Saturday, February 2, 2019 | 12:00 - 3:00 p.m. 

Lloyd's Chicago, 1 S. Wacker Drive, 60606

Authors Danielle Spratt and Bridget Draxler will discuss Austen's enduring relevance for 21st-century issues related to race, class, and gender at our Winter Meeting. The luncheon will include  your choice of Vegan Stir-fry, Lemon Chicken or Seared Haddock along with Lloyd's House Salad and Assorted Mini Desserts. Cash bar available.

Tickets are $55 per person

Register online, https://jasnagcr.123signup.com/event/details/rfbct
Tickets are limited, please sign up early.
 

Parking and public transit information can be found on the registration page.

Engaging the Age of Jane Austen

With action figures, Band-aids, films, and more, Jane Austen is more popular than ever, but many people tend to think of her (and by extension her readers and fans) as frivolous or disconnected from the modern world. Responding to this assumption, Danielle Spratt and Bridget Draxler argue for Austen's enduring relevance for 21st-century issues related to race, class, and gender. This presentation will explore the ways that studying Austen can forge connections between diverse communities, and help us claim a stake in public life in ways that make us more actively engaged, thoughtful, and empathetic citizens. Using Austen's Emma and Northanger Abbey as particular case studies, Draxler and Spratt offer fresh perspectives on ways these novels are increasingly relevant in our current cultural moment.

Danielle Spratt is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Faculty Engaged Practices and Service Learning at California State University Northridge in Los Angeles, CA, and is a member of the California Southwest chapter of JASNA. 

Bridget Draxler is a Writing and Speaking Specialist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Writing at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and is a member of the Minnesota chapter of JASNA.

Danielle and Bridget met at Chawton House Library in 2011, and both participated in a 2012 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar to study Jane Austen and her contemporary women writers. Bridget and Danielle contributed essays to a special issue of Persuasions On-Line (published by JASNA) in 2014 on "Teaching Austen and Her Contemporaries."

They are co-authors of a new book from the University of Iowa Press, Engaging the Age of Jane Austen: Humanities in Practice (2018).