It has been so long since a disastrous contagion swept through the Western world that most of us have forgotten how deadly contagious diseases are. The scariest in my lifetime was polio, because the disease could cripple as well as kill. I remember lining up at the local high school…
Read More
Category: News/Events
Commemorating 40 Years, and 400
Today’s blog provides a capsule of the recent Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America, in Williamsburg, VA. The week involved history, pageantry, and good manners—and that was outside the conference halls. It was the 40th anniversary of the founding of JASNA, and the 400th commemoration…
Read More
Austen’s Letters, Rooms, TV, and Library …
This month’s mailbag brings a bundle of news related to Jane Austen. Autumn is a busy season for our favorite author! First is that Jane Austen’s House Museum has been able to purchase a section of one of Jane’s letters, thanks to a generous outpouring of public support. The letter,…
Read More
Persuasion–and Anne Elliot!–Comes to Kansas City
The 2018 annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America in Kansas City focused on Persuasion, Jane Austen’s last and most poignant novel. The AGM featured numerous insights into both the book and issues related to it, including my own talk on the influence of Jane Austen’s…
Read More
Jane Austen’s Birthday, Season of Giving, and Chawton House Library
We’re coming to the end of a year commemorating the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, but I prefer to celebrate the great author’s birth. December 16, 2017, marks her 242nd birthday. This day of celebration falls in the middle of the Christmas season, a time of joy and giving….
Read More
Last Volume of ‘Marriage’ Available for Pre-order
My last several posts have provided background on what little is known about Jane Austen’s relationships with men. In short, several promising relationships ended prematurely and, according to tradition, she lived a quiet life as a spinster, composing or extensively revising her novels at the family cottage in the village…
Read More
To Celebrate Austen’s Life, Chance to Win Collector’s Edition
Jane Austen lovers the world over have spent the last week commemorating the loss of the author at the far too young age of 41. She died on July 18, 1817, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24. In recognition of her passing, we are inviting our fellow…
Read More
Strolling in the Pleasure Gardens of Jane Austen’s Bath
Whereas the first day of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath was as dreary as anyone could wish to avoid—enlivened only by the gaily dressed ladies and gentlemen who braved the rain for the Promenade—the next day broke off as sunny and pleasant as anyone in England would wish to enjoy….
Read More
Austen Authors
Austen and the Big Bow-Wow Jane Austen told both her nephew and the Prince Regent’s librarian that she lacked the knowledge and ability to write about the big world. She worked in miniatures, she said, “two inches wide, on which I … produce little effect after much labor.” Indirectly seconding…
Read More
Just Jane
“The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen: Volume 1″/ By Collins Hemingway/ A Review & Giveaway The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen reimagines the life of England’s most famous female author by asking: How would her life have changed if she had married and had a child? How would this thinking…
Read More
News Release
Author Collins Hemingway Hosts Book Launch for The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen: Volume II at Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England BATH, England, 7 Sept., 2016 – Author Collins Hemingway will officially launch Volume II of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Trilogy, a new historical novel based on…
Read More
News Release
The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Trilogy’s Volume II Now Available for Pre-order Official book launch at Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England, in September PORTLAND, Oregon, August 30, 2016 – Volume II of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Trilogy, a new historical novel based on Austen’s life, is…
Read More
Pre-order Volume II — Just $3.99
I try to write interesting, thoughtful blogs on a semi-regular basis, so I hope readers will indulge the rare promotional notice. Especially when it involves eighteen months of hard work and relates directly to the existence of this website. Meaning, I’m very pleased to announce that Volume II in “The…
Read More
Help us pick the cover for Volume II
Volume II of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen trilogy will be launched in September at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England. In the new book you will learn more about Jane Austen during the “lost years” of her life—seven years of which historians have little to no information. The…
Read More
North America Winner of Sweepstakes Announced
Please join me in congratulating Karen vanMeenen of Rochester, New York, the Grand Prize Winner from the US in The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016. She has won a fantastic Grand Prize trip for two to the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath, England, to attend the…
Read More
UK Winner of Sweepstakes Announced for Bath Festival
Drum roll, please! It’s time to announce our Grand Prize Winner from Great Britain in “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” Sweepstakes 2016. Vicki Smith of Manea in Cambridgeshire, England, is our lucky Grand Prize Winner! She has won an exciting Grand Prize trip for two to the beautiful UNESCO…
Read More
Sweepstakes update, Austen movie fun
All– Just a brief update to let you know that “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” Sweepstakes 2016 has concluded, and we’ll be announcing our Grand Prize Winners soon. Watch for updates here. Also, Mary Jo Murphy in the New York Times ranked all the Austen movies done to date….
Read More
Sexism in Film, Part II: What’s the Solution for Hollywood?
Recently, I wrote about sexism in films today and the general lack of strong roles for women. The blog noted that Jane Austen has been the source for at least ninety TV or movie productions, nearly half of all female films in the last twenty years. Though the quiet perseverance…
Read More
JASNA Interviews Collins
Collins Hemingway was recently interviewed by Christopher Duda, Treasurer of the Eastern Pennsylvania Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), about The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen and what inspired him to write a novel about one of the world’s most beloved English writers. Listen to the…
Read More
First Monthly Winner of 2016 Bath Sweepstakes
We have our first winner of the monthly prize of our 2016 Bath Sweepstakes, which is a signed copy of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen. This is the first of several smaller prizes before we select the grand prize winner, which will be a trip for two to Bath,…
Read More
Austen Sweepstakes Offers Grand Prize of Trips to Bath
Trips to Bath, England, are the grand prizes of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016, to coincide with the city’s annual Jane Austen Festival in September 2016. The sweepstakes, which honors Jane Austen, her work, and the many readers around the world who have made her a literary…
Read More
News Release
Enter The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016; Win One of Two Grand Prize Trips to Bath, England PORTLAND, Oregon, Jan. 4, 2016 – The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016 was announced today by author Collins Hemingway in celebration of Jane Austen, the world-renowned English novelist, and…
Read More
Reader Thoughts on ‘Marriage,’ Austen’s Journey of the Soul
’Tis better to give than receive, but in this holiday season I would like to take a moment to thank readers for what I have received—their very generous thoughts and comments on my novel, The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen. What touched me most was the number of times “beautiful”…
Read More
Wilsonville Spokesman
December 16, 2015 Marrying Microsoft and Jane Austen It may come as some surprise that after several decades co-authoring nonfiction works on science and business with the likes of Bill Gates, Eugene-based writer Collins Hemingway — who is unrelated to Ernest Hemingway — should direct his efforts to a literary…
Read More
East Oregonian
November 14, 2015 What if Jane Austen had married?
Diana Jordan podcast interview with Collins Hemingway
An interview with Author Collins Hemingway
booksworld.com
October 9 Collins Hemingway Pens Novel About Jane Austen
GeekWire
October 8, 2015 Former Microsoft exec, who co-authored a book with Bill Gates, tackles the world of Jane Austen
News Release
Ex-Microsoft Exec Goes from High Tech to Novel About Jane Austen Historical fiction imagines impact of mature love on author’s life, work; Early reviews positive on ‘imaginative journey of the soul’ PORTLAND, Oregon, October 8, 2015 – A long-time Microsoft executive who co-authored a book on business and the Internet…
Read More
Squid Inc.
The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Historical fiction imagines impact of mature love on author’s life, work.
Foreword Reviews
August 20, 2015 Book Review: Insight and intuition, along with meticulous research, have created a believable “what if” version of Jane Austen