Jane Austen in Williamsburg: Report from the JASNA AGM – Part 1

Celebrating The Bride of Northanger!

It’s not all that easy to get to Williamsburg, VA from Los Angeles – there are no direct flights, so it was 13 hours door to door, on two planes, a train, and two Ubers.  Might have got as far as Rome in that time; and I arrived exhausted and uncertain about whether it was worth it.  I need not have worried. A few hours sleep and I awoke at the ultra comfortable Williamsburg Lodge, with Janeites all around, many already in period costume at  breakfast. The fun began – and oh, it was fun!

Panel: Diana Birchall, Conrad Harper, Juliet McMaster, Mary Gaither Marshall

The only potentially nervous-making event, for me, was the talk I had to give, which fortunately occurred on my first morning, and went well, to my relief. As this was the 40th anniversary of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America), I was taking part in a panel entitled “The Company of Clever, Well-Informed People: Personal Reminiscences of JASNA’s First Forty Years.”  My fellow panelists were among the great and the good of the JASNA world and I confess I was rather intimidated – Juliet McMaster, early member and famous Austen scholar; Conrad Harper, Harvard law professor; and Mary Gaither Marshall, distinguished librarian and rare book bibliographer.  But we were actually a very diverse group, and had widely different experiences to relate.  I focused on  what I knew (natch!), and told what JASNA had meant to my writing career.  After all, my Austenesque writing began with winning a contest in the group’s journal, Persuasions, and JASNA actually published my first book, or booklet really, In Defense of Mrs. Elton, as a conference gift some twenty years ago!  (The book can be read online and free, on the website jasna.org, under Publications.)  I also reminisced about my friendships with the founders, J. David Grey and Joan Austen-Leigh, and what great help, inspiration,  and travel  adventures they had shared with me over the years.

The King’s Arms tavern, Williamsburg

That over, there were talks to enjoy and Colonial Williamsburg restaurants to revel in, and then came my next big event – the author book signing!  It’s a JASNA rule that only presenters can sign books at the conference emporium, and my participation on the panel fortunately qualified me. So there I sat, beside the likes of Kim Wilson, Devoney Looser, Janine Barchas and other Austen superstars, with my brand new novel, The Bride of Northanger.  At first I feared no one would come up to me, but they did, old friends and new being jolly and kind and asking me to sign books!  It was a very exciting three hours!  At one point, the lady for whom I had signed the first copy of In Defense of Mrs. Elton twenty years ago, came up to have me sign my new book, and that was a lovely moment.

Book signing!

That evening was the banquet and the ball.  I will now turn you over to my picture collection, but will return next week to continue the story of this exciting convention, and tell about the side trips, which in my case were to beautiful, fascinating, historical Jamestown, and a tour of the plantations along the James River.

Devoney Looser, Jan Mullany, Victoria Hinshaw, Diana Birchall

With Juliet McMaster, going to the ball

With Syrie James

Dancers at the ball

Williamsburg at dusk

A Williamsburg dinner: Game Pye at the King’s Arms (venison, rabbit, duckling!)