Actually these are a couple of anticipatory articles that preceded the event. We hope to have our report posted soon!

Alert Janeites Laurel Ann and Lisa let us know that The Seattle Times had an article last week, in which so much interest in Jane Austen is attributed at least partially to Colin Firth and the many film adaptations of the novels over the past decade; while we agree that much of general interest can be laid at Mr. Firth’s door, we’re not so sure that’s the case for JASNA, which was going strong for 15 years before P&P95 was broadcast; however, the reporter goes on to say,

But if your only acquaintance with Austen is via the various feature films, TV adaptations and chick-lit spinoffs, you’re missing out.

How about a closer acquaintance with the six original novels? In addition to the best-known cinematically embellished trio (”Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma” and “Sense and Sensibility,” the last with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant), there are three more novels to delight you. The youthful “Northanger Abbey” is romantic and full of satirical gothic undertones; “Mansfield Park” is an enthralling character study full of passionate misbehavior; and “Persuasion” — the author’s final completed work — is perhaps the most deeply moving of all in its reawakening of disappointed hopes.

Indeed! The reporter attended the AGM, we hear; we hope she makes a post-conference report as well.

The Vancouver Sun also has an article about the perennial appeal of Jane Austen.

Yet to me, Jane Austen is one of the wittiest, dearest and loveliest fiction writers of all time, and I am not the only one who thinks so.

Starting today, 550 delegates of the Jane Austen Society of North America will descend on Metro Vancouver in a celebration of all things Austen.

Even in the age of the Xbox, authors are still popular.

But few, even fewer of the female persuasion, have enjoyed multiple renaissances the way Austen has.

Her tales of high drama and big love set against the backdrops of little picturesque English villages were first published in the 1800s.

But. according to University of Victoria’s Robert Miles, who has written extensively on Jane, she was ostensibly re-launched decades later, by a nephew who put her work back into print.

From there, and for generations to come, it was kept alive by a coterie of devoted readers.

In the past decade or so, Austen has become a screenwriter’s delight. They, in turn, have broadened her reach to the great-unread masses.

The B.C. Catholic has an article about students who took part in JASNA’s Young Writers’ Workshop associated with the AGM, introducing Jane to another generation.

Like several of her classmates, Cheryl Jean Leo has gone on to read more Austen since studying Emma, and recently finished what is probably her most famous book, Pride and Prejudice.

“I think both are masterpieces,” Leo told The B.C. Catholic. “I love the way they reflect the timeless themes of love and struggle and life.”

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Alert Janeite Lady Jane let us know about a panel discussion at Gonzaga University titled “What Can We Learn from Jane Austen?” The discussion will take place on Thursday, October 18, 2007 in the Wolff Auditorium. See Lady Jane’s blog for the details.

One of the events we attended at the JASNA AGM in Vancouver was a screening of The Jane Austen Book Club, attended by Karen Joy Fowler, author of the novel from which the film was adapted, and Robin Swicord, the director. (And it IS pronounced Swy-cord, after all.) Robin gave away some props and stuff from the film, and we scored, from our neighbor who was more proactive about getting swag than we were, one of Grigg’s business cards! La! (and no, we are NOT giving it away. It’s ours, precious!)

So, on to the news!

There’s a new interview with Karen Joy Fowler at Amazon, in which she talks about the process of having one of your novels adapted.

I didn’t really see how it could be made into a movie so I didn’t expect anyone else would either. I’ve had options on other books so I wasn’t surprised by that part, but the way options seemed to work was that the option period ran out and you never heard another word about it. That’s what I expected.

Robin Swicord discusses the film and Jane Austen with the Montreal Mirror.

Infidelity and other romantic complications were an Austen specialty, and Swicord saw the author’s ruminations on codes of human behaviour as even more invigorating when applied to contemporary characters. “Her father was an Anglican pastor. The Anglican values were really upheld in her family. This was an underpinning of all of her novels. She was very much concerned with moral and ethical behaviour. She believed in the rational mind over the impulsive.”

The Orlando Sentinel also has an article about the film in which they talk to the directors and to Hugh Dancy.

“I was looking for somebody who was Darcy-like (the snob who melts in Pride & Prejudice), somebody whose appearance could be deceptive, ” Swicord says. “He’s too good-looking, too smart to be funny. But you start to re-evaluate him. Just like so many of Austen’s young gentlemen, like Mr. Darcy.”

And while Dancy relished the chance to play “the sort of Austen character women swoon over,” he acknowledges that there’s still that label “chick picture” on any film concerning the late Ms. Jane.

“She’s been marketed as ‘chick lit,’ I think,” Dancy says. “She’s very unsentimental, very dry and very funny. I think that’s why she’s still around, not that she’s a nice way to kill a rainy afternoon.”

Did we mention we have Grigg’s business card?

And lastly, Alert Janeite Amy sent us news of a possible sequel to the film.

Congratulations to Karen C., who has won a copy of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, courtesy of Dutton.

In answer to our quiz question, Karen wrote, “I would love to visit Jane Austen’s time, but I am not sure I want to live there permanently.” We think she speaks for many of us!

Still lots of goodies in the AustenBlog swag box, and we brought some home from Vancouver, too, so stay tuned. Look for another giveaway tomorrow.