Jane Austen Festival: Louisville, KY

In the latest email from the Jane Austen Society of North America, I received word that Greater Louisville Region will be holding its second annual Jane Austen festival. I've copied and pasted the press release below. The Regency Style Show sounds especially interesting. Since it will be held during the summer, families will be able to use the summer break to take their kids for what sounds like a very fun and educational event.

2nd Annual Jane Austen Festival to take place July 18 & 19, 2009 at Historic Locust Grove, Louisville, KY

The 2nd Annual Jane Austen Festival will take place July 18 & 19 at Historic Locust Grove, a circa 1790 National Historic Landmark in Louisville, KY.

This event is hosted by the Greater Louisville Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The festival will include Afternoon Tea; a Regency Emporium with lovely fabric, shawls, patterns, bonnets, jewelry and everything needed to create a Regency outfit; as well as antiquarian books; a Regency Style Show and you can have your shadow cut! Plans for a Grand Ball are being made.

Guest speaker will be Margaret Sullivan, author of THE JANE AUSTEN HANDBOOK and editrix of Austenblog. Her talk is entitled "Five Things a Janeite Heroine (or Hero) Needs to Know."

Historic Locust Grove (www.locustgrove.org) is located six miles from downtown Louisville and sits on 55 parklike acres. There are many stone and log buildings on the property that will temporarily house the shoemaker (live demonstration), the Mantua-Maker & Daughter (seamstresses with Regency dresses for sale) and other delights.

Admission to the festival is $6 which includes a tour of the circa 1790 Georgian House. Afternoon Tea (four courses) is $25 (includes admission). Reservation required for tea.

For more information, contact Bonny Wise, Regional Coordinator at 812-923-7808, visit www.jasnalouisville.com or email wises4@insightbb.com. For anyone traveling to the area, advice gladly given about hotels, B&B's, etc.

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

On this day in 1775, Jane Austen was born at the Steventon rectory. Her family included her parents, George and Cassandra Austen, six brothers (James, George, Edward, Henry, Francis, and Charles), and one sister (Cassandra). Although she lived a relatively quiet life, her six completed novels are considered classics, despite Austen's initial difficulties in achieving publication.

Portrait of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

Jane Austen Society of North America

Since Jane Austen's birthday is this month (December 16, 1775 to be exact), I've decided to hold a celebration and profile her works and life. If you're interested in learning more about Austen and perhaps in meeting with others who hold the same interest, you may want to check out the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). With 4000 members and a number of regional groups, JASNA is the largest organization devoted to Austen and her works. If you click on their calendar of events, you'll find a comprehensive list of meetings and other events such as teas and country dance lessons. And, if you're still searching for a special gift for the Austen fan in your life, they offer a link entitled Merchandise, which will direct you to regional groups that sell Austen-related gifts. Teachers looking for additional material to add to discussions of Austen's novels will definitely want to explore the list of Austen-related links. Finally writers may want to check out the Jane Austen font, which Pia Frauss created and which JASNA advertises on their site.

The Austen family's coat of arms

A Treat for my Fellow Jane Austen Fans

I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorite Pride & Prejudice passages, accompanied by a romantic Regency image. Enjoy!












"Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eye, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his face, became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable."
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (1813)

The Complete Jane Austen on PBS

Rediscover the timeless novels of Jane Austen in celebration of Masterpiece's Complete Jane Austen film festival—airing on PBS this winter.

Viewing Schedule:
• January 13—Persuasion
• January 20—Northanger Abbey
• January 27—Mansfield Park
• February 10—Pride & Prejudice (Part I)
• February 17—Pride & Prejudice (Part II)
• February 24—Pride & Prejudice (Part III)
• March 23—Emma
• March 30—Sense & Sensibility (Part I)
• April 6—Sense & Sensibility (Part II)

For more information, visit pbs.org
The Masterpiece Theatre® broadcast of Pride and Prejudice is the first in the U.S. other than on A&E Television Networks