On the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth, an Essay by Professor Janet Todd

Today is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and we at Gothic Keats Press are excited to publish ‘Thoughts Arising from Living with Jane Austen’, an essay by Professor Janet Todd, author of Living with Jane Austen (2025) from Cambridge University Press.  Professor Todd is a former President of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, and an Emeritus Professor of the University of Aberdeen, and her recent publications include the revised Aphra Behn: A Secret Life, the novel Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden, and the memoir/criticism Living with Jane Austen, which was written to coincide with Jane Austen’s 250th birthday — she also provided prefaces and notes for a new 8-volume Cambridge edition of Jane Austen’s writings.

In her essay, Professor Todd writes about her years ‘living with Jane Austen’, including wonderful anecdotes from her recent Austen book tour, from travel mishaps (issues in the London tube and cancelled trains) to charming literary events in Wales, and from unknowingly chatting with the famous explorer Colin Thubron to having her ‘old college chum’ Miriam Margolyes, a favourite actor of ours (Immortal Beloved, The Age of Innocence) admit onstage that she wasn’t actually a fan of Jane Austen — quite a thing to say at an event devoted to Jane Austen!

You can read Professor Todd’s wonderful essay here.