Jane Austen News - April 2018
What's the Jane Austen News this week?
Janeites on Display in Bradford Impressions Gallery in Bradford is getting ready for its newest exhibition; an exhibition featuring work by the winners of the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards. Included in the exhibition are photographs in the series Where We Belong by Alejandra Carles-Tolra, who has photographed a community of Janeites as they celebrate Jane Austen's novels. The series explores the relationships between individual and group identity, as well as themes of femininity and escapism. The photos naturally involve period clothing and reading, but also more unusual activities which aim to keep Austen's work alive and well.
Poldark's Coming Back
I am interested in challenging stereotypes and getting a better understanding of who these people are. What drives someone to dress up as if they were in the nineteenth century.The exhibition will help to inspire the upcoming event at the gallery on Thursday 7th June (2018) from 12:30pm to 1:30pm called Feed Your Mind, in which Marilyn Joice from the Jane Austen Society will be discussing Austen's life and her famous works on. The event is free to attend.Alejandra Carles-Tolra
Writing for the Evening Standard online, journalist Joy Lo Dico has proposed a "Jane Austen economy". We were intrigued... Joy suggests that in order to support the campaign to see increased diversity within company boards, specifically a greater percentage of women on company boards, that women should "all rush to the bank and demand Jane Austen tenners, and parade the high street with fistfuls of them, to spend on Tanqueray gin — Diageo has a mixed board and women in their C-suite — and Aquafresh: it’s made by GSK, it has a mixed board, and Emma Walmsley as a CEO. And we all turn over to ITV in support of Carolyn McCall, its chief executive." Essentially, that women make sure, where they can, to support gender-diverse companies so that others will follow their good example.
I’m only half-joking. Rather than complaining about absence, we could take action by drawing up a list of those firms that see equality as part of their mission.The name of her idea is one we particularly like. After all, Jane was very much writing at a time when the world was a man's world, and a woman with a career was often seen as a negative. Also it's apt given that women like Caroline Criado-Perez had to fight hard to keep a woman on a note of English currency when Elizabeth Fry was replaced as the face of the five pound note by Winston Churchill in 2016. We can't help but think that Jane would be delighted that gender equality is being associated with her name. (Joy's full article can be found here.)
Poldark's Coming Back
Quite a few Jane Austen fans also very much enjoy the Poldark novels by Winston Graham (as do those of us at the Jane Austen News), and, more recently, the BBC series which have sprung from them. We've had series one, two and three already, and now series four is just around the corner. The first episode of season four is due to air on BBC1 this Sunday, Sunday 10th June, at 9pm. The series is going to be drawing on the final third of the sixth book in the Poldark series, The Four Swans, and all of book seven, The Angry Tide.
However, as good as this news is, slightly less pleasant is the fact that series five, which is due to begin shooting soon, is expected to be the final series of the show. We'd better enjoy it while we can then.
A Third Darcy Film From Hallmark
Pride and Prejudice spin-offs are a bit like Marmite; people either love them or hate them - there's rarely a middle ground. Well if you're an Austen fan who rather enjoys them then you might be pleased to hear that Hallmark Channel may have another P&P spin-off on the cards. In 2016 Hallmark aired Unleashing Mr Darcy, which saw Mr Darcy recast as a snobbish dog show judge and Elizabeth as the owner of one of the canine entrants. Hallmark Channel has just premiered the follow-up film to Unleashing Mr Darcy (called Marrying Mr Darcy) and already there's talk of a third film in the series, as Cindy Busby (the sctress who plays Elizabeth in the films) revealed in an interview with International Business Times.
Busby: [Fans are] already talking about perhaps having a third one, which would be incredible… Everyone is so excited, which makes me so excited. That’s the reason I do it. For people to love it and watch it and want more of it.
Jane Austen News is our weekly compilation of stories about or related to Austen. Here we will feature a variety of items, including craft tutorials, reviews, news stories, articles and photos from around the world.
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