New Year's Greetings, and Events Far and Near

First, a very Happy New Year to all JASNA Syracuse Region members and other local friends of Jane Austen. As you can see, Action Jane holds the "key" to the New Year!

And today is January 6--Twelfth Night or the Feast of the Epiphany, which is the last of the official Twelve Days of Christmas (these are not the twelve days before Christmas, as Lisa Brown explained to us at the Colgate Inn on December 8!). Therefore, a very happy Twelfth Night to you as well.

We begin the New Year with several announcements of "coming attractions," both in JASNA regions elsewhere in the Northeast and here in Upstate New York. First, JASNA Pittsburgh will be holding its 2013 Jane Austen Festival, "CULT-ivating Jane," in Pittsburgh on March 15-16. Features will include a Friday night movie screening, speakers such as the authors Carrie Bebris and Kim Wilson, and a Regency ball! To learn more, go to this page of the JASNA Pittsburgh website.

Second, on July 26-28, JASNA Connecticut will be holding a weekend retreat called "Jane Austen Summer Camp" in Middletown, CT--"a full weekend of learning about Jane Austen's daily activities and pastimes." If you register by February 15, you will get the "early bird" registration rate. For more information, go to this website, which JASNA Connecticut has created for the event.

Finally, we're celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice (the publisher, Thomas Egerton, first advertised P&P for sale on January 28, 1813) in various ways here in Upstate. The JABC-CNY will be having a P&P afternoon, with a trivia game and door prizes, at the Colgate Bookstore this coming Saturday, January 12, at 2 pm. JASNA Rochester will be discussing the novel at its January meeting at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble on Saturday, January 19, at 1 pm. 

And here in the Syracuse area, we'll be discussing "Pride and Prejudice: The Novel and the Films" at our Candlemas meeting at the Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip Street, Liverpool, on Saturday, February 2, at 2 pm. Questions to consider: Which is your favorite movie or TV adaptation of P&P? How does each version differ from the novel, and how is it similar? Do the differences enhance your enjoyment or detract from it? Come prepared for a lively exchange! We'll give more details about this meeting in the next post.