farmhouse to an impressive country estate. Yet how were such ambitious plans paid for?

Then, after her death in 1840, her legacy went on to benefit the people of Calderdale and their many visitors.

Meet Jill Liddington at Shibden's front entrance by the blue plaque. This circular walk is just 1½ hours. You are then invited to browse the books in the Shibden shop and afterwards relax cosily with a cup of tea for Q&A and discussion.

Time:11 am – 12.30 walk; 12.30 – 1.30 Q&A & cup of tea.
Booking: tickets on sale from 5pm, 17th January. Pre-booking essential.