LONDON — Should a 30-year-old supermodel help lead a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Emily Brontë?

That question is at the crux of a row that broke out after the Brontë Society in Britain, one of the world’s oldest literary societies, anointed Lily Cole a “creative partner” for a festival about Brontë, the author of “Wuthering Heights.”

The collaboration, announced this week, spurred a Brontë biographer and society member to write a scathing blog post denouncing it as a “rank farce.”

“What would Emily Brontë think if she found that the role of chief ‘artist’ and organizer in her celebratory year was a supermodel?” the biographer, Nick Holland, asked.