By Elizabeth Jewell Co-regional coordinator Sara Tavela introduced the speaker for the October meeting, Dr. Meghan Kobza, who presented information on the history of masquerade balls. Dr. Kobza is a historian of leisure culture, costume, and commercialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She completed her PhD at Newcastle University in 2020 and held a postdoctoral fellowship there, exploring the…
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The Masquerade with Meghan Kobza
Exploring Northanger Abbey
By Bill Gaither Members met on August 16, 2026, for an enlightening lecture and a lively discussion of Jane Austen’s first novel-length work, Northanger Abbey (1817). Co-regional coordinator Linda Darden ably presided. Member and professor Mary Jane Curry provided supplementary information in advance of the meeting, lectured on key elements of the novel, with slides, and led the discussion. This was a…
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Lock in Your Final Answer for Jane Austen Trivia
By Nancy Young “If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.” Like Mary Crawford, JASNA members are “not born to sit still and do nothing.” The Fun and Games meeting July 19th was the perfect antidote to summer doldrums. Co-regional coordinators Linda Darden and Sara Tavela welcomed twenty-two Janeites to test their knowledge of…
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Devoney Looser’s Wild for Austen
By Bill Gaither Members met on June 7, 2026 for a lively discussion of Devoney Looser’s Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane (2025). Co-regional coordinator Sara Tavela presided and also created the questions for discussion. Member and scholar Mary Jane Curry moderated the discussion together with Sara. This was a Virtual Book Club meeting. Mary Jane provided a brief…
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Touring Jane Austen Country
By Elizabeth Jewell Co-regional coordinator Linda Darden introduced the presentation by JASNA member Pamela Hale of the trip she and her husband, Dutch Tubman, took in May and June of 2025. The trip commemorated both the anniversary of Jane’s birth 250 years ago, and also the 200th anniversary of the first successful railway company, the Stockton and Darlington, which initially…
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