Jane Austen's Birthday: why everyone wants to party with Jane
episodePreviously titled “Jane Austen's Birthday: everyone wants to go to her party” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Today's bonus episode is a behind-the-scenes look at the year of total Jane Austen mania that we've just seen erupt all over the world in celebration of Austen's 250th birthday, which was on the 16th of December, 2025. And I'm talking to Professor Demini Losa. Dabney's one of the world's foremost Austen scholars. She's written a great deal about Jane Austen and Austen's contemporaries across her whole career. She's Regents Professor at Arizona State University, and recently she's the author of the truly runaway success, Wild for Austen, A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane, which, as the title suggests, is about Jane Austen's lesser-known wild side. Devaney's book came out to celebrate Austen's birthday and she toured 18 cities in four countries during 2025.
So she got to see the madness, the magic, the bonnets and the balls of the Janeites in full party mode. Jonty and I first met Devaney when we did a Jane Austen extravaganza at the Canberra Writers Festival in 2025. And I spoke to her again at a sold out event in Sydney packed with more Jane Austen enthusiasts. 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.
So great to be here, Sophie.
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?
I think. definitely that version of her is being seen by the people who read her and love her. And so that part felt very seen. I think some of the pop culture was still not quite catching up, or maybe the mainstream journalists were still not quite catching up. They were definitely focused on the bonnets and the tea and, you know, the wildflowers. And those are there and that's fine. But as we know, there's just so much more. And as your listeners will know, there's so much more.
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?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:23
2
What are the highlights of Jane Austen's 250th birthday celebrations?
4:23–5:52
3
Who is Professor Devoney Looser and what is her contribution to Austen studies?
5:52–7:13
4
What is the significance of the book 'Wild for Austen'?
7:13–12:40
5
Why does Jane Austen have such a strong fanbase and what drives Austenmania?
12:40–21:22
6
What role do bonnets play in the perception of Jane Austen's work?
21:22–27:51
7
How do Jane Austen's novels reflect the social and political climate of her time?
27:51–30:12