2021 ~ Jane Austen’s World

Originally scheduled for 2020, our virtual 2021 Jane Austen Summer Program explored the many facets of Jane Austen's life that informed her writing, including the politics, fashion and social mores of the era.

We were pleased to welcome so many featured speakers: authors Janine Barchas, Mary Robinette Kowal, Robert Morrison, Damianne Scott, Jasmine A. Stirling and Jocelyn Harris, as well as food historian KC Hysmith, historical tailor Samantha Bullat and historical penmanship expert R.B. Bartgis.

Readings & Doings

Mary Robinette Kowal and Soniah Kamal led our popular creative writing workshop. Attendees also heard talks on Whigs and Tories in the Regency era, the ties between tea and enslavement, colonialism and the Ottoman inspiration behind Western fashion, and the "business of Mothering." Craft workshops allowed attendees to try their hand at embroidering fabric, making a turban and writing with a quill and ink. Participants also took part in a cook-along banquet and competed in our first-ever virtual JASP Bake-Off. They also worked in groups to find a murderer during our a murder mystery game, held in lieu of our annual ball.

Our readings:

"Jane Austen's Letters" (Fourth Edition), by Deirdre LeFaye

"Jane Austen: A Life," by Claire Tomalin

Suggested viewings:
“Becoming Jane”
“Bridgerton”

Virtual exhibits:
The Worlds within Austen's Two Inches of Ivory

Art and Empire: The Exterior Forces of Austen’s Interior World