News for Austen Enthusiasts : August 2024

Crrraaaaaack! I was awoken at a dreadfully early hour of this morning by the loudest clap of thunder I'd ever heard - you know, the kind that you know in your bones has just ripped through a tree, or knocked the tiles off the spire of a church. Yes, it seems that Autumn has come to Jane Austen's England, starting out with a bang! Hopefully, the seasonal downpours we've been having for the last few days mellow out in time for the Jane Austen Festival gets underway next weekend. For more details on how to plan your last minute trip, or put the final plans in place, you can go to the Jane Austen Festival page.

Here’s all the Jane Austen news and updates from August 2024.

Controversial Jane Austen statue given the go-ahead

If you've been following along with the Jane Austen news in the past few months, you'll be familiar with the back-and-forth that has been taking place regarding plans to erect a statue of Jane Austen in the grounds of Winchester Cathedral. Though many are enthusiastic about the plans, others have raised complaints about the disruption that a windfall of tourists could create in the cathedral's peaceful surrounds. The latter party appear to have lost the fight this month, with the council giving Winchester Cathedral their blessing to go ahead with the project. The sculpture will be produced by artist Martin Jennings in time for Jane Austen's 250th birthday next year.

British universities team up for Jane Austen 250th conference

A call for papers surrounding the theme of 'The Global Jane Austen' invites academics to present their research around the work of our favourite author. Next July, the University of Southampton, with the support of the University of Stirling, will host a special 250th birthday conference, bringing together the best and brightest in Austen studies.

Academic with a paper in mind? Go to their website for more details>

Research reveals new Austen anti-slavery link

In recent years, researchers have applied greater scrutiny to the ways in which the Atlantic slave trade continues to have an impact on the world today. One area that interests us in particular as fans of Jane Austen's work is her perspective on slavery. It is not a subject that Austen deals with in any great depth in her novels, but it is nonetheless present in the background, particularly in Mansfield Park. Naturally, we are curious about her politics - was slavery out of sight, out of mind for the author, something so remote to her that it didn't bear dwelling upon? Or did she harbour private pro- or anti-slavery beliefs? Well, we now have growing evidence to support the fact that at least three of Austen's brothers held open abolitionist beliefs.

Sony Pictures Classics swoops on Jane Austen-themed film fest selection

With the Toronto International Film Festival getting underway this weekend, we're excited to hear all the buzz about new bilingual Jane Austen inspired premiere 'Jane Austen Ruined My Life', starring Anatomy of a Fall's Camille Rutherford. We're not the only one's excited, apparently, as Sony Pictures Classics have already picked up the rights to screen the film in multiple territories. The synopsis as it stands thus far on IMDb is simply 'A desperately single bookseller, lost in a fantasy world, finds herself forced to fulfil her dreams of becoming a writer in order to stop messing up her love life.' Sounds like fun to me!

Durham Book Festival line-up revealed

Many heavyweights of literature will appear at this year's Durham Book Festival, which takes place from October 10th-13th. Pat Barker, Jodi Picoult and Terry Deary are just a few of the big names who will appear at the 2024 festival. A must-attend for every literature fan in the north of England.

Penguin unveils book vending machine at secondary school

A secondary school in Scotland, Linlithgow Academy, is the lucky recipient of a new book vending machine. The machine, which is loaded up with a bunch of Penguin's diverse Lit in Colour texts, will be operated via a token scheme run by the teachers at the school. The hope is that the machine will incentivise reading for pleasure and foster a strong reading culture at the school. What do you think? Should all schools have these?

AS ALWAYS, WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF WE HAVE MISSED ANYTHING, AS WELL AS ALL YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEWS!

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