“It’s a privilege to work with the Jane Austen and book-loving community to support literacy today, in honour of Jane and her extraordinary legacy”
In our last issue of 2023, our founder and chair Caroline Jane Knight, reports on a busy year at the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.
“2023 has been our busiest year yet, with more literacy activities and programs than ever before and the launch of our Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Community.
While we were closed for our annual break in January, longtime Foundation volunteer and supporter Monica Kauffman was hosting a Tea for Literacy, raising money for another Anganwadi (early learning) Center in Delhi supported by the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation to participate in the Worldreader Read to Kids program:
“I look forward to hosting my Jane Austen Tea for Literacy party every year, not only to meet up with my friends and family but to raise money for Jane Austen Literacy Foundation projects. Holding this tea party allows me the opportunity to use treasured items like my mom’s China and my aunt’s tea pots. With each brew, it allows me to relive memories of these amazing women who are no longer with me, including Jane herself. This past year, I set up a table in my library, which was the perfect setting! I made finger sandwiches, desserts (Grannies macaroons are always everyone’s favorite), and a variety of teas.” - Monica Kauffman, teacher, Foundation volunteer and fundraiser
From 2024 on, our Tea for Literacy events will be held throughout May and June each year, and we will be inviting everyone to be a fundraiser for Jane Austen Literacy Foundation literacy projects by hosting a tea party, with an optional pack to download for those who wish to make their tea Jane Austen-themed, including Austen family recipes and a Regency games pack.
Our journal, Pride & Possibilities, delighted readers with an interesting and informative range of articles, written by the Jane Austen community, under the stewardship of our editor, Sophie Spruce. Issues included a feature article from Natalie Jenner (best-selling author of The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls, and Foundation ambassador) in April, discussing the widespread success of Sanditon, as the much-anticipated conclusion of Jane Austen’s Sanditon (as imagined by PBS) was released.
“It has been my honor to serve as the editor of Pride and Possibilities for almost two years and work with Caroline as we have developed our journal throughout that time. It brings me much happiness to facilitate a space for Austen lovers to connect and share their thoughts. Pride and Possibilities is entering 2024 with new resolve and fresh ideas for articles that I am excited to share with our readers soon. I would like to thank Caroline for her generous support and her openness to trying new things. I know this journal would not be what it is without her encouragement of my ideas. For that, I am forever grateful.” - Sophie Spruce, editor of Pride & Possibilities
We celebrated our 100th issue, published in May, with an updated layout design and logo. For the 100th issue, I was delighted to share details of an extensive collection of vintage fashion, 1770–1880, including 80 pieces from Jane Austen’s lifetime.
The collection has been given to me personally by Australian collector Fiona Baverstock, in support of my charity work and fundraising for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation and Chawton House. The collection will be featured in a ground-breaking, immersive exhibition from my family (Jane Austen’s family) and the Austen community to tell the real story of Jane Austen’s life and legacy to a wide audience. The exhibition will launch in the US in 2025, the 250-year anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, before moving to the UK and Australia.
This year’s writing competition was a great success. Our theme “The Wonder of Words” inspired a diverse range of short stories, and lively debate to pick our winners. A panel of Jane Austen Literacy Foundation volunteers, managed our competition manager Jane MacKenzie, selected a dozen stories from which our three winners were chosen by a panel of special judges, which this year included Natalie Jenner, Susannah Harker (actor, Jane Bennet, BBC Pride & Prejudice 1995), Justin Young (lead writer, Sanditon Seasons 2 & 3), and Helena Kelly (author, Jane Austen, The Secret Radical). The three winning stories were then published online for the public to select the overall winner.
“The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Short Story Competition was introduced in 2020 with the aim of encouraging creativity at a difficult time for all of us during Covid. It has become an important annual event, and every year people enter in their hundreds from all corners of the globe, hoping to get their short story recorded by Alison Larkin, the world’s number one Austen audiobook narrator. We are now planning the next competition in spring 2024. Please do get involved, either by submitting a story to us or by joining the public vote to decide between the final three stories. It’s great fun, and the stories are amazing.” - Jane MacKenzie, author, Foundation Ambassador and Writing Competition Manager
Many of our ambassadors and volunteers joined me for our annual gathering in Chawton, for Jane Austen Regency Week. I am patron of Jane Austen Regency week and the Foundation’s fundraising events, Parade for Literacy and Regency Picnic, are held in the grounds of Chawton House, my childhood home.
We were delighted to be joined by ambassadors Alison Larkin, Helena Kelly, and our newest ambassador, Gill Hornby (author Miss Austen and Godmersham Park), who delighted us all with the story of Edward Austen Knight’s eldest son and heir, Edward Knight II (my third great grandfather), who caused a scandal when he eloped to Gretna Green with his sister Fanny’s step-daughter, Mary Dorethea Knatchbull.
The winner of our writing competition was announced at our Regency Picnic, Small Print by Faith Cobain, and read aloud by Alison Larkin in person, a rare treat for us all. Alison has since narrated the three winning stories, and the audiobook will be released early in 2024.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that Jane Austen would have been as delighted as I was by the lovely picnic that followed the annual Walk for Literacy, which retraces Jane’s steps from Chawton Cottage to Chawton House. I thoroughly enjoyed reading out Small Print, the winning entry for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Writing Competition, and meeting so many fellow Foundation Ambassadors and Austen enthusiasts.” - Alison Larkin, author, writer, multi -award winning narrator and Foundation Ambassador
The winner of our 2022 writing competition, Sheila Walker, talked about Schools for Syria, sharing the important work they are doing to support the education of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. We were very pleased to be able to support Schools for Syria in 2023 by funding a teacher’s salary for the whole year.
100% of donations we receive is spent on literacy activities and programs, including Schools for Syria.
While I was in the UK, I travelled to York to speak at an afternoon tea event organized by the Northern Branch of the Jane Austen Society to talk about my family history and childhood at Chawton House. We had a lovely afternoon and raised money to support our literacy projects.
In July, we launched a new pair of bookplates, designed exclusively for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation by Dutch artist Lakshmi Fransen. Sold as a pair, the designs are inspired by the silhouettes of the era, and depict Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.
“My love of Jane Austen, her world, her life and her characters has been a great source of inspiration to me. The first time I read Pride & Prejudice, the characters seem to come off the page. Over the years I started making illustrations inspired by scenes from Jane Austen’s books and the Regency era. With great pleasure I created two designs for the unique bookplate collection of the wonderful Jane Austen Literacy Foundation” - Lakshmi Fransen, artist
The bookplates are the 11th and 12th to be added to our collection, all designed by artists exclusively for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. Bookplates were commonly used in Jane Austen's time, when books were expensive, precious, and often lent to others. It was important that the owners name was clearly marked. We love bookplates, and our collection continues the meaningful custom of marking the most important books in your libraries with personalised bookplates, beautifully designed by artists, personalised with your name in Jane Austen’s handwriting.
In September, we celebrated literacy month with our fourth annual 30 Day Literacy Challenge, our best yet. This year’s challenge was created and managed by Sophie Spruce, who chose the classics as our theme for 2023. We had a lot of fun reading your comments and posts, and thank everyone who participated and joined in the fun. All of our 30 Day Literacy Challenges are available free via the Resources for Schools page on our website.
In October, we launched the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Community, a new initiative to provide a unique community for Jane Austen and book lovers globally, while supporting our literacy activities through monthly subscription. The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Community offers free membership to everyone, with access to events, monthly literacy challenges, Read With Us sessions, and other activities. For those who wish to support the Foundation’s activities and enjoy a range of member benefits (including exclusive events, optional bookclub, exclusive bookplates, access to our content library, literacy challenges and much more), subscription is US $10 per month.
“Having met some of my dearest friends online through our mutual love of Jane Austen's works and having a passion for literacy and literature (I run a business helping authors), collaborating with Caroline to create a unique community for readers and writers brings me immense joy, and I'm excited about the shared mission to promote literacy as a community. I'm looking forward to the years to come, as together we create an engaging space that fosters a love for reading and writing, and furthers the literacy efforts of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.” – Melissa Makarewicz, Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Community Manager.
For more information about the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Community, click here:
Audiences in Australia were given a treat when Salt House Creative, led by Jane Austen Literacy Foundation ambassador, actor, writer and director Daniel Widdowson, toured a modern comedic adaptation of Sense & Sensibility with 8 Actors and a Door. Ticket sales for the last leg of the tour, 3 night in Melbourne, were donated to the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. On the last night 20 guests with VIP tickets joined me before the show. We enjoyed a glass of champagne and Regency inspired canapes. I talked about Jane’s life in Chawton, her writing career, and my childhood living at Chawton House, when it was still our family home, and shared lots of photos from the family archives, projected onto the theatre wall.
“Being an ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation is an absolute delight. This year, the Salt House Creative team embraced the creative task of transforming 'Sense & Sensibility' into a captivating one-hour stage performance, utilizing only a single prop—a door. Collaborating with Caroline is consistently uplifting; her passion for literacy serves as a true inspiration.” - Dr Daniel Widdowson, writer, actor, director and Foundation Ambassador
The show was fantastic, a joy to watch, and received great reviews. In exciting news, the show is likely to run again at other theatres in Australia and will be shown to international audiences as part of our 2025 exhibition and celebration of Jane Austen and her legacy.
Behind the scenes we are working on pivoting our Literacy Mentors program, to support children in developing communities. Our new program and an exciting new literacy program will be announced in 2024.
On December 16th, I will be speaking at The Austen Tea Room in Essendon, Victoria, to celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday.
The event is sold out, but you can all join Alison Larkin and me for our annual celebration of Jane Austen’s birthday LIVE on Facebook, on Sunday 17th December. While we enjoy a cup of tea and birthday cake, Alison and I will reflect on a busy 2023 with the Foundation and other projects, including The Jane Austen Podcast with Alison Larkin and the debut London debut of Grief…A Comedy, written and performed by Alison. I will share my plans for exhibiting my extensive collection of vintage fashion (1775 - 1880) in 2025, and for a second edition of my memoir Jane & Me; My Austen Heritage. Join us for an hour of fun and lively discussion (including a prize giveaway), LIVE on the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Facebook page, as we share our passion for literacy and laughter.
Through our collective efforts in 2023 we have delivered a rich program of literacy events and resources, and supported three literacy programs for developing communities. We have funded our 6th Anganwadi Center in India to participate in the Worldreader Read for Kids Program, we have provided the salary for a teacher for a year for Schools for Syria, and we have enabled many more remote Indigenous children in Australia to participate in the Indigenous Reading Project.
As the year draws to a close, I would like to sincerely thank our volunteers, donors, ambassadors, supporters, and everyone who has participated in our activities and events. The Foundation is closed each January, to give our volunteers a well-earned break, but we will see you in 2024 for another exciting year.
Over the holidays, if you’d like to know more about my family’s Christmas traditions at Chawton House, check out Pride & Possibilities Issue 4: Christmas Eve at Chawton House. You can also learn more about Christmas in the Regency era by reading Issue 96: A Regency Celebration.
If you haven’t already subscribed to Pride & Possibilities, sign up at the bottom of this page and a link to our monthly issue will be delivered straight to your inbox.
Wishing you all a safe and happy holidays!
Caroline Jane Knight and the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Team
