A correspondent reminds us that we are remiss in mentioning the good work done by the various Jane Austen societies around the world in allowing Jane fans to meet and mingle and learn. We have added some links in the right menu, and if you are a representative of those (or other) groups, we encourage you to send us news about your upcoming events. In the meantime, we will provide a few links to upcoming events that we could find in a tour around the various society Web sites.

The Jane Austen Society in the U.K. has a Diary of events on their site that includes monthly meetings as well as their annual meeting on the 17th of July (tomorrow!) at Chawton. This year’s speaker is Professor Kathryn Sutherland.

The Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting will take place this year on October 7-10 in Los Angeles, California. The theme is “Anne Elliot in the City: Interior and Exterior Worlds.”

The Jane Austen Society of Australia is holding a Weekend Conference on Friday 23 to Sunday 25 July 2004 in Rutherford, outside Maitland, NSW. The theme is “Pride and Prejudice: The Favourite Novel?”

If you found this information too late for these activities, all of the Jane Austen societies hold activities year-round. Check out their Web sites for information.

Thanks to BobbieG for the idea!

Ellen Goodman recommends, among other books, three relating to Jane Austen: Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen; The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler; and Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, about a group of Iranian women who meet clandestinely to discuss Western literature such as the work of Jane Austen (and, of course, Nabokov).

This is Bath reports that the exhibition Jane Austen: Film and Fashion is currently at the Museum of Costume in Bath.

Visitors are able to see costume from recent productions, such as the BBCs Pride and Prejudice and the Oscar winning film version of Sense and Sensibility.

Upon our word (says the AustenBlog staff, which never passes up an opportunity to quote Mary Musgrove), we shall be pretty well off, when you are all gone away to be happy at Bath!

The Brisbane Courier-Mail reports that Australian television network ABC will show PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (presumably the 1995 BBC version) opposite Olympic Games coverage. Sure, we all have it on tape and DVD, but we all watch it anyway.

A fascinating tidbit from the leading lady herself , courtesy of Empire Online:

Keira herself paused to tell us a tiny tidbit about the upcoming version of Pride and Prejudice that she will be appearing in. “We’re setting it when it was written, which is actually 1796 so slightly earlier than I think anyone else has ever set it. It’s a beautiful story and I hope we’ll tell it beautifully.” That shouldn’t be too much of a problem with Ms Knightley in the lead role.