To celebrate Jane’s 250th all year long, JASNA Virtual Region members are contributing and compiling 250 ways to do so. The starting list is here below on our website on Jane250 page on the JASNA Virtual Region website jasnavirtualregion.org and will be updated until all 250 ideas are posted. Check back often! To submit an idea, email to jasnavirtualregion@gmail.com and we will review to make sure it is consistent with JASNA policies on non-endorsement before posting. If you submit an idea that has not already been submitted earlier and that meets content guidelines of JASNA policies you will be entered to win a free JASNA membership for one year. There will be one winner for student members and one winner for non-student members of JASNA Virtual Region. The drawing will take place at the next scheduled Virtual Region meeting after we reach 250 ideas. You can enter as many ideas as you wish subject to review with JASNA content policies and the more entries, the better the chance of winning. With regard to that,
“The content herein (events, production, workshop, film adaptation, etc.) is not sponsored or
endorsed by JASNA but we are sharing it because we thought it might be of interest to
members.”
To get started, here are a few ways contributed so far this year:
1. Visit the Special Exhibition page on this website entitled Inspired by Austen, The Jane Doll Collection created by our own talented Virtual Region member, Jeanne Vaver, and watch the introductory video to see how she became inspired by Jane and created a Jane Austen doll and clothing collection, authentic to the Regency period patterns.
2. Binge-watch the 1995 P&P- perfect for those gloomy days you do not want to leave the couch during this year of the 250th because it is so true to the dialogue in the book. Watch any adaptation again, especially viewing them from a unique perspective or common theme—the combinations and permutations are infinite.
3. Tune into the JASNA P&P read on several consecutive Sundays, starting in January.
4. One member found escape in Austen during her own personal loss within her skating community in the tragic DC plane crash, sharing that Jane helps “connect with eternity” as she has endured for 250 years, and so will the memories of those lost to us on earth in the belief that we will all meet again.
5. Watch the Andrew Davies interview on the production of the 1995 P&P. Austen Chat (JASNA) Adapting Austen Episode 18 Andrew Davies on 1995 Pride and Prejudice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIiZyFBnAqA
6. Visit the Jane 250 Special Exhibit Inspired by Jane on the home page of the jasnavirtualregion.org of the Jane Doll Collection created by JASNA Virtual Member Jeanne Vaver. See the video there of how she created this wonderful collection over two years during the Pandemic and is now sharing it with Austen fans. Each month, look for a new article on a different aspect of the collection.
7. The Global Jane Austen Celebrating and Commemorating 250 Years of Jane Austen: University of Southampton: Southampton.ac.uk
8. Events at Jane Austen’s House . https://janeaustens.house/visit/jane-austen-250/
9. Events at Chawton House. https://chawtonhouse.org/whats-on/
10: Podcast:. https://austenconnection.substack.com/podcast
11. Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonnets-at-dawn/id1245449210
Please note that these podcasts are often available at multiple sites including Youtube, Spotify, Apple and other podcast outlets and we do not endorse any particular outlet.
13. https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/festival-news/your-worldwide-guide-to-jane-austen-250th-events
14. https://janeaustensociety.org.uk/2025/01/the-jane-austen-society-agm-2025/
15. Read the book, Miss Austen, by Gill Hornby, in anticipation of the airing of the PBS/Masterpiece Theater 4 part mini-series in May 2025 or listen to the Audible version, read by Juliet Stevenson who sounds like Maggie Smith
16. See the movie theater re-release of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice coming soon to a theater near you! See the article and trailer here: https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/pride-and-prejudice_20-anniversary_trailer_tickets
17. If you are in the UK in 2025, see the West End London theater production of Austentacious: https://www.austentatiousimpro.com/westend and if the that is not in your travel plans for the 250th, watch the 2015 TV series Austentacious online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1soN7GURWE
18. Check out the JASNA podcasts at https://www.youtube.com/@jasnaorg
19. If you are a student, enter the Young Filmmaker contest sponsored by JASNA. See https://jasna.org/programs/young-filmmakers-contest/ for details. Student submissions during the 250th will be extra-special and we would love to see a JASNA Virtual Region student member do a film!
20. If you are visiting the UK, there is a West End London production of Clueless. Ticket details https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/clueless-tickets?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%7Bcampaign%7D&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqcO_BhDaARIsACz62vOpPy_kQpwd7PHZD_ICCOkWwDPAkk6WGebQpDiHyf5tw4JLaxLEps0aAgfmEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
21. If you visit the UK, there is a theater production of Austenland, too. https://www.westendtheatre.com/274092/shows/austenland-tickets/
22. In Winchester, the house at 8 College Street where Austen died will be open to the public for tours for the first time ever this summer. https://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/events/no-8-college-street#:~:text=In%20the%20summer%20of%202025,story%20of%20her%20last%20days.
23. We all have a uniquely personal story we can share about how we came to be acquainted with Jane Austen and we encourage everyone to submit theirs and you may do so anonymously if you wish. To send your Austen story, just email us at jasnavirtualregion.org and to get you started see this wonderful contribution from our Virtual Region member:
How I Met Jane Austen
“My long life (83 years) has always included libraries and books and bookworm reading, but It was only about twenty some years ago when I first read Jane Austen, and this in spite of an undergraduate degree with a double major in Elementary Education and Literature in 1968 and a Master’s in Library Science in 1989. (How could this happen?) My first encounter with Jane Austen was in 1984 when our son Anthony was a Senior in high school. He had a major role in the annual spring play which that year was “Pride and Prejudice”. The title meant nothing tome. As parents, of course we were in the audience, and I had to say then and even now that this play was pretty hard to sit through. The costumes seemed to be a mishmash of thrift store finds and former prom outfits for both the women and men in the play. The drawing room setting was definitely furnished in an unrecognizable time period. There was so much talking and not so much action that it was difficult to know what was happening. It was a strange play to choose for a community that supported the school sports programs with enthusiasm, but for music and the other arts, not so much. Later, my faculty colleague Mrs. Brown, head of the English Department and retiring at the end of the school year, told me in conversation that she had chosen this play because she could not leave teaching without giving this group of exceptional Seniors a taste of Jane Austen. Then I understood that she gave her students something more valuable than the chance to be on stage. Her comment also gave me a nudge to put Jane Austen on my list of authors to investigate, but I never seemed to get to her, as the years passed.
Then, In 2008 on Sunday nights, Masterpiece Theater began showcasing Jane Austen films in a series titled “The Complete Jane Austen”. Each book, presented in episodes, had interesting characters who were involved with each other in situations happening in the past but very similar to what could be happening today. The costumes were completely authentic, and the episodes were filmed in actual English locations both inside historic buildings and outside in the English countryside. My husband and I both became committed to Sunday evenings dedicated to watching Jane Austen dramatized.
One day a box was delivered; it contained all six volumes of the “Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen”. What a surprise! How expensive! (We kept a careful budget. How could we afford this?) When I looked at Jerry for an explanation, he said that he thought I should read the books. (I have to tell you that this gift came from a man who had never picked up a book to read for pleasure since being forced to read “Moby Dick” in high school.). I started reading and reading and found that it’s true that the book is always better than the movie.
In 2012 I went “just for fun” with a friend to get my “star chart” read by Doris who lived down the road and around the corner. She wanted to know my date of birth, time, and place and I gave her this information a week before our appointment. As soon as I walked in the door for our meeting, she told me that I was either a teacher or a communicator. (True.) Further on she told me that my countries were 1. England (I loved anything English, especially the history and the literature), 2. Belgium (we had hosted Helena, a foreign exchange student from Brussels in 1978 and now she and her husband and their four children were and still are, considered our second family) and 3. Egypt. So, she got 2 out of 3… Then she told me that the next 18 months would be a perfect time for me to travel, and not just to go on a little trip, but to go somewhere really, really special. I got up my nerve and told Jerry that I wanted to go to England. He said, well, I don’t want to go, so I planned for 9 months and went by myself, for three days in the Cotswolds and then a week in London with a Rick Steves group. It was on the fourth day in London when Gillian, our guide, took us to the British Library, deposited us at the Treasures Gallery, and left us to be on our own for the rest of the day. Here I could take all the time I wanted and of course I tried to take in everything - Mozart’s manuscripts, the Magna Carta, - but knowing also that I had to keep moving to see as much as possible. And then - there it was right in front of me. Jane Austen’s writing desk. I immediately burst into sobbing tears that I had to hide from all those in the crowded room. I don’t know how this happened, and even writing about it now makes the tears come. I had read about the desk when it was donated, a detailed description of it, and all that was done to verify the authenticity of the desk, but I never imagined that I would ever see it! That $40 dollars I paid to Doris turned out to be worth a fortune to me! When I got home, I told Tony, the son who was in the Pride and Prejudice Play and now has a PhD in Early 19th Century English Literature (sure wish I could tell Mrs. Brown that!) what had happened to me when I saw the writing desk. He said that I must tell the story to Devoney Looser. He and Devoney have stayed in touch since they were both in graduate school at SUNY Stony Brook - Devoney actually introduced Tony to her friend Martha, and that introduction had consequences. Tony and Martha have been happily married since 1996!
When I introduced myself to Devoney through a letter she responded warmly, and we have been communicating ever since. She sent me an autographed copy of her book “The Daily Jane Austen A Year of Quotes” which I treasure. Through Devoney I was led to JASNA just last year, and I’m quickly discovering that this is the place I’ve been looking for, a place to interact with others who also love Jane Austen and are ready for a Jane Austen conversation at any time. So, that’s the story of how I met Jane Austen. I hope that you, yes you, dear reader, will be inspired to share your story too! Do it now!” Jeanne Vaver March 16, 2025
24. Jeanne also suggests Reach for the book The Daily Jane Austen: A Year of Quotes, Edited and with a Foreword by Devoney Looser, University of Chicago Press, published 2019. Maybe you have it on your bookshelf already. If not, treat yourself to this little treasure that presents a Jane Austen quote for each day of the year, and a longer quote for each new month or consider the Five- year Journal Jane-a-Day. This is a very different way to appreciate Jane Austen’s genius by concentrating our focus on quotes - sometimes a short sentence, sometimes more - that reveal her genius if we take a moment to stop and consider what she said in just a few words. Devoney’s Foreword tells us how to do it. If you have self-control, you read one quote a day. Or you can open the book anywhere and just read until you decide you must stop to save pages for another day.
It is not even necessary to use a quotation book, you can use any quote from a Jane Austen book or quote that is your favorite and send it and why it is your favorite to jasnavirtualregion@gmail.com to be placed on this 250 celebration list.
25. In the spirit of Jeanne’s suggestion, here is how I first encountered Austen. When I had read every book in the children’s library as a child, sometimes many times over, the library consented to let me access the adult library even though I was still under the age limit for access. The first two books I chose were non-fiction, a thick one on every breed of dog and its history. I memorized every dog by sight and its group in the American Kennel Club. The second was a book on computers because the IBM mainframes had started to be adopted in business and I wanted to understand the binary system and how computers worked. I have always been somewhat of a data nerd. For the third, I wanted a fiction and I asked the librarian what she suggested. She gave me Pride and Prejudice and I have never looked back, reading it and every Austen novel over and over every few years and every decade of my life, each time each book revealing new layers of meaning and new levels of perspective as I evolved. Austen had me at what will forever be my favorite quote, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” In one fell swoop, the quintessence of Austen is captured, incandescently illuminating the conflict at hand with her inimitable expression and wit, setting the stage for her timeless themes, and challenging all subsequent authors to dare to match the brilliance of that opening line in literature. Bravo, Jane!
I hope everyone will share their Jane story and favorite quote and why it has meaning to you.
Marcia Johnson
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