Austen Chat

As if we'd pass up the chance to talk with Clueless writer and director Amy Heckerling! We're delighted to share this conversation about the making of her totally awesome adaptation of Emma . In this episode, Amy takes us behind the scenes to discuss how she reimagined Austen's novel for contemporary Beverly Hills—from the film’s characters and plot to its casting, costumes, distinc...

It's Austen Chat 's third anniversary! To mark the milestone, we're delighted to share "Jane Austen: Material Girl"—a conversation between authors Paula Byrne and Hilary Davidson recorded at JASNA’s 2025 Annual General Meeting.  Both have written extensively about the significance of material objects in Austen's life and work. Tune in for their lively discussion of or...

"Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation & vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted." — Jane Austen, 1796, letter to Cassandra on arriving in London Jane Austen was very aware of life’s darker side, and beneath the genteel polish and decorum of her novels lurks a world of adultery, theft, seduction, dueling, poaching, smuggling, and more. In this episode, guest...

Jane Austen's novels feature a number of characters we might describe as "hypochondriacs" today: Mr. Woodhouse, Mary Musgrove, and Mrs. Churchill, to name a few. Although she never used the word herself, Austen was adept at exploring how the worries and complaints of individuals preoccupied with their health affected the people around them. Professor Sarah Marsh joins us in this epi...

"Elizabeth took up some needlework, and was sufficiently amused in attending to what passed between Darcy and his companion." — Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen often wove needlework and other domestic crafts into her novels in thoughtful and meaningful ways. In this episode, Professor Jennie Batchelor joins us to discuss Austen’s own skill with a needle and explore how she used such “wom...

" My dearest Cassandra, The letter which I have this moment received from you has diverted me beyond moderation. I could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at school." —Jane Austen, September 1, 1796 It's been speculated that Jane Austen may have written nearly 3,000 letters in her lifetime. While only 161 are known to have survived, that small collection offers a wealth of...

Happy 2026, listeners! To kick off the new year, we’re sharing something special: Austen Chat’ s first episode recorded in front of a live audience.  Jane Austen lived during a remarkably dynamic period of British history and was well aware of the forces shaping her world—colonial expansion, booming global trade, revolutions in Europe and the Americas, and slavery and the abolition movement. It wa...

“Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Everybody said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful . . . .” — Mrs. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Jane Bennet, the eldest of the five Bennet sisters, is an undisputed beauty, but Austen tells us Jane also “unite[s] with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper, and an uniform cheerfulness of manner.” In this episode,...

Join us for a chat with noted Austen scholar Kathryn Sutherland about Jane Austen’s surviving manuscripts and what they reveal about her writing process and creative confidence. Kathryn also shares the story behind the ambitious digital project that brought Austen’s scattered manuscripts together in a virtual archive and talks about some of the material objects she included in her book Jane Austen...

Bath bun. Bobbinet. Poor basket. Vanity-bait. These are just a few of the words the Oxford English Dictionary credits Jane Austen with using for the first time in print—and almost all are words related to domestic and everyday life. In this episode, we sit down with scholar Charlotte Brewer to explore the Dictionary ’s 19th-century origins, its reliance on volunteer readers, its ongoing digital ev...

"She has many rare & charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them."—Jane Austen, Jack and Alice Drunken brawls. Cannibalism. Heroines behaving very badly. Such mayhem may seem worlds apart from the sedate drawing rooms of Austen's novels, but it is par for the course in her teenage writings. In this episode, we welcome Lesley Peterson for an exploration of the whimsical w...

Think you know Jane Austen? In this episode, we explore the wild side of Austen’s writings, life, and legacy with noted scholar Devoney Looser, who makes the case for Austen as a far more daring and unconventional figure than her prim Victorian reputation suggests. Whether you're new to Austen or a longtime Janeite, this episode offers a lively take on the beloved author—and reminds us why we...

“There is one thing, Emma, which a man can always do, if he chooses, and that is his duty." —Mr. Knightley We believe Jane Austen is for everyone, but it’s no secret that her modern fanbase is predominantly female. But why is that, and what might men be missing? Brett McKay joins us in this episode to share how he first discovered Austen’s work and why more men should read her books. Along th...

"'The course of true love never did run smooth' — A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage.” — Emma Shakespeare's influence on Jane Austen can be seen throughout her novels and letters. She quotes him, mimics him, and echoes him in fascinating ways. In this episode, Professor Mary Floyd-Wilson helps us unpack and examine the many parallels betwe...

Jane Austen has had devoted American admirers since her works were first published. In fact, several Americans played a crucial role in preserving and promoting her legacy. Joining us to explore Austen’s reputation and reception in America is Professor Juliette Wells, a leading expert on the subject, who will also share the story of avid Austen collector Alberta H. Burke and preview some of the Au...

" I have made up my mind to like no novels really but Miss Edgeworth's, yours, and my own."  — Jane Austen to her niece, Anna Lefroy, 1814 Jane Austen’s novels and letters are strewn with references to the female authors she admired—writers like Maria Edgeworth, Ann Radcliffe, and Charlotte Lennox. But these novelists, despite their wide popularity in their own time, have largely di...

"I do not think I can live without something of a musical society. . . . without music, life would be a blank to me."  — Emma Though these words are spoken by the shallow and pretentious Mrs. Elton, the sentiment is one that Jane Austen herself likely shared. Austen played the pianoforte throughout her life and often incorporated music into her novels. In this episode, we chat with piani...

"To work in his garden was one of his most respectable pleasures." — Pride and Prejudice The garden may be where Charlotte sends Mr. Collins when she tires of him, but for many of Jane Austen's heroines, it's a place of repose and reflection. Nature is an important and recurring theme in Austen's novels and a meaningful part of her own life. In this episode, author Kim Wil...

Happy 2025! This year marks Jane Austen's 250th birthday, and we are delighted to kick off the celebration with professor and author John Mullan as our guest. This month we delve into passages from the four novels published during Austen's lifetime and discuss what the details reveal about her genius as a writer. Join us for this fascinating and insightful episode (and get a sneak peek a...

In this episode we chat with the man who gave us the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice —for many, the definitive Austen adaptation. A prolific author and screenwriter, Andrew Davies is also responsible for the 1996 ITV adaptation of Emma , Northanger Abbey (2007), Sense and Sensibility (2008), and the recent dramatization of Sanditon— not to mention adaptations of a host of other classic...

Lord Byron is one of the most notorious bad boys of English literature. He had countless affairs, drank wine from a cup fashioned from a human skull, kept a pet bear at Cambridge, and fought for Greek independence against the Ottoman Empire.  What could this Regency-era demigod of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” possibly have to do with spinster Jane, a country parson's daughter? More than yo...

Thanks to the tireless work of translators, readers around the world can enjoy Jane Austen's works in their native languages. But how does one even begin to translate her carefully crafted sentences? What unforeseen challenges and valuable insights arise in the process? In this episode, we ask Austen translators Keiko Parker and Maria Biajoli about their experiences—the good, the bad, and the...

Cassandra Austen, beloved sister to Jane, was a talented artist in her own right. At age 19, she illustrated Jane's satirical History of England with thirteen delightful ink-and-watercolor portraits. She continued to draw and paint throughout her life, most often copying from popular newspaper and magazine prints of the day. In this episode, Austen scholar Janine Barchas discusses her recent...

Jane Austen pioneered and perfected quite a few literary techniques, and her novels mark a major turning point in modern English fiction. In this episode we chat with Collins Hemingway about Austen’s development as a writer and unpack the tools in her literary toolbox. Drawing on insights from his book Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in “a Style Entirely New , ” Collins...

It's Austen Chat 's one-year anniversary! Encouraging more people to read Jane Austen and gain a deeper understanding of her works and life is JASNA’s mission, and to celebrate our podcast birthday, we welcome not one but three guests to talk about reading Austen and the online event they organize each year: Jane Austen July. BookTubers Katie Lumsden, host of the YouTube channel Books an...