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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Devoney Looser’s Wild for Austen
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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Eating Up the Details of Regency Dining (with The Mint Museum)
By Nancy Martin-Young JASNA-NC served up a presentation on the art of dining during the Regency period for the March 1st online meeting. The discussion was expertly led by historian Debbie Struble from The Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, ably assisted by her fellow docent, Alice Ross. Regional Coordinator Linda Darden ran the meeting. Austen novels are flush with scenes…
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Virtual Book Club: The Castle of Otranto
By Bill Gaither JASNA-NC members met on February 15, 2026, for a fun and insightful discussion of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the first Gothic novel in English and the forerunner of a robust literary tradition that Jane Austen famously spoofed in Northanger Abbey (1817). Regional coordinator Sara Tavela presided and also ably led the literary discussion at this Virtual Book Club…
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Holiday Celebration and Jane’s 250th Birthday
By Elizabeth Jewell On Sunday, December 7, 2025, JASNA-NC members gathered in person and virtually to celebrate the holiday season and Jane’s 250th birthday, which is on December 16, 2025. The in-person get-together was at Gisele Rankin’s lovely home in Cary, and members brought an array of tasty treats. Karin Wiberg led the in-person meeting, while Regional Coordinator Sara Tavela…
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