Sophie Gee

We recorded this conversation that you're about to listen to after the big day itself.

And in it, we catch up on the bonnets, the balls, and also the more disruptive, even revolutionary spirit that Jane brings into the novels and that fans continue to be fascinated by.

Devaney's going to tell us about why Jane Austen commands the levels of obsessive fandom that she has turned out to command.

She's as popular as the most successful writers in the world now.

And we're going to talk about the phenomenon that is Big Austin, where it comes from and where it's going as we head into 2026, another blockbuster year of Jane Austen adaptations and re-releases, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and more.

Devani, it's such a pleasure to be speaking to you again on the other side of the big birthday.

Hello and welcome to the show.

Now, you have been one of the sort of key celebrants of the Austen birthday because of your fabulous book, Wild for Austen.

And what you are uncovering in that book, as our listeners will already know, is this untold story of a subversive Austen, an Austen who breaks the rules, who is actually pushing back against the conventions and the constraints that she seems to be presenting in her own work.

So when we got to the birthday, there's this enormous outpouring of joy and pleasure.

Did you feel like Wild Austin was being seen across the birthday celebrations or was it a more decorous tea table-ish affair?

They're lingering for one moment on the bonnets.

What do you think it is about Jane Austen and her bonnets that people do find captivating?

I mean, in some ways it's the least captivating part of it to me, but I suppose if there were no bonnets, the wildness wouldn't be quite so exciting.

What's up with the bonnets?

I don't want to come out as anti-bonnet either or something.

Heaven forbid.

You're wearing a Jane Austen cameo around your neck, which is very beautiful.

Thank you, represent.

Yeah.