Bringing Austen to Life: Student Reflections on the Jane Austen Festival
- Delicia Johnson
- Nov 2
- 3 min read
"Oh! who can ever be tired of Bath?"
-Northanger Abbey, Chapter X
Welcome to our new series, 'Bringing Jane Austen to Life'! Students from Eric Bontempo's Jane Austen course will reflect on their experience visiting Bath and attending the Jane Austen Festival. Eric is the director of Jane Austen & Co. and one of the co-directors of the Jane Austen Summer Program.
The Jane Austen Festival, the largest and longest running Austen festival in the world, takes place every September in the historic city of Bath. It offers varied events inspired by the works of Jane Austen, including guided walks, balls, and theatrical performances. With thousands of people dressed in Regency costumes walking against the backdrop of Georgian Bath, it's easy to feel as if one has been transported back to Austen's time or lifted from a page of one of her cherished novels. Eric's students will write about how the city of Bath and the Jane Austen Festival brought Austen to life for them.
Without further ado here's Eric with his introduction to this series!
Dear JASP blog readers,
Hello! My name is Eric Bontempo, and I’m one of the co-directors of the Jane Austen Summer Program. This fall semester, I am teaching a course on Jane Austen for students studying abroad in Oxford through my home institution, Abilene Christian University.
As part of our study abroad experience, my students and I attended the Jane Austen Festival in Bath from September 19-21, 2025. They visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, toured the Roman Baths, sat in on stimulating workshops and lectures, ate at the famous and delicious Sally Lunn’s Bath Buns, attended a stage production of Emma, and so much more.
Afterwards, I asked my students to write blog posts reflecting on their time at the Jane Austen Festival, and now I am sharing them with you all (with their permission)!
For many of my students, this is their first experience reading the works of Jane Austen. Some had never heard of her before enrolling in my class. For them, the Jane Austen Festival opened their eyes to the influence that Jane Austen has had in England and the rest of the world.
We met people from Australia, Mexico, Denmark, Japan, and elsewhere, who made the pilgrimage to Bath to celebrate Austen in her 250th birthday year. We saw elaborate costumes, public readings, and grand processions as well. Bath came alive for the festival, and the students found themselves getting caught up in the excitement as well.
Following the festival, my students finished reading Northanger Abbey and Sense & Sensibility. At the time of this post, they are about to start Pride & Prejudice, and it has been so gratifying to see them become more and more engrossed with Austen’s social satire and dynamic plots.
For my students, Austen came alive to them in Bath. I hope that this series of blog posts can lead you to reflect on how you are able to make Austen come alive.
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