Jane Austen Society of North America, Southwest Region
Welcome
Whether you have just discovered Jane Austen or are a lifelong aficionado, you are welcome at the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) and our local region of the society, JASNA Southwest.
Our chapter is one of the oldest and largest in the national society. We host four regional meetings annually that feature a wide range of speakers and presentations, offer numerous local reading and game groups, sponsor an annual Young Filmmakers Contest and maintain a comprehensive guide to Austen Adaptations.
Learn more about the benefits of joining JASNA and JASNA Southwest on our membership page.
We hope you enjoy exploring our site and we hope to see you soon!
Left: Lyme Park stood in for Pemberley in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini series.
Celebrating 40 Years!
JASNA (October 5, 1979) and JASNA Southwest (December 14, 1979)
Countdown to the 40th anniversary of our founding (December 14, 1979)
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Upcoming Events
Save the Date for the following upcoming events! Sign up for our mailing list for more information.
Chapman University
Jane Austen Meets Mary Shelley
Featured speakers:
John Kessel will discuss Pride and Prometheus, his mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein
UCLA Professor Anne Mellor will give a talk on Mothering Monsters: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Author Victoria Shorr will discuss her new book Midnight: Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning
Registration launches in late July.
USC Town & Gown
JASNA Southwest’s 40th Anniversary Celebration
What’s Next in Jane Austen?
Featured speakers:
Janine Barchas, University of Texas at Austin and author of Matters of Fact in Jane Austen
Devoney Looser, Arizona State University and author of The Making of Jane Austen
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Mission Inn, Riverside
Miss Austen Goes to Washington
Our event will explore Regency-era politics as well as Austen’s influence today.
Featured speakers:
Congressman Mark Takano (D-Riverside), former English teacher who launched a Jane Austen reading group on Capitol Hill
Austen scholar Sheryl Craig, author of Jane Austen and the State of the Nation
Follow Us
Reading, Film and Game Groups
For the upcoming schedule for each of our reading, film and game groups, visit the groups page.
In Memoriam: Gerda Kilgore
Gerda Kilgore was born in what was then West Germany. While studying English, she discovered Jane Austen. She met the man who would become her husband during college. After they married, they came to the United States, where she worked as a teacher at a private K-12...
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Huntington Event Recap
More than 180 members and guests attended "It's All Relative: Relationships in Austen" on June 1 at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, making this one of the largest turnouts ever for a JASNA Southwest regional meeting! The opening...
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In Memoriam: Jaye Scholl Bohlen
Longtime JASNA member and Southwest board member Jaye Scholl Bohlen (pictured above, right, with Jan Fahey) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on May 4, 2019. She is survived by her husband, Charlie, and children Avis, Charles III and Peter. She played many roles...
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Festival of Books Booth Attracts 1K Visitors on First Day
It looks like we will have another record-setting year at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the USC campus. For the first day today, we had more than 1,000 visitors to the booth. Be sure to stop by tomorrow and pick up a limited-edition I'm a Jane Austen Fan...
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Recap of Jane Austen: Working Woman
By Karen Rueda JASNA Southwest kicked off 2019 by expanding to four meetings per year with its first-ever February meeting, on Saturday the 23rd, with 108 members and guests registering for the sold-out event at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale. JASNA’s...
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Preview of Jane Austen Garden Trail
JASNA Southwest is proud to sponsor one of only 20 named spots along the new Jane Austen Garden Trail at Chawton House in England. The image above is a preview of our plaque on the walk. JASNA Southwest members helped us raise funds for this project to support Chawton...
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Unfilmable Austen: The Case of Northanger Abbey
In their talk at the December 2018 JASNA Southwest meeting, Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield explored “The Unfilmable Austen: The Case of Northanger Abbey,” focusing on Austen’s interest in capturing modernity and cultural shifts, and the challenges this caused not...
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Pride and Prejudice and Pelisses
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell's informative talk at the JASNA Southwest December meeting at Sony Pictures Studio covered how fashion is used in Austen adaptations to convey the passage of time, express a character's transformation and signal differences in class, age and...
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Q&A With Ashley Clements
At our December 2018 meeting at Sony Pictures Studio, JASNA Southwest Regional Coordinator Susie Wampler moderated a conversation with Ashley Clements, star of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, on how she first became an Austen fan, the process of translating the book to a...
read moreImmerse yourself in an Austen novel, participate in a reading or game group or catch up on the latest JASNA Southwest news.
Explore the benefits of becoming a JASNA and JASNA Southwest member, or join or renew your membership now!
Join other Jane Austen fans from around Southern California by attending one of our regional meetings.
Greet visitors at our Festival of Books booth, organize a new reading group or assist with events and more as a valued volunteer.
Support JASNA’s Southwest region with a tax-deductible donation in any amount. Your gift truly makes a meaningful difference in all we do!
Discover a treasure trove of resources, including our comprehensive guide to film adaptations as well as books Austen herself admired.
Email jasnasw or visit our contact page to direct your query on a specific topic or to a board member. We look forward to hearing from you.
Join Our Mailing List
Sign up today to receive our monthly e-newsletter, event invitations and occasional news, such as free Austen-related film screenings. We never (ever) share your information with anyone. Period.
