Inquiring readers,
This time last year, Jane Austen’s World blog recommended our team’s favorite books to read in 2021. For 2022, we recommend ways you can attend Jane Austen workshops and discussions electronically, via either zoom broadcasts or podcasts. Here are some suggestions. Most of these experiences are free, but those that require payment are often worth the cost.
Jane Austen & Co (Free Zoom series)
Logo of Jane Austen & Co.
At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I took refuge in watching workshops offered by Jane Austen & Co, a free public Zoom series focused on the life, histories, and writings of women living in the Regency era. This organization began as a book group in Durham, North Carolina. Since Summer 2020, the group has offered a diverse array of excellent lectures by experts, Q&As, and digital programming. Past series and discussions are archived and can be accessed on the site. While programming is free, the group does passively ask for donations for a Jane Austen summer program.
The series:
2020: “Staying Home with Jane Austen,” explored domestic life, labor, and practices during the Regency, including dress, music, embroidery, gardening, and gaming.
2021: “Race and the Regency,” explored the role of race, nationalism, colonialism, and identity in the culture of the long eighteenth century, exploring topics such as slavery, abolition, portraiture, and modern representations of historical people of color.
2022: “Asia and the Regency,” starting off the year with three new talks on adaptations of Jane Austen in Japan and India, entitled “Pride and Prejudice in Japan,” “Emma in Bollywood,” and “Jane Austen in India, Jane Austen and India.” Click here to sign up for live talks If you’ve missed them, they are archived here.
Conversations with authors of modern Austen adaptations, including Ibi Zoboi (author of Pride), Margot Melcon and Lauren Gunderson (co-authors of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley), and Jo Baker (author of Longbourn).
Publication banner for Jane Austen Society of North America
Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA – virtual conference, Fee required)
Membership to this important organization is not only affordable, but its website acts as a gateway to all news, events, and publications of importance to the Janeite community.
Major Membership Benefit:
The AGM (Annual General Meeting) – now with Zoom benefits:
This yearly conference was so highly competitive when delivered onsite, that if members did not sign up within hours of open registration, they were out of luck. I attended only two in person. The pandemic has changed this situation. In 2020, I attended a virtual conference and was able to view every presentation online, since my conference fee allowed me to view the links for a month. In 2021, an onsite AGM was given in Chicago. Immune-compromised individuals like myself still didn’t feel comfortable attending such a large function. Right now, I still have nearly a month (until February 15) to watch most of the workshops and presentations online. What a bargain at $99!
Regional Memberships in local JASNA societies:
Over the years I’ve joined local JASNA societies in Richmond, my former hometown, and Baltimore, my current location. I also belong to the societies in Northern California and New York – all offer a variety of JA discussions and workshops, most virtually until the pandemic subsides significantly.
Podcasts/Audio Recordings
This list of podcasts is a mixed bag. According to your preferences, you might or might not like some of the choices below. The good news is that they are all free. Many are available on an app for your tablet or smartphone. While not all might suit you, I am sure you can find new and interesting information about Austen and her era. The first two choices are available on websites only.
Audios
Chawton House – Podcasts – Chawton House
In these relatively new offerings, find podcasts that discuss the restoration of Chawton House, their recent acquisitions and writing contests, Caroline Jane Knight, who spent her childhood in Chawton House and is Jane Austen’s fifth great niece, interviews, history of Chawton House, and more!
Choices of the BBC Radio 4 collection of audios
BBC Radio 4 – Jane Austen Collection
These radio programmes feature discussions about Emma, Epistolary Literature, Pride and Prejudice Anniversary Special, and so much more. There is nothing more pleasurable than listening to these programmes while sewing or crocheting (even housecleaning)!
Podcasts
Player FM: Jane Austen Podcasts Click here to enter this indexed site
This mega site lists too many Austen podcasts to mention in one paragraph, so I’ve included two with detailed descriptions and three more links. It is worth looking at this Jane Austen podcast collection to see what suits your fancy. I love listening to podcasts on long drives
The Austen Connection: podcasts
These podcasts talk about the stories of Jane Austen – how they connect to us today, and connect us to each other.
Reading Jane Austen – 3 Seasons completed (Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, & Mansfield Park) About us – Reading Jane Austen
Example, in Season One, P&P, Chapters 1-6, Ellen and Harriet, talk about how the book sets up the relationship between love and marriage, the way the characters are introduced so gradually, what we see in Darcy and the fact that we quickly learn how much money everyone has. We discuss Mrs Bennet in some detail, and then Ellen talks about class in the early nineteenth century, and the type of neighbourhood Pride and Prejudice is set in. Ellen is a retired senior lecturer in sociology, and Harriet works for an education publishing company. Both are lifelong Jane Austen readers.
The following podcasts are for those who think outside the box or who like cheeky humor.
Manners and Madness: A Jane Austen & David Lynch Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Reclaiming Jane: A Jane Austen Podcast for Fans on the Margins
First Impressions: Why All the Austen Haters Are Wrong
In addition to these links, view our page Audio/Podcasts at the top of this blog. Enjoy!
Jane Austen's World 
These are great resources, Vic, thanks! I’ve enjoyed the Jane Austen & Co. talks, and of course it’s been funning getting to participate in JASNA meetings from around the country, as well as the AGM! The podcasts look good also. The Jane Austen Summer Program online was superb last year; looks like it will be in person for 2022. Other readers–please share more Jane Austen Zoom and podcasts, resources and programs!
Good idea, Brenda. We’ll add any suggestions from our readers on our audio/visual page and in our sidebar.
This represents a remarkable amount of material. One need never leave home, and you’re right one need never go to any of the conferences in person if what one went for were the papers in the sessions and separate talks. With the publication of Persuasions, you miss nothing.
Yes, I agree, it’s great to get the information. But–I go to conferences for much more than that. For meeting people, connecting with old and new friends, learning from discussions over meals and breaks, enjoying the richness of community, encouraging others and being encouraged by them; that’s mostly what I go to conferences for! How about you, readers? Are you missing the in-person benefits of gathering?
I should add, though, that I do understand that many are unable to go to conferences right now, for whatever reason (or maybe they never can go), and the online options are a godsend for including everyone! I’m very thankful for all we’ve been able to do online these last two years.
I’d like to see both in person conferences and meetings and, when possible, taped versions of the live events. I found in the recent year so many good virtual discussions by JASNA groups in other states that I would otherwise have missed if they were given only in person. Having said that, I agree with you, Brenda, that there’s nothing like person to person contact and exchange of ideas. We are experiencing an unusual time in which ingenuity, live streaming, and hard work to deliver safe life events have kept us apace with all things Austen.