A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER, CAROLINE JANE KNIGHT

COVID-19 has stopped humanity in its tracks. This crisis affects all of us: we are in this together and we will get through this together. 

I hope you are all keeping safe and following the social distancing rules and lockdown measures in your area. I returned home to Australia last week and am nearing the end of a mandatory 14-day isolation at home, separate from my husband who is still able to shop for food and essential supplies. 

This is the most severe health crisis we face in living memory and we are fortunate to live at a time when infectious outbreaks of this severity are rare. We know that Jane herself encountered a nasty infectious illness with parallels to COVID-19. Though not classed as a pandemic, Jane was at school in Southampton at the age of 7 when a wave of epidemic typhus descended on the town, likely brought by troops returning home. A high fever and cough are common symptoms of typhus. Thankfully we now have the antibiotics to treat it.

Like COVID-19, typhus was understood to be milder in children with the mortality rate increasing with age, and social distancing was important in combating the spread. Mrs Cawley, Jane’s schoolmistress, has been criticised for not contacting the Austen parents after Jane and Cassandra were infected with typhus, but the British Medical Journal points out that returning the sisters to the rectory in Steventon while infected would have been incredibly foolish - they would have undoubtedly spread the infection to their family and the pupil boarders. In any case, Jane and Cassandra, along with their cousin Jane Cooper, were picked up from the school by Jane Cooper’s mother, and possibly Mrs Austen herself. Mrs Cooper was 47, and later died of the illness, bequeathing a head band to Jane. Thankfully, our knowledge of infection and how to contain the spread is far more advanced today than it was in 1783. We are all in awe of the incredible job being done by our medical professionals and other essential workers, on the front line fighting the disease and keeping us all in food and supplies. 

Over the last few days I have been working with the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Board, our Programme Managers, volunteers and our charity partners to assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Foundation and our literacy programmes and to develop a programme of activities we will be offering to give everyone some much needed distraction over the coming months.

All Jane Austen Literacy Foundation fundraising appeals and events are cancelled or postponed until further notice, including our events at Jane Austen Regency Week in Chawton planned for June. As a virtual organisation run entirely by volunteers, the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation has very low overheads and, with two years’ operating costs held in reserve, we are financially secure for the foreseeable future.

The main projects we have funded in Ghana and India include e-reader technology and programmes have an ‘at home’ learning component built in. Having liaised with our charity partner, Worldreader, I am pleased to report that the at home learning component has been expanded and is being used to continue reading and literacy education during school closures.

Over the coming months we want to support our donors, volunteers, ambassadors and community during this difficult period of social isolation. We will be offering a range of activities to help keep us connected as a community and remain active.

• For parents with children at home, we will be sharing resources from reputable sources to support learning and literacy in the home. 

• To keep your children occupied for a little while, we will be launching a ‘Label Your Library’ downloadable bookplate making kit.

• Every donor, subscriber and volunteer of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation will be sent free books to read and listen to – starting with a downloadable copy of the audiobook of Jane & Me: My Austen Heritage (over 8 hours of listening), my story of growing up in Chawton in the heart of my fifth great aunt Jane Austen’s literary legacy, and the events that led to the creation of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation 25 years later.

• Our short story creative writing competition will be launched towards the end of April, open to everyone. We will pick the winner together as you will all be invited to read the shortlisted stories on our website and vote for your favourite. The winning story will be published as an audiobook narrated by Alison Larkin (multi-award winning Austen narrator).

• For the artists in the community, we will be launching a bookplate design competition at the end of April. Winning bookplates will be added to the prestigious Jane Austen Literacy Foundation bookplate collection and include a feature on the artist and their work.

As our time in isolation continues, it will become ever more important to keep our spirits up and stay connected to our friends, family and communities online. We hope you will enjoy one or more of our activities. If you don’t fancy entering the writing competition, for example, you might want to read the finalist entries and help chose the winner!

Wishing you and your family good health and strength during this difficult time. Please stay safe.

Caroline Jane Knight, Founder & Chair

References:

Jane Austen’s lifelong health problems and final illness: New evidence points to a fatal Hodgkin’s disease and excludes the widely accepted Addison’s, British Medical Journal, Volume 31, Issue 1 https://mh.bmj.com/content/31/1/3

Self-isolating, social distancing, or just in need of some reading material to relax and entertain you? You can catch up on our previous issues of Pride & Possibilities here:

Image credit: Globe Connect/Julia B. Grantham