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Special Sessions

Important things to know about Special Sessions:

• This page describes sessions that are included in the AGM registration fee, as well as some that require extra tickets, which may be purchased during registration.
• The sessions on this page are open to Attendee registrants only, with the exception of the Saturday night wine lecture, for which Companion registrants may also purchase tickets.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

JASNA Night at Munro’s Books

Munro’s Books, an independent bookstore founded by Jim Munro and his first wife, author Alice Munro, is a landmark in Victoria. With its heritage building and striking artwork, Munro’s is considered among the world’s most beautiful bookstores. AGM early-birds can kick off their Victoria experience by visiting Munro’s on an evening set aside for JASNA members and their companions.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Dr. Juliette Wells and Grace Fischbach, Goucher College

Sense and Sensibility as You’ve Never Seen It Before:
Highlights from the Jane Austen Collection at Goucher College

Juliette Wells will begin this extensively illustrated presentation with an overview of the Jane Austen Collection at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Goucher is the home of JASNA’s archives and the only repository anywhere to hold first, rare, and illustrated editions of Austen’s novels, translations of Austen’s novels into dozens of languages, period publications on landscape, architecture, and fashion, as well as 20th-century ephemera relating to Austen. Next, Grace Fischbach will share discoveries from her semester-long exploration of Sense and Sensibility in the Austen Collection, including a gallery of cover images illuminating how artists around the world have depicted the Dashwood sisters.

Juliette Wells, Professor of Literary Studies at Goucher College, is the author of Reading Austen in America and Everybody’s Jane: Austen in the Popular Imagination. She edited Persuasion and Emma for Penguin Classics. Her invited talks for 2022 include JASNA’s Southwest, Michigan, Northern Ohio, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Nova Scotia regions.

Grace Fischbach will graduate from Goucher College in May 2022 with a major in Professional and Creative Writing and minors in Literary Studies and Biological Sciences. In spring 2022, she undertook independent research in the Jane Austen Collection to explore books and archival material related to Sense and Sensibility.

Kristen Miller Zohn, Georgia Region

Gender and the Decorative Arts in Austen’s Novels

During the Georgian period, women and men alike had a great interest in architecture, interior design, and clothing, and couples often worked together to make aesthetic decisions about their homes. While expensive refurbishments were paid for by men, expenditures on china, glass, and linen were handled by women. Manufacturers categorized furniture and other decorative objects according to gender, and the rooms in which they were placed were gendered as well. This slide lecture will present images of decorative arts and interiors to explore how those that are presented in Austen’s novels speak to the roles of women and men in her era.

Kristen Miller Zohn lives in Columbus, Georgia, where she works as the Executive Director of Costume Society of America. She is also curator for the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Mississippi and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Art History. Her articles on Austen and the fine and decorative arts have been published in Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line, and she has presented at seven JASNA AGMs. A Life Member of JASNA, she serves as a member of the organization’s national board and was the co-coordinator with Jennifer Swenson for the 2021 AGM in Chicago.

Ivan Sayers, Fashion Historian

English Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen, 1775-1817

Ivan Sayers is a fashion historian who specializes in the study of women's, men's, and children's fashions from 1700 to the present. He has collected period costumes for over 50 years and now has one of the largest and most comprehensive private collections of historical clothing in Canada. Mr. Sayers worked at the Museum of Vancouver from 1970 to 1990 and left his position as Curator of History to become a Museum Consultant and Lecturer. He now produces historical fashion shows and museum exhibitions across western and central Canada and lectures at several local universities and colleges.

Linda Slothouber, Vice President for Conferences, and “The Cassandras”

First-Timers’ Orientation/Meet-and-Greet

Wondering how to join the AGM dance, literally or metaphorically? This session enables you to meet other first-timers in a relaxed setting and prepares you to make the most of your AGM experience. Taking their name from Jane Austen’s older sister, “the Cassandras”—an informal group of seasoned AGM-goers—will welcome you and answer questions.

Paper Street Theatre Ensemble

Yes and Yesteryear: Improvised Jane Austen

One knows that, aside from the security of the hearth, social standing, and familial responsibilities, the sensibility of the heart is of great importance to a young lady. And that generally, a suggestion or two is always greatly appreciated!

The Paper Street Theatre Co. creates improvisation that feels like theatre. Join Paper Street’s cast of landed gentry as they improvise their way through the conventions and manners of proper society and all the unforeseen complications such constraints provide. It is sure to be an outing Jane Austen would be delighted to attend!

By studying great playwrights, novelists, and theatrical styles and then performing them without a script, the Paper Street Theatre ensemble, under the direction of improviser and storyteller Dave Morris, sets out to change what people often perceive improvisation to be. Some of what they do may be comedy, but first it will be theatre. Paper Street Theatre has been featured at festivals around the world–in Vancouver, London, Romania, Amsterdam, and more. They have won multiple awards for their innovative style of improvisation.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

Cecily Van Cleave, Eastern WA/Northern ID Region

Beyond the Garden Wall: Priscilla Wakefield, Women in Botany, and The
Intersection of Art and Science During the Austen Era

Who was Priscilla Wakefield? A Quaker botanist, activist, author, and educator who was a contemporary of Jane Austen, Wakefield serves as a fascinating case study of a middle-class woman who helped support her family through her work during the Georgian era. Her scientific knowledge, writing on many facets of English society, and activism for women and children will be discussed in the presentation, which will feature illustrations related to Wakefield’s life and work. We will also discuss several important similarities and differences between Wakefield and Austen.

Cecily Van Cleave holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Mercy College, where her thesis on Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot was named the program’s 2020 Thesis of the Year. Cecily writes about and studies women’s roles during the 19th century and has written a historical novel set in 19th-century England. Her short historical fiction was published in The Copperfield Review in 2021.

Interview

A Conversation with Uzma Jalaluddin

Renata Dennis will interview JASNA’s special guest, Canadian author Uzma Jalaluddin. Uzma’s debut novel, Ayesha at Last, is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the Toronto Muslim community. We’ll hear Uzma’s thoughts on Austen and on the importance of adaptations to different cultural settings and learn about her exciting new projects.

Uzma Jalaluddin grew up in a diverse suburb of Toronto, but her favorite place in the world is the nearest bookstore or library. Her 2018 novel, Ayesha at Last, is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the Toronto Muslim community. The novel was a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, featured on The Today Show, and was a Cosmopolitan UK Book of the Year and Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2019, and has been optioned for film by Pascal Pictures. Her second novel, Hana Khan Carries On (2021), was an instant Canadian bestseller. Uzma wrote a culture and parenting column for The Toronto Star and has written for The Atlantic. She lives near Toronto, where she also teaches high school.

Renata Dennis is a JASNA Life Member, At-Large Board Member, Regional Coordinator for Georgia, and Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She has been a clinical research nurse in the School of Medicine at Emory University for over 20 years, working as a continuing education instructor/training coordinator, and on HIV and most recently, COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. She holds degrees in biology, nursing, and public health from Wheaton College in Illinois and Emory University in Georgia.

Erika Kotite, Southwest Region

Young Filmmakers Contest Awards

Now in its sixth year, the JASNA Southwest Young Filmmakers Contest is the world's first film contest devoted to Jane Austen. Join the excitement as the finalists for 2022 are announced—watch the short films, vote for your own personal choice, and hear the opinions of world-class judges like Bridgerton writer Janet Lin; author, playwright, and script analyst Diana Birchall; and Pride and Prometheus author John Kessel.

The Young Filmmakers Contest is run by a team of film, theatre, and literature enthusiasts throughout JASNA. Erika Kotite is the coordinator of the contest. After creating several promotional videos for the 2017 AGM, Erika became committed to the fledgling YFC, knowing that new generations of Austen appreciators will come from a visual media perspective. Erika is also VP for Publications for JASNA and a board member of JASNA Southwest.

Screenplay by Emma Thompson, Directed by Ang Lee

Sense and Sensibility Film Showing

Enjoy the beloved adaptation of Jane Austen’s first published novel in the Victoria Conference Centre’s 400-seat theatre, in the most congenial company!

SATURDAY, October 1

Shopping at Soho Bazaar

Opened in 1816, London’s Soho Bazaar was a market specializing in the sale of “fancy goods,” such as jewelry, gloves, and millinery, for charitable purposes. A later publication described the Bazaar as “a fashionable lounge for ladies and children, and especially attractive to ‘country cousins’"—so we can imagine the Steele sisters, and possibly the Dashwoods, shopping there. For our Soho Bazaar, we’ll accept donations of Regency-style “fancy goods” on Thursday and Friday (please see instructions) and will open the Bazaar on Saturday afternoon, just in time for you to find a new treasure to accessorize your outfit for the Banquet and Ball, or take home to a Janeite friend. Most items will be just a “loonie” or U.S. dollar (bring cash!). Those who donate will receive a ticket enabling them to choose an item for free.

Phyllis Ferguson, Vancouver Region

Lindsay Bottomer, Vancouver Region

Austen on the Rocks: Connections to the Female “Fossilists” of her Time

Edward Ferrars said, “I can easily believe it to be full of rocks . . . . but these are all lost on me.” In an entertaining but informative manner, this joint presentation will advance your knowledge beyond Edward’s. This informative and entertaining session will explore the ways in which Austen’s life and novels were surprisingly connected with her society’s growing fascination with fossils and rocks. It will examine the achievements of six women, all born during Austen’s lifetime, whose work contributed to the growth of knowledge about the natural world.

Phyllis Ferguson, a retired speech language pathologist, and author of So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, has spoken at three JASNA AGMs, as well as to ten JASNA regions. Married for almost 45 years to a geologist, she is familiar with modifying information about rocks into manageable-sized pebbles.

Lindsay Bottomer has had more than 50 years of experience in mineral exploration in over 30 countries. He was the volunteer Treasurer for the JASNA Vancouver AGM and has joined his wife in English country dancing since first being introduced to it at the AGM in Milwaukee in 2005.

Alisa Shorago, J.D., San Diego Region

Wine and Sensibility or, What Would Jane Austen Have Drunk?

Alisa Shorago has provided employee training through her own business since 2008, and specializes in wine education in the business setting, as well as harassment prevention and various written and oral communication skills. She holds an Advanced Certificate with distinction from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and is a professional wine judge. The current Regional Coordinator in San Diego, she has presented there several times on wine and the Regency, and on comparative literature.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2

Fun Run in the City of Gardens

“Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint,” Austen said in Love and Freindship. AGM attendees can pack their running shoes and go for an early morning run around Victoria. We will meet in the lobby of the Fairmont Empress for a led 1-mile and 5K run through Beacon Hill Park to the Dallas Road Waterfront Trail. Runners can order an Austen-themed athletic shirt online at Jane Austen Books for pickup at the AGM.

Post-AGM Event: Craigdarroch Castle Private Guided Tour and Reception at the Empress

A special post-AGM gathering is an AGM tradition, enabling participants to extend the fun and socialize. The 2022 event starts with a private, guided tour of Craigdarroch Castle, followed by a reception back at the Fairmont Empress. When it was completed in 1890, the Scottish baronial-style Craigdarroch Castle was the largest private home in Canada, and it contains one of North America’s finest collections of stained glass, as well as high Victorian furniture and decor. You will visit sumptuous rooms where the Dunsmuir family lived and entertained and the spaces inhabited by staff, with an expert guide relating stories of the mansion and its owners—as with Sense and Sensibility, the family’s inheritance story shows that intentions are not always honored!

Craigdarroch Castle is 1.4 miles from the Fairmont Empress. Because some participants may wish to sightsee before the tour, transportation is not provided, though there will be an assembly point where those wishing to share cabs can meet up.

Back at the Fairmont Empress, we’ll gather in the hotel’s most elegant room and wind down over tasty reception foods, champagne, the Empress’s signature gin and tonics, and non-alcoholic beverages. The menu emphasizes local ingredients and includes British Columbia cheeses, artisanal charcuterie, and plant-based options. Each guest will receive two drink tickets as part of the event fee; additional refreshments will be available at a cash bar.

Accessibility: The tour visits four floors of the mansion, which can be reached only by stairs. A reception-only option, without the visit to Craigdarroch Castle, is available.