Events

illustration of Regency gentlefolk at a ball — Illustration from Pierce Egan’s Life in London by artists I.R. and G. Cruikshank
(© British Library Board)

Welcome! JASNA-North Carolina meets monthly, typically on a Sunday afternoon. Virtual meetings, begun in the pandemic crisis, have been so successful for us with such a spread-out membership that we continue with a combination of largely virtual and some in-person meetings and events. The quarterly book club is always virtual.

current Events

about the virtual book club

The Virtual Book Club takes place quarterly with the following rotation:

February – Contemporary of Austen
May – Nonfiction work
August – An Austen work (potentially teeing up for the AGM)
November – Fan fiction

Our facilitators are Mary Jane Curry, Nancy Martin-Young, and Sara Tavela.

PAST EVENTS – 2026

February 15 – Virtual Book club: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto
March 1 – Eating Up the Details of Regency Dining (with The Mint Museum)
March 21 – Virtual Conference: Jane Austen the Influencer: 250 Years & Still Going Strong
April 12 – Touring Jane Austen Country

past events – 2025

January 12 – Telling Our Jane Austen Stories
February 16 – Virtual Book Club: Phillis Wheatley’s Writings
March 16 – “Jane Austen on Wild Nature: An Exploration” with Mary Jane Curry
April 13 – “Jane Austen in American Periodicals: Highlights of the First Hundred Years” with JASNA President Mary Mintz
May 4– Virtual Book Club: Susan Allen Ford’s What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why)
June 29 – Tea & Miscellany with a JASP Recap and Discussion of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
July 20 – Fun & Games
August 24 – Virtual Book Club: Persuasion
September 21 – Let’s Get Crafty: Découpage Your Own Austen Item
October 19 – AGM Debrief
November 16 – Virtual Book Club: Sonali Dev’s Recipe for Persuasion
December 7 – “Jane Austen and the Harp” with Julia Adams and Jane Austen Birthday Celebration
December 16 – Virtual Regency Ball in Celebration of Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday

Past Events – 2024

January 21 – Jane Austen & the Freed Blacks of the Regency and Colonial Eras with Sharon Ware
February 18 – Virtual Book Club: Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote
March 24 – “Mastectomy in the Age of Austen: Frances Burney’s ‘miserable account'” with Heather Meek
April 21 – “Is My Idiolect Showing? Individualized Speech Patterns in Austen’s Novels” with Sue Scott
May 18 – Outing to Filament Coffee + Tea for conversation and to enjoy their Austen-inspired spring menu
June 23 – Virtual Book Club: The Watsons
July 21 – Fun and Games: Pride and Prejudice Adaptations Trivia and Chat
August 15 – Virtual Book Club: Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness by Inger Brodey
September 22 – “Brisé Fans: An Essential Accessory in the Time of Jane Austen” with Candice Hern
October 27 – AGM Debrief
November 17 – Virtual Book Club: Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo
December 15 – “Jane Austen and Happiness” with Kuldip Kuwahara and Jane Austen Birthday Celebration

Past Events – 2023

January 22 – Personality Types in Austen Literature with Kim Guyer
February 19 – Virtual Book Club: Poets Familiar to Jane Austen
March 26 – Quilling Workshop with Carolyn Edge
April 23 – “Jane Austen and Bodily Diversity in Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Sanditon: Laughter through Gritted Teeth” with Kathleen James-Cavan
May 21 – Virtual Book Club: What Matters in Jane Austen? with John Mullan
June 25 – Tea & Miscellany
July 23 – Pride and Prejudice Trivia
August 20 – Virtual Book Club: Pride and Prejudice
September 10 – “The Shades of Bridgerton: A Conversation on Colorism” with Damianne Scott
October 15 – Virtual Book Club: The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray
November 12 – AGM Debrief
December 10 – “Everything a Janeite Needs to Know” with Sue Scott and Jane Austen’s Birthday Celebration

Past Events – 2022

January 23 – Live Reading of “Letters in Jane Austen’s Novels: From Lovers to Villains to Fools”
February 20 – Virtual Book Club: A Gossip’s Story by Jane West
March 17 – Women’s History Month at Cleveland County Library
March 20 – “Nothing but a Country Curate”: Charles Hayter of Persuasion and Austen’s Clergymen with Brenda S. Cox
April 2 – Outing to J.C. Raulston Arboretum
April 24 – “Britain’s Black Past” with Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
May 22 – Virtual Book Club: The Regency Years by Robert Morrison
June 26 – Tea and Miscellany
July 24 – Fun and Games
August 21 – Virtual Book Club: Sense and Sensibility
September 18 – “Women of the Regency: A Revolution…Almost Beyond Expression” with Robert Morrison
October 2 – Outing to Raleigh Little Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice
October 23 – AGM Debrief
November 13 – Virtual Book Club: The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
December 11 – Costuming 101 with Tracy Mahl and Jane Austen’s Birthday Celebration

Past Events – 2021

January 24 – Jane Austen BINGO
February 21 – Virtual Book Club: Evelina by Frances Burney
March 21 – “200 Years of Illustrating Persuasion” with Deb Barnum
April 25 – “The British Army: Its Importance to Regency England and to Jane Austen” with James Nagle
May 16 – Virtual Book Club: Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin
June 13 – “Becoming Bath: How Storytelling Shaped the Spa” with Sheila Hwang, PhD
July 11 – Group outing to Emma: A Pop Musical
July 18 – “Tea & Miscellany”
August 22 – Virtual Book Club: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
September 19 – “All the Noise about ‘Dead Silence!’ A Fresh Look at Austen and Slavery” with Collins Hemingway
October 24 – AGM Debrief: “Jane Austen in the Arts.”
November 14 – Virtual Book Club: Wit and Prattles by JASNA-NC member Nancy Martin-Young
December 12 – Jane Austen’s Cousin: The Far-From-Ordinary Eliza with Gisele Rankin and Sue Scott

past events – 2020

January 6 – Sanditon on Masterpiece preview event at UNC-TV
February 8 – Pride & Prejudice play outing and dinner
February 29 – Facilitated discussion of Sanditon on Masterpiece with Mary Jane Curry
March – Group outings to Autumn de Wilde’s Emma movie
March 9 – Hilary Davidson, author of Dress in the Age of Jane Austen
March 22 – Facilitated discussion of Emma movie with Inger Brodey
April 19 – Discussion of P&P: The Musical, #virtualjanecon, favorite outdoor scenes
May 17 – “How Tea Came to England” with Heather McCollum
June 14 – Virtual Book Club – The Juvenilia
July 19 – “The Brothers of Northanger Abbey” with Sue Scott
August 23 – “‘You Can Get a Parasol at Whitby’s . . .’: Circulating Libraries in Jane Austen’s Time.” with Claire Bellanti
September 20 – Virtual Book Club: Miss Austen by Gil Hornby, with author Q&A
October 18 – AGM Debrief
November 15 – “Mrs. Elton’s Party” with Kim Wilson
December 13 – “Jane Austen: Working Woman” with Liz Philosophos Cooper