CELEBRATE THE 200th ANNIVERSARY OF JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA THIS DECEMBER IN WINCHESTER

December marks 200 years since the publication of one of the world’s most famous novels, Emma, written by Jane Austen. The author spent much of her life in Hampshire, died in Winchester’s historic College Street and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

December is the ideal month to visit Winchester, fans of the novel, whose heroine was a great lover of Christmas, can expect a backdrop of ‘England as it used to be’ that is bustling with shoppers and revellers enjoying the compact medieval cityscape.

  

Winchester provides a tasteful and authentic Christmas experience - the festive season is celebrated with old and new traditions.  Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market is integral to the celebrations and recognised as being one of the best in Europe. This year is the tenth time the Christmas market has occupied the inner close. To celebrate, the Tourist Information Centre team have created a magical children’s grotto for Saturdays and the iconic Coca Cola lorry is coming to town on 17 December.  With lantern parades, Christmas shows and traditional pantomimes, Christmas 2015 will be a busy one for the ancient capital.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM LAUGHING WITH LIZZIE

Sophie Andrews

Thank you very much Maria Grazia for allowing me to visit your blog today, My Jane Austen Book Club, to make my very special announcement! 

In fact, rather than making my own announcement, I am going to let the wonderful Caroline Jane Knight, Jane Austen's 5th great niece, tell you all!

  

"It is inspiring to see the positive influence Jane has on people’s lives today.     They say life is about what you leave behind and I couldn’t be more proud of Great Aunt Jane’s legacy, my inspiration for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.     As Jane’s popularity continues to grow, I wanted to extend her legacy by harnessing the global passion for Austen to improve literacy rates.    Literacy is the key to self-improvement and unlocking potential.    Reading and writing are essential skills for anyone who wants to understand, enjoy and influence the world around them.

Caroline Jane Knight

The foundation raises money to help create CONFIDENT READERS and PROUD WRITERS by providing FREE books and writing materials to communities in need around the world, in honour of Jane.     We are a volunteer organisation with all monies raised spent on literacy resources and fundraising activity.   We are currently raising funds to provide literacy resources for the displaced children of Syria, delivered on the ground by UNICEF.

I only joined Facebook a year ago and was amazed to discover a world of Austen, involving Janeites from around the world, enthusiastically and vibrantly celebrating and discussing all aspects of Jane’s life and works.      With over 7000 websites and social media profiles associated with Jane, there is a never ending stream of content to keep even the most ardent Janeite engaged.    

THE JANE AUSTEN FESTIVAL AT LOCUST GROVE, LOUISVILLE - REGISTRATION OPENS TODAY!

Beautiful Locust Grove, the Georgian farm that hosts the Jane Austen Festival, awaits.  It is not hard to imagine you have stepped into Meryton, the fictional village of Pride & Prejudice.  Inside the home, a beautiful array of Regency fashions will be on display as well as a bobbin lace making demonstration (Mr. Bennet will ignore this we are sure).  In the basement/cellar, Commonstock Entertainment will be performing shadow puppet shows.  The restored house itself is a wonder to behold.

We are pleased to say THE BRITISH ARE COMING, THE BRITISH ARE COMING  to the Jane Austen Festival!  Jo Baker, author of LONGBOURN, will join us Saturday to talk about her book.  Ever wonder what Hill thought of Lizzie's petticoat 6 inches deep with mud.. read Longbourn and know!

Our other author from across the pond is...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! JANE AUSTEN AND HER MOTHERS

Alison Steadman as Mrs Bennet (1995)

Today is Mother's Day in the UK, Jane Austen's country, and author Victoria Grossack wants to celebrate it with us,  sharing this brilliant post about Jane Austen's   mothers. Thank you so much, Victoria!

Jane Austen is celebrated for many things: her wit, her irony, her insight into the human heart, her romances, and her skill in creating characters.  This article looks at Jane Austen’s mothers, the ones she brought to life in her stories.

The mothers in Jane Austen’s novels differ in each book.  In part this is due to her mastery of characters – they are all unique and three-dimensional – but they also reflect Jane Austen and her own development as a person and an author.  Jane Austen had two main writing periods.  When she was young, before 1800, she wroteNorthanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  These books were not published until later, and certainly they were revised, but the mothers in them reflect the author’s youthful attitude.  Between 1800 and 1809 Jane did not produce much, mostly because her life was unsettled.The novels that she wrote later, after finding a new home in Chawton – MansfieldPark, Emma and Persuasion– show motherhood with greater maturity.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! MARY JANE HATHAWAY, WRITER

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?

I read my first Austen novel at age 12, so 3/4 of my life has been impacted by her humor and sense of proper romance. I've aspired to her sly but gentle wit, looked to her for fashion sense, held strong to the romantic ideal of marriage for love alone, and above all, let Jane Austen guide my writing and reading.

What is a story without richly drawn characters and abiding passion? Nothing.

What kind of book would have action without thought, marriage without love, and society without a healthy dose of humor? Dry and boring.

In the end, even my career has been impacted by Jane. I aspire to writing the sort of witty romance than has one laughing, then sighing with satisfaction at the ending.

Mary Jane / Virginia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! SCOTT D. SOUTHARD, WRITER

The Power of Jane Austen

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine.

If I had one, I would right the wrongs of history and one of those trips would be to a small cottage in Chawton.

After I park my DeLorean (yes, I would build a time machine out of one, gotta travel in style), I would race up to the door on my hover skateboard.

I wouldn’t show Jane books or movies or TV shows or anything like that. I wouldn’t even hand her a copy of my book. No, I would just tell her about how at her little desk she had inspired millions upon millions of readers and writers like myself. And for generations she has defined the idea of love and a perfect marriage.

For me, discovering her books was a delightful surprise and without her, I would not be the writer (and reader) I am today. Because I can see that alternative universe of what my life and writing would be like without her and I know it wouldn’t be pretty. There would be a lot less heart, a lot less love. Finding her stories was my density… I mean my destiny. Yes, I am a better author and better man because of her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! VICTORIA CONNELLY, WRITER

 “What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?” 

I can't imagine a life without Jane Austen. She is the reason that I am now a full-time author. It was when I was visiting her cottage in Hampshire a few years ago that I came up with the idea of writing a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts - with each book set in a beautiful Austen location. Before I'd even finished writing the first story, I'd been offered my first book deal in the US and, since then, my books have been published in the UK, Russia and Finland. It's so exciting.

As well as the writing, there are the friends I have made through researching my books and attending events like the Jane Austen Festival in Bath and holidaying with 'Pride and Prejudice Tours'. Austen addicts have to be the nicest people in the world!

And, on a personal level, her novels have enriched my life in so many ways - they are beautiful love stories told with warmth and humour and I never tire of rereading them and watching the gorgeous film adaptations. I am truly an Austen addict!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! ALYSSA GOODNIGHT, WRITER

“What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?” 

Life without Jane Austen wouldn't be nearly as cozy, charming, witty, or wry. Technology is wonderful, but it comes at a price. Jane lets us remember a time when precious minutes were set aside to pen a heartfelt letter. A time when afternoon tea was a quiet, daily ritual. A time when a visit from the right gentleman was a thrill and his fleeting smile the stuff of young ladies' daydreams. Jane wrote of romance and love and trust, and all the nuances of getting it right versus getting it wrong. She wrote happily ever afters, full of wit and laughter and hope. In short, Jane wrote of all the best things, and I delight in visiting the world she created as much as possible. The influence of Jane's continued popularity in our modern world can only be a good thing.

Alyssa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! JASMINE KYLE, SINGER & SONGWRITER

   

    As a survivor of domestic violence I was raised in a rough home with rough words and rougher people. I played basketball and lifted weights as some feeble attempt to be strong and not be feel worthless.  As an athlete you learn to walk hard move hard and make yourself large. So you can imagine as a jock and latchkey kid, what a Jane Austen novel would represent to me. 

   

  I inherited the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice and put it in on a day NOTHING looked good in my VCR collection. I put it on and was whisked away to soft spoken women wrapped in floral words and gentle men.  It woke in me the longing for something more. More than just the wrong side of the rainbow.  

Jasmine Kyle

    

I craved tea,  gentle conversations,  gardens and the never ending pursuit of good company.  As a child I would look at my mother and say "There has to be something more than this" and here it was waltzing away on my television. 

    So you ask me what my life would be like with out Jane Austen?  I would still be on the other side of the rainbow locked in a gray box hardening my self for a world that didn't have to be that way. 

Download Jasmine's "Dear Jane" for free 

Download "Forgiveness"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! DEB BARNUM, BLOGGER AT "JANE AUSTEN IN VERMONT"

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?

Hard to imagine, really, but here goes with a list of what would been missing in my life if Jane Austen had not written her 6 novels:

I wouldn’t have…

1. … befriended an amazing group of women from our first weekend sharing Jane Austen 20 years ago… we continue to have at least once a year “Wild Women Weekends” to discuss our latest reads and to just connect – and it all started with Jane Austen…

2. … had the repeat enjoyment of reading her novels over and over, always discovering something new;

3. … encountered the likes of Mr. Collins, Mrs. Elton, Mary Crawford, Mrs. Bennet, the Wicked Villians, and the Dashing Heroes [well, except for Edmund…];

4. … appreciated the English language in quite the same way… the Wit, the Irony, that Free Indirect Discourse! – Who else does it quite like this! [well, after giving Shakespeare his just due…];

5. … read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, and therefore would not have discovered Richard Armitage as John Thornton;

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! J. MARIE CROFT, WRITER

Life Without Austen

by J. Marie Croft

Imagine a time-traveler went back and changed a family tree

And prevented George Austen’s marriage to Cassandra Leigh.

They say we cannot possibly pine for something we never had.

If, in 1775, Jane Austen wasn’t born, we’d probably not be sad.

Her novels would be unwritten, and you know ignorance is bliss.

Generations would be utterly clueless and Emma just a miss.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! JANE ODIWE, WRITER

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?

I don’t want to think about how awful that would have been!

I’ve spent numerous hours immersed in all of her books, which have given me more pleasure than any other author on the planet. When I think back to when I first got a computer and had access to the internet, the first thing I wanted to look for, apart from finding old copies of Jane’s books, was information about Jane Austen. Oh, the joy of discovering websites, like the Republic of Pemberley, where like-minded people gathered in chat-rooms, and where I could browse for hours on all things Jane. And when blogger started, there was all the excitement of connecting with people from all over the world and sharing the love of this favourite author who has touched so many hearts and minds. Without Jane, I wouldn’t have friends overseas, and the greatest joy has been meeting so many of them, as well as writing to them.

If not for Jane, I doubt I would have become a published author. If not for Pride and Prejudice, I would not have wondered about how Lydia Bennet’s Story might have turned out, or thought about Georgiana’s eventual happiness in Mr Darcy’s Secret, or considered the possibility of time travel to meet Jane Austen at Steventon in Project Darcy. No Jane Austen would have meant no Sense and Sensibility, nor the fun of writing about Colonel Brandon holding his own for Marianne’s heart in Willoughby’s Return. To consider a world without Persuasion is impossible-would I have discovered Bath, a city I love, if I’d never read Jane’s wonderful novel?! And I should never have been able to have my heroine Sophie fall in love with Jane’s sailor brother in Searching for Captain Wentworth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! KAELYN CALDWELL, WRITER

Without Jane Austen, I would not have become captivated by all things Pride and Prejudice – especially Austen’s literate language and Elizabeth Bennet’s enlightened lifestyle, both of which inspire me to be more thoughtful about the way I speak and live. Reading Pride and Prejudice attuned my ear to a more inventive and entertaining use of conversation; it also helped me see that everyday activities can be life enhancing – a walk in the woods or a quiet cup of tea with a friend. Reading Jane Austen reminds me to slow down … to choose my words carefully and to appreciate the simple pleasures that define my daily life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! KARA LOUISE, WRITER

What would my life have been without Jane Austen?

In thinking about how to answer this question, what came to mind first were the thingsI now had since first becoming acquainted with Jane Austen and her writings. She is the first author that struck such a harmonious chord in me that I can pick up any of her books, open it, and read, knowing I will love it no matter how long or how short the passage. I love her way with words, her characters, and have come to love the Regency era.

I have become acquainted with so many others who feel the same way. I have met several because of our mutual affection for this lady who lived 200 years ago. I have made new friends who live nearby, as well as those who live across the country. And there are many more (including Maria!) who live in other countries and whom I would love to meet!

And of course there is the path I began to tread in writing my own novels, something that I had a passing interest in earlier in my life, but never felt I could ever do. Now I have published eight!

To get back to the original question – what would my life have been without Jane Austen? Not having a Jane Austen community, perhaps I would have found another that captured my fancy(cat lovers maybe?). Or perhaps I would be up to my neck in crafts, as I used to do a lot of crafts before I began to write.

Some other things I wouldn’t have: my English Springer Spaniel named Reggie after the dog I wrote about in “Master Under Good Regulation;” half of the books I now own that pertain to Jane

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! KAREN M. COX, WRITER

What Would My Life Have Been Like Without Jane Austen? Less—my life would have been less, for a variety of reasons.

First of all, Jane Austen taught me the thrill of delayed gratification in fiction. I’m not saying she was the only author who made me wait for a satisfying ending to a story. But I believe she was the first author whose writing made the wait a joy rather than a chore. Her 18^th Century sentence structure and vocabulary slowed my reading WAY down as I tried to parse her unfamiliar style. That slower pace meant I could watch Jane elicit nuances of character that were by turns amusing (the willful stubbornness of Emma Woodhouse) and delightful (the bright, sparkling wit of Elizabeth Bennet) and poignant (the dual natures of Mary and Henry Crawford) and moving (the agony and joy of Anne Eliot as she finds the life she truly wants.)

I first began reading Austen as a graduate student, and the frenetic pace of devouring journal articles for class work or in search of theories for literature reviews was wearing on me. Reading Jane was a fun way to step back from that for a while. Surprisingly though, I began to notice that the patience I’d developed by reading Austen was spilling over into my other reading—into my nonfiction reading. Then that patience began to show itself in my research writing too.

Many years later, when I began writing fiction, that lesson spilled over into my stories as well. And as any author knows, patience is the Big Virtue—the quality that carries you through to the end of writing a novel. Jane provided not only the lesson of patience, but she became a mentor of sorts while I dissected her characters and plots and extrapolated them into Austenesque stories set in other times and places.

So profound was her influence on me that I’m not sure I would have been an author without her, and that twist of fate made a huge difference in my life—it became the part of me that wasn’t defined by my work, or my friends, or my husband and children. It was a part of me that was truly my own.

If there had been no Jane Austen, I still could have had a happy life—a good one—but I can’t help but think that it might have been significantly…less. 

— Karen M Cox

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! LINDA BEUTLER, WRITER

If I’ve Told You Once…

The Importance of Jane Austen

By Linda Beutler, author, The Red Chrysanthemum

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you one hundred times…”* we would all be a lot less clever but for the innovative use of Regency slang by that undisputed goddess of English belles lettres, Jane Austen. With her irrepressible* spirit and elasticity* of mind, Jane set a new standard for—brace yourself*—common usage in the romance novel. What we assume are colorful turns of phrase that have always been at our disposal as fiction writers, came into being through the sculpted nib of this remarkable, if sober-looking* spinster. Jane Austen continues to be the excitor* (exciter in American English) of our imaginations as the obtrusive* old maid aunt with unmodulated* mirth and a love of pink-faced* shopboys*, forever on the gad* at fashionable watering-places*. So gather your fragmented* phrases and stand your chance* in the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction, taking palliation* in the knowledge that dear Jane volunteered* to play high* with the language,  that her success might chaperon* generations of future scribes to greatness, or at least the ambition to it.

   If you don’t believe me, shut up*.

   So happy birthday, Dear Author, I look forward to your attendance at my next dinner-party*. Just ring the door-bell* and let yourself in.

  

*First coined by, attributed to, or used with a new connotation by Jane Austen. Information source, Oxford English Dictionary, online edition.

Linda 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! MARIA GRACE, WRITER

 I was late in discovering Jane Austen—I blame high school. Unlike Jane Austen, our English department thought it good to linger upon pens that dwelt upon guilt and misery, so I did not get to read Jane Austen in high school. I placed out of college English, so it was after grad school and three children that I discovered Jane Austen through Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

After that, I devoured her works and wanted more, which led me into the realms of fan fiction. Consuming that at a break neck pace led me a step further, into rediscovering my own writing.

I started writing at nine years old and wrote six novels in high school. But college and life pulled me away from my early authorial dreams. Jane Austen helped me rediscover my fondest hope—to be a writer when I grew up.  I’m still not sure about the being grown up part, but I just released my fourth book—so I have and will continue to be a writer thanks to Jane Austen and the Austen community.

 Maria Grace

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! MARY LYDON SIMONSEN, WRITER

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?

I can answer that question in one word: poorer, both literally and figuratively. Long before I became a writer of Jane Austen re-imaginings, I was devotee of her work. I first met Jane Austen while reading Pride and Prejudice in my senior high-school English class. Although required reading, I thought it was the best book I had ever read, and I kept looking around the class to see if everyone was as enthusiastic as I was. They weren’t, but I hope that has changed. (I once had a professor tell me that his favorite novel was Silas Marner: “It is a fantastic novel if you aren’t exposed to it too young.”) I am sure that was the same difficulty for my classmates who, at seventeen, were thinking of other things, like what to wear to the prom or getting their driver’s license.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! VALERIE LAWS, WRITER

MY LIFE WITHOUT JANE AUSTEN  

If the ‘Men in Black’ popped in and zapped Jane Austen and her books out of my brain, it would be like having a large number of friends torn out of my address book, or unfriending me on Facebook. I’ve read her books so many times, her characters are real to me, like friends, relatives, or even annoying workmates or neighbours you can at least laugh at or gossip about. Though she’s very much of her time and class, Austen’s books are populated with people we can recognise in any age. And to lose my knowledge of her language, her use of comedy, beautifully crafted words of wisdom, that would be tragic indeed. For Jane herself is like a friend, who enjoys a goss about the people down the road, sees and enjoys absurdities, and the problems we all face - particularly women. It’s always good to re-read her novels and remember that ‘the past’ wasn’t all tight-laced Victorians, but that before them were the Georgians, lustier, earthier, despite their formal manners: cheeky, demanding, daring, sinful and knowing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! WHAT WOULD OUR LIVES BE LIKE WITHOUT YOU? A 24 HOURS' CELEBRATION & GREAT GIVEAWAY

Are you ready for a great celebration? Jane Austen's 238th birthday deserves a really grand event so here we are, ready to enjoy the fun for 24 hours!  A real marathon filled with lovely guests and brilliant posts. Last but not least, you'll have the chance to win several amazing Austen - related prizes in a giveaway contest that will be running until December 23rd and will be open internationally.

I've asked quite a few Janeite friends to contribute their answer to a simple question: What would our lives have been like without Jane Austen? 

I hope you also want to contribute your own answer in the comments or if you prefer, just wish dear Jane your personal "Happy Birthday!". The more posts you comment,  the more chances you'll have to win one of the wonderful gifts in the rafflecopter form below.