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Jane Austen at 250

2025 marks Jane Austen’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday and we hope you will join us to celebrate the author’s timeless wit and wisdom with engaging talks, theater, films, book groups, podcasts, crafts, and a country dance!

Download the Jane Austen @ 250 At-a-glance Flyer

Upcoming Programs

Lectures, Films, Book Groups, Podcasts & Special Events

PBS Masterpiece: Miss Austen
Watch Miss Austen trailer
Miss Austen takes an historic literary mystery – the notorious burning of Jane Austen’s letters by her sister Cassandra – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty, and heartbreaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine. With Keeley Hawes and Rose Leslie.
(2025; NR; 3h 20m)
Thursday, August 21, 1 to 2:45 pm: Parts 1 and 2
Friday, August 22, 1 to 2:45 pm: Parts 3 and 4

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Watch Bridget Jones trailer
(2025; 2h 4m; R)
Final installment in the Bridget Jones series, based on the books by Helen Fielding (loosely inspired by Persuasion).
Friday, August 29, 1 to 3:05 pm

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Watch Jane Austen Wrecked My Life trailer
(2024; PG; 1h 34m) In French and English with subtitles
Aspiring novelist Agathe works in a bookstore, and hasn’t had a date in two years; her only relationship is with Felix, her charming colleague and best friend. When Felix secretly submits Agathe’s work to the Jane Austen Society, she is accepted to their residency and, with a bit of prodding, agrees to go.
Friday, October 10, 1 to 2:35 pm

Pride & Prejudice
Watch Pride & Prejudice trailer
(2005; PG; 2h 8m) One of the greatest love stories of all time, Pride and Prejudice, comes to the screen in the glorious adaptation directed by Joe Wright starring Keira Knightley. When Elizabeth Bennet (Knightley) meets the
handsome Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), she believes he is the last man on earth she could ever marry. But as their lives become intertwined in an unexpected adventure, she finds herself captivated by the very person she swore to loathe for all eternity.
Followed by discussion with Lorri, Roberta, Stacey and Brittin.
Tuesday, December 16, 1 to 3:30 pm

Registration required for all; for registration dates and details, visit Book Groups registration.

Persuasion (Virtual)
Wednesday, July 16, 7 to 8:30 pm 
Please join us on this Zoom link
Book Circle with Lorri Steinbacher

Northanger Abbey
Thursday, August 7, 11 am to 12 pm, Art Studio
Cover 2 Cover with Lorri Steinbacher

Emma
Thursday, 1 to 2 pm
November 13: Chapters 1 to 27
December 11: Chapters 28 to 55
LongReads with Victoria and Stacey.
*Registration begins August 4

Pride and Prejudice
Wednesday, December 3, 11 am to 12 pm, Auditorium
Community Book Discussion with Lorri, Roberta, Brittin, and Stacey.

*Registration required

Staged Reading: Jane Austen, Manydown*

Saturday, September 20, 2 to 3 pm 

Manydown Manor was well known to Jane Austen and her family. The Austen sisters were friends of the Bigg sisters. One night in December 1802, their brother, Harris Bigg-Wither, proposed to Jane, the only proposal of marriage she is known to have received. Famously, Jane rescinded her acceptance the next morning. What went on during the intervening night hours?

Sarah Rose Kearns’ 30-minute play Manydown imagines the conversation between Jane and Cassandra Austen on the evening of Harris Bigg-Wither’s proposal, which changed the course of Jane’s life, and may have been a turning point in English Literature.
Register for Manydown

Proud (and Prejudiced!) English Country Dance*

Sunday, November 2, 2 to 4 pm
Live music, regency dancers, and instruction with the North Jersey Country Dancers.
Register for English Country Dance

Jane Austen Spills the Tea with Lena Yasutake*

Monday, November 3, 7 to 8 pm
Actor, producer, playwright Lena Yasutake shares tea, biscuits, and gossip from Austen’s life and letters and Regency era tea etiquette.
Registration for Jane Austin Spills the Tea begins September 10

Jane Austen: Mindreader with Prof. Stephanie Hershinow

Wednesday, November 5, 7 to 8 pm
Stephanie Hershinow, 18th century literature professor, discusses “free indirect discourse,” the technique Jane Austen used to weave together her narrator and characters on a sentence level. Stephanie talks about how widespread it is in the novels, how it gives us a sense of intimacy with the characters, but also how it poses a challenge for adaptations.
Register for Jane Austen: Mindreader

Regency Crafts with Mary

Novels in Silhouette*
Capture a favorite quote and page from an Austen book … with your own silhouette!
Wednesday, October 22, 7 to 8:15 pm
Registration begins August 4

 

Regency Paper Dolls
Download Regency paper dolls handout
Saturday, October 25, 11 am to 2 pm
Registration required

Host Roberta Panjwani talks with two Janeites this season! Listen at bendintheroad.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 40:
Author and Rare Books Dealer Rebecca Romney:
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf ... and Beyond
Episode also available on YouTube

 

Episode 41:
Author and Austen Expert Brenda Cox:
Jane Austen’ Morality through Character
With special introduction by Breckyn Wood, Host of JASNA’s Austen Chat podcast

Questions

Roberta Panjwani, Assistant Director:  roberta@ridgewoodlibrary.org, (201) 670-5600, ext. 2122