Jane Austen News - Issue 112

Austen fans in Avon, Connecticut might like to know about the upcoming "Shades of Jane Austen" event. The library's free Shades of Jane Austen series continues this Saturday (April 7th) from 2pm - 4.30pm at Avon Free Public Library, this time with a presentation of “Fashion in Fiction: Jane Austen’s Regency Novels” by fashion historian Kandie Carle. Wearing authentic Regency attire, Carle will provide a detailed overview of the clothing of the Regency Era (early 1800s) for both gentlemen and ladies. Then Ms. Carle will share excerpts from Austen’s personal letters as well as passages from some of the novels, highlighting Austen’s use of clothing and fashion to define character and class, enhance story line, and develop plot points. More information on the library's website here.

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A Blue Bus Full of Books We found this wonderful good-news story this week, and all of us here at the Jane Austen News thought that it was such a marvelous example of how books bring joy to people, and help to create bonds between families and within communities, that we had to share it with you. In Afghanistan, providing libraries isn't high on the list of government priorities: fighting the Taliban has to take precedence.  However, in western Kabul, a big blue bus run by volunteers is bringing joy to some of the capital's younger generation. The bus is called the Charmaghz, a name which means walnut in Dari (one of Afghanistan's national languages) and it has special resonance as it represents the brain in local culture. "It equates to logic. We are trying to promote critical thinking. We want the kids to have opinions and share them, debate and be willing to listen to others' opinions." Ms Freshta Karim, founder of the bus, explains. As well as the skills of listening, debating and critical thinking, another thing the Charmaghz is trying to promote in its own small way is literacy. It's a big problem in Afghanistan. The United Nations says only 31 per cent of Afghans are literate. An estimated 3.5 million Afghan children have never gone to school and 75 per cent of these children are girls. With this in mind, the bus not only stocks over 500 books, in Dari, Pashto and English, but it also has volunteers who travel with it to help teach reading and to read stories to the children who come to visit it on its travels.

Apart from reading, we also have board games like chess; we also have poetry recitations and we play them songs about our country and culture.

What a fantastic idea!