Joan Austen-Leigh is the great granddaughter of Jane Austen's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh.  She is the author of Letters from Highbury and Later Days at Highbury, and her many plays have been performed on CBC and in venues in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Britain. Her works are published by Gage and A Room of One's Own Press, as well as by Oxford University Press. With Jack Grey and Henry Burke, Joan Austen-Leigh founded the Jane Austen Society of North America.  For nineteen years, she edited this journal.