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Hello friends,
It’s a new year. It’s 2025. It’s the 250th year of Jane Austen in this world. There is so much to celebrate!
The actual birthday is December 16th, and for this entire year, in the run-up to the December 250th birthday, the world is going to go truly Austen Mad.
And here at the Austen Connection, we’ve got plans!
The big thing is the thing that we promised a while back and can now finally give some details: The Great Jane Austen Read-Along.
Yes, let’s read All of Austen this year. And let’s do it together!
We’re going to host a read-along with chats, posts, guests, and conversation here at the Austen Connection that will tackle all six full published novels throughout this year, beginning on Feb. 2 with Northanger Abbey and continuing through each novel to end with Persuasion on Sunday, Dec. 15th.
Obviously you can read ahead. Obviously you can lag behind. Obviously you can jump on this reading train any time. And obvs you can just hitch a ride for the essays, and posts, and discussions, and conversations as usual, and that will all still be happening here too.
Let’s do this!
The Great Jane Austen Read-Along
It all starts February 2. Here are a few things we’re planning - with a schedule below:
Regular posts as we go - the hot takes, the posts, the essays as usual for those who just want things to stay the same. We see you. These will be close textual reads connecting Austen themes to everything, as usual. Plus:
Regular chats - these will come right to your inbox - just Subscribe:
Guest Posts featuring Austen scholars, authors, creators, and community
Celebration Zoom/Live Video meetups
A Project Barista! We hope to have a mixologist designing drinks and NA fare in honor of Austen all year long, for this community. Cheers!
Play lists - Music to go with each novel. Perhaps we will crowdsource this! Let us know your ideas!
More details and confirmation of these plans to come - stay tuned.
Meanwhile, again, all you have to do to join this 250th Jane Austen Read-Along is to Subscribe to the Austen Connection - and if you’re already subscribed, you’re in.
It’s all free - and if you can afford to contribute something to the curation and labor involved in producing this project, become a paid subscriber to help us make it accessible to all. Thank you!
Now, let’s get into it:
Here’s the schedule for Northanger Abbey, with an overview of start and end dates for each novel. You’re roughly tackling one novel every two months, with about a week between novels, and with just one month for Northanger Abbey. We can do this!
Read-Along schedule:
Northanger Abbey: Sunday, Feb. 2 - Sunday, March 2
Chapters 1-8 - by Feb. 9
Chapters 9-16 - by Feb. 16
Chapters 17-24 - by Feb. 23
Chapters 25-32 - by March 2 - We did it - Celebration Sunday!
Sense and Sensibility
Sunday, March 9 - Sunday, April 27
Chapters 1-5 (Volume 1) - by today/Sunday, March 9
Welcome, announcement, and schedule
Chapters 6-10 (Volume 1) - by Sunday, March 16
Discussion post -we’ll get your takes on the first 10 chapters.
Chapters 11-16 (Volume 1) - by Sunday, March 23
More discussion from Plain Jane as we read
Chapter 17-22 (end of Volume 1) - Sunday, March 30
Guest Post - Reclaiming Jane’s Lauren Wethers and Emily Davis-Hale!
Chapters 1-7 (Volume 2) or Chapters 23-29 - by Sunday, April 6
Plain Jane takes and archive edition from the Austen Connection
Chapters 8-14 (Volume 2) or Chapters 30-36 - by Sunday, April 13
Discussion post 2: Your takes - how’s it going?
Chapters 1-7 (Volume 3) or Chapters 37-43- by Sunday, April 20
The Read-Along Reading List Download - from Librarian Tabrizia Jones
Chapters 8-14 (Volume 3) or Chapters 44-503 to the end - Sunday, April 27
Zoom meetup and celebration! We did it!
Pride and Prejudice
Sunday, May 4 - Sunday, June 22
Chapters 1-8, Volume 1 - by Sunday, May 4
Welcome, announcement, and schedule!
Chapters 9-16, Volume 1 - by Sunday, May 11
Discussion Post 1- Your takes on the first section of the novel
Chapters 17-23, Volume 1 - by Sunday, May 18
Check-in and archive post from Plain Jane and also your takes as we read
Chapters 1-7, Volume 2 | or Chapters 24-30 - by Sunday, May 25
Takeaways from Plain Jane - and your takes as we read
Chapters 8-13, Volume 2 | or Chapters 31-36 - by Sunday, June 1
Guest post - Professor and Author Devoney Looser!
Chapters 14-19, Volume 2 | or Chapters 37-42 - by Sunday, June 8
Discussion Post 2 - Your takes on this week’s reading
Chapters 1-10, Volume 3 | or Chapters 43-53 - by Sunday, June 15
The Read-Along Reading List Download - from Librarian Tabrizia Jones
Chapters 11-19, Volume 3 | or Chapters 54-61 - by Sunday, June 22
Zoom Celebration - We did it!
Mansfield Park
Sunday, July 6 - Sunday, Aug. 31
Kick-off - Sunday, July 6
Welcome, announcement, and schedule!
Chapters 1-6, Volume 1 - by Sunday, July 13
Discussion Post 1- Your takes on the first section of the novel
Chapters 7-12, Volume 1 - by Sunday, July 20
Takeaways from Plain Jane - and your takes as we read
Chapters 13-18, Volume 1 - by Sunday, July 27
Check-in and archive post from Plain Jane
Chapters 1-6, Volume 2 | or Chapters 19-24 - by Sunday, Aug. 3
Guest post - Jane Austen Society of North America’s Renata Dennis!
Chapter 7-13, Volume 2 | or Chapters 25-31 - by Sunday, Aug. 10
Takeaways from Plain Jane - and your takes as we read
Chapter 1-6, Volume 3 | or Chapters 32-37 - by Sunday, Aug. 17
Discussion Post 2 - Your takes on this week’s reading
Chapters 7-12, Volume 3 | or Chapters 38-43 - by Sunday, Aug. 24
The Read-Along Reading List Download - from Librarian Tabrizia Jones
Chapter 13-17, Volume 3 | or Chapters 44-48 - by Sunday, Aug. 31
Zoom Celebration - We did it!
Emma
Sunday, Sept. 7 - Sunday, Oct. 26
Persuasion
Sunday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Dec. 15
You did it! Celebration - Week of Dec. 15!
You’re in? Grab a book!
All you need to do to get started is:
Again, subscribe, below, and all the conversations, chats, meetups and posts come right to your inbox:
And - get the book! Beginning with Northanger Abbey. Get it from your local library for free, or your local independent bookshop. Other great places to order online include Jane Austen Books, dedicated to Austen and related books, or bookshop.org to support independent book stores. I’ll be reading the Norton Critical edition of each novel, and they come with contextual essays. But you can use any edition you love. We’ll refer not to page numbers as much as chapters so that we’re all on the same page, whatever edition we have.
Let us know, friends - what ideas/questions/inspirations do you have about the Read-Along? Let us know your thoughts! Have you ever done a read-along before? What did you love about it, and did you get to the finish line? Do you plan to join us to read Jane Austen this year? What novel are you most looking forward to? What are you dreading?! (That may seem like a strange question - but back in 2021 when the Austen Connection started, I had not re-read Persuasion for a long time, and knowing the sense of loss and regret that pervades that novel I was dreading it! And it was difficult! But we’ll be in this together, and it will be awesome.)
An exciting thing
Another exciting thing happening that has developed over the holiday period is that just in time for Jane Austen’s 250th actual birthday a little special-edition book will drop, celebrating the life, the work, and the romance of Jane Austen. I’m super excited about it and in fact I’m so excited about it … I’m writing it! Yes, the Austen Connection and the themes and discussions we have enjoyed in this community will be reflected - along with lots of new ideas and discussion - into a wonderful celebration book coming out with Simon & Schuster imprint Adams Media in late autumn. It’s a lot of fun and I can’t wait to share more details with you in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile friends, hope you are staying warm and cozy wherever you are and whatever season you are in, may it be filled with joy, love, and celebration as always. And if you’re reading Jane Austen, a lot of good things are just a few pages away. We can’t wait to read along with you all (including those of you along for the ride without reading, you’re great too).
Warmly,
Plain Jane
Cool links and community
Friends, some amazing television much of it with a lot of Austen Connectedness is coming up in 2025. Some highlights:
Coming in May 2025: ‘Miss Austen’ from PBS Masterpiece. We’re all about to know a lot more about the Austen family, friends, and neighbors in Hampshire.
Netflix appears to be adapting author Ibi Zoboi’s novel Pride - with an adaptation by Karen Joseph Adcock. Netflix is reporting that the project is in early development with Alloy Entertainment and the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions.
Premiering tonight! The new season of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS Masterpiece. This show is pure light & bright & sparkling and needs no shade or anything else. Here’s the preview trailer:
The Other Bennet Sister - the BBC may be looking at a production based on the book by Janice Hadlow and acquired by the BBC.
Also reportedly and possibly coming from Netflix - an upcoming Pride and Prejudice series co-created by Dolly Alderton. And here’s a link to Dolly Alderton’s interesting take on Mr. Darcy in The Guardian. “Mr. Darcy’s reputation as romantic hero trashed …”!
Riot Women - created by the marvelous Sally Wainwright, creator of Gentleman Jack, and starring Tamsin Greig who is Miss Bates to us - due out from the BBC and Bribox sometime this year.
Michaela Coel’s First Day on Earth - a series created, written, produced, and starring the ultra-talented Michaela Coel, creator of the heartbreaking and beautiful I May Destroy You. This new project is in partnership with HBO, the BBC, and A24. No reported timeline or air dates yet.
The Walsh Sisters is a new project acquired by the BBC, based on the novels by Marian Keyes featuring five Irish sisters and their lives and loves. Keyes is a beloved novelist in the UK - I’ve read every single one of the novels and especially love Rachel’s Holiday. And there are lots of Austen Connections to these stories, beginning with: five sisters.
If you enjoy this community - or know of someone who might like to join The Great Jane Austen Read-Along - invite a friend by sharing this post!
I’m in, the start dates for each book are in my diary and I will aim to read some of each book in various places around Chawton, Steventon and Winchester…possibly even in Bath.
This is the first piece of 2025 news I've received with joy! Mazel tov on your book; I'm sure Jane would be proud!
I'll be reading along, and while I don't expect anyone can make me love MP's Edmund Bertram, co-reading Austen with others sounds like a delight. And while I've read most of the books a dozen times or more, I haven't ever RE-read Northanger Abbey. I'm sure I'll see it in new light. Thank you for doing this!