Jane Austen and Shakespeare are for everyone! I enjoyed introducing both stellar British writers to my students on the Navajo Reservation. Celebrating all things literature, I have lectured and taught at Barry College in Miami, Florida, as well as diverse high schools, community colleges, and NAU in the Southwest.
Past President of the Flagstaff chapter of Women’s PEN, I was honored with an NEH fellowship to the prestigious Folger Library in Washington D.C. and have received numerous awards for my writing — the highlight was having lunch with Nobel Literature Laureate Derek Walcott.
I graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Florida and studied with the renown Austen scholar, Dr. Sandie Byrne, at Exeter College, Oxford, where her post-graduate students toured Bath, Chawton, Lyme Regis, and other areas noted in Jane’s unforgettable novels. ( Seeing Jane Austen’s petite writing desk was exhilarating.)
Past editor-in-chief and publisher of the Southwest Literary Journal and member of the International Literacy Association, I wouldl ike to invite high school, community college, and university teachers from Phoenix, the Native American reservations, and Flagstaff to our region, encouraging them to coach their students to enter the annual essay contest sponsored by the AGM committee. Some students have seen the film versions of Jane’s novels but not yet read them. Jane Austen’s novels have much wisdom to offer the teen heart.
I have attended the glorious AGMs in Vancouver, Philadelphia, and Portland and was bedazzled by the presentations there, afterwards enjoying bottomless cups of tea with the congenial Janeites from across the country and as far away as Japan and New Zealand. Jane Austen attracts the nicest people!
JASNA is a vibrant group of beautiful people that harmonizes fun social activities such as the lovely tea at the Capitol Canyon Club in Prescott with scholarly presentations by John Mullan and book club discussions. Alternating Zoom gatherings with in-person gatherings in the Phoenix area with a summer gathering in Northern Arizona to escape the heat is a blueprint I would continue. Pre-Covid, my family travelled to the Phoenix and Scottsdale throughout the year to visit the zoo, theatre, arboretum, and museums.
Inactive for several years following a car accident, I am happy to renew my membership and friendship with the beautiful members who share a love for all things Austen. It is an honor to be selected as Regional Coordinator of the Greater Phoenix Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America.
