Please check back regularly for any changes or updates to the schedule, and for further information about the sessions. Purchase tickets HERE.

Session Descriptions

Circulating libraries were one of the main disseminators of popular culture in Jane Austen’s time and were a resource that Austen and her heroines were very familiar with. Grab your favorite library tote bag and join Dr. Zan Cammack and Diane Neu for a trip to the Georgian circulating library. Participants will also have the opportunity to create and share a mock-up of their own book perfect for an 18th-century library subscriber.

Zan Cammack (she/her) has been a Janeite since she was 15 when she skipped basketball camp to read Austen in the park. Her favourite Austen novel is Persuasion. Zan has a PhD in Irish literature and has published on material culture, Austen, and Irish Modernism.

Diane Neu (she/her) has been a Janeite since she was 13 and was drawn to the fancy dresses on Austen's novel covers. Her favourite Austen novel is Emma.Diane has an MA in English literature and her research focused specifically on Jane Austen's works

Location: USA

9:30 am, Room 1/YouTube

Meet the team behind Rational Creatures, a modern web series inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Co-creators Ayelen Barrios Ruiz Pagano, Anya Steiner, Jessamyn Leigh, and Hazel Jeffs are a team of filmmakers spread across the US, UK, and Canada who have utilized the magic of the internet and crowdfunding to bring this project to life. They’re joined by star Kristina Pupo (Ana Elías, the show’s Anne Elliot) in a conversation about adapting Austen for modern day, multinational filmmaking, and and more. The second and final season of Rational Creatures is currently airing on YouTube.

Location: USA, UK, Canada

10:30 am, Room 1/YouTube

For the in-person event you will need to pre book. Booking costs $10 and includes workshop notes, fabric and ribbon.

You will need to supply: A basic sewing kit including needles, pins, cotton thread, and scissors.

If you are attending this session online, please supply: 30cm fabric (fat quarters are great), 60cm matching ribbon.

Learn how to make a reticule, a small Regency-style purse that serves as a fashion accessory, a showcase for your sewing talent, and a handy carry bag.

Kelly has enjoyed sewing since she was a child, and began her costuming adventures in her 20s. She has since delved into the historical costuming of many eras, from medieval through to the 1960s. Since her first Regency experience - going to the Jane Austen Festival in Canberra - the Regency era holds a special place in her heart and in her wardrobe. She has taught sewing workshops there for the past 8 years.

Location: Australia

10.30am, Room 2 / Zoom

Regency sisters breaking rules. Join Devoney Looser, author of The Making of Jane Austen, for a lively conversation and a live taping with the Austen Connection podcast - we’ll talk about Regency women writers in action and Devoney’s new biography, Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës. Join us!

Devoney Looser, Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, is the author or editor of ten books, including Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës (out from Bloomsbury on October 25, 2022). That biography was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEH Public Scholar Award. She’s also the author of The Making of Jane Austen and editor of The Daily Jane Austen: A Year of Quotes. Her essays have appeared in the Atlantic, New York Times, Salon, Slate, TLS, Entertainment Weekly, and the Washington Post, and her series of 24 30-minute lectures on Austen is available through The Great Courses. Fun fact: Devoney is an avid skater who’s played roller derby under the name Stone Cold Jane Austen.

The Austen Connection's "Plain Jane" is Janet Saidi, a public radio producer, talk show host, and assistant professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. In addition to the Austen Connection podcast, she’s written and produced stories for NPR, PBS, the BBC, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Her work at NPR-affiliate KBIA focuses on building community and creating oral histories through audio with projects like You Don't Say, Missouri on Mic, and the most recent podcast Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan. Janet lived for many years in England, where she received a master's in literature from University College, London.

Location: USA

11:30, Room 1/YouTube

Join Alex Edsor to brush up (pun intended!) your painting skills.

Location: Australia

12pm, Room 2 / You Tube

Mental health treatment and support has changed substantially since Austen wrote her fabulously neurotic characters. Mental Health practitioners and advocates will discuss various characters and how they might support them in their various disciplines, taking into account Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and various therapeutic styles.

Panel moderator: DL Turnbull

Darby (DL) Turnbull (they/them) is a Naarm based Mental Health Support Worker and Lived experience advocate who moonlights as a theatre maker and critic. The inaugural season of their company Misfit Toys featured a Double Bill of their plays Early Days and Dad Jeans. Their association with 24 Carrot Productions spans 6 years. They also directed Sharmini Kumar's A Missionary's Position in 2019. Previous acting highlights include Psycho Beach Party, Hedda Gabler, Major and the Matron 1914, The History Boys and Midsummer Night's Dream. They have a keen interest in incorporating psychosocial lenses to contemporary and classic texts and intersections between marginalised and privileged identities.

Panellists:

Orla Gilheany (she/her) is a child & adolescent counsellor specialising in play therapy, with background in Celtic shamanic studies and visual arts.

Kate Emery (they/she) runs the Instagram account AustenTherapy, where they share (sometimes funny and sometimes informative) memes with a therapy/Austen twist. Kate also cohost’s the AustenTherapy podcast with their sibling Theresa, where they read through an Austen book and analyze the content from a therapeutic lens. Kate has a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology and works as a therapist in Canada.

Location: Australia

1pm-2pm, Room 1/YouTube

For the in-person event you will need to pre book. Booking costs $5 and includes workshop notes, cotton muslin and cotton embroidery thread.

You will need to supply: A basic sewing kit including needles, pins, cotton thread, and scissors.

If you are attending this session online, please supply: DMC 6 strand cotton embroidery thread (white), 30cm cotton muslin.

Learn the art of whitework embroidery, which is fun, pretty, and will increase your value on the Regency marriage market when everyone sees how accomplished you are.

Kelly has enjoyed sewing since she was a child, and began her costuming adventures in her 20s. She has since delved into the historical costuming of many eras, from medieval through to the 1960s. Since her first Regency experience - going to the Jane Austen Festival in Canberra - the Regency era holds a special place in her heart and in her wardrobe. She has taught sewing workshops there for the past 8 years.

Location: Australia

1pm, Room 2/Zoom

Regency Roleplaying with ‘Good Society’

Have you ever wanted to star in your very own regency romance or drama? Then come and hear about Good Society, a tabletop roleplaying game that lets you create your own Austenesque story with your friends. Pursue your fervent desires and navigate budding relationships - all while guarding your good name. If you've never tried tabletop roleplaying before, we'll explain how to jump in and get started!

As Storybrewers Roleplaying, wife-wife duo Vee and Hayley create storytelling games with narrative heart. Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG was awarded Australian Role-Playing Industry Game of the Year 2019, as well as IGDN's Best Rules 2019.

Vee Hendro is a game and graphic designer who loves nothing more than a streamlined system that tells great stories. She's passionate about character-driven, fiction-first gaming. Her latest game is Villagesong, a card-based game that weaves poetry, myth and folktales in a South-east Asian inspired epic. When she's not making games, you can catch her on a bouldering wall, camping and hiking, or settling into a good book.

Hayley Gordon is a game designer and writer with a love of all things drama. Her work focuses on collaborative and emotional roleplaying experiences. As a history major, she also enjoys roleplaying in the weirdness of the imagined past.

Location: Australia

2pm, Room 1/YouTube

Get your Bridgerton on! Learn the art of Regency-era dancing and prepare to go to the ball!

No prior experience necessary.

George Ansell had a re-awakening of interest in dance under the guidance of several of England’s folk dance luminaries in the 1980s, and a move to Melbourne with an introduction to several of the folk dance groups here. George has run the English dance group in Melbourne since 2001, and runs The Well Hall Dancers team who perform at festivals and celebrations. The team has been selected several times for the National Folk Festival in Canberra.

Location: Australia

2.30 pm, Room 2 / Zoom

The movie ‘Fire Island’ is a modern-day riff on ‘Pride and Prejudice’ set amongst a group of queer people of colour. We’re going to talk about how it intersects with Austen and, appropriately for this film … respond to it in song.

A musical theatre performer and cabaret artist, Bradley completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Drama/Literature) at Deakin University and obtained a Diploma of Musical Theatre from Patrick Studios Australia under the tutelage of Andrew Hallsworth. Bradley has most recently been seen in new Australian musical Post, DL Turnbull's new work Early Days, in 24 Carrot Productions' Sense and Sensibility: The Musical as John Willoughby and in Creatrix Tiara's Queer Lady Magician as the villainous Chadbury. His critically acclaimed dark cabaret, Trickster, has also enjoyed multiple Melbourne seasons and toured to Adelaide Fringe - Bradley also premiered his latest solo work, DARK PRINCE, earlier this year.

Location: Australia

3pm, Room 1/Zoom

‘Austentatious’ Casting

Panel host DL Turnbull will be exploring Austen’s unique characters through unexpected and creative casting choices from artists alive and dead and discussing what attributes of a character is enhanced, diminished or changed based on what the performer might bring to the role. When we see Austen characters on stage or screen they’re usually white, able bodied, thin, cisgender; what changes when we cast outside those demographics?

Time: 3.30-4.30pm
Location: Room 1 / YouTube

Show off your costuming skills by taking a turn on our runway! Prizes awarded for MOST CREATIVE, MOST ELABORATE and BEST MASH-UP …

Time: 4.30pm
Location: Room 1 / YouTube

All Day Events

Need advice about love, marriage, family, finances, or any other aspect of your life? Let our Austen Agony Auncles help you out with some friendly advice. With an hour session on Zoom for our guests online.

Location: Australia

10.30 am - 4.30 pm, Lounge Area/Zoom

There must be a will somewhere in your father’s study! You just have to find it ...

Location: Australia

10.30 am - 4.30 pm, Games Room

Time: 9.30 am - 4.30 pm
Location: Mezzanine