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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

25 February 2025

Posted by Harley Truslove

Pride & Prejudice & Jane Austen Writing

It was the first session back after half term! Ali welcomed everyone with a wall of Jane Austen quotes - as we are soon to celebrate her 250th birthday - and got everyone to write their name under the one which spoke to them the most, and then quickly discussed which of her book adaptations were the best. This led to some… spirited conversation in the room (though this writer continues to argue that the Pride & Prejudice 1995 BBC series is better than the 2005 film).


As we have the community showcase coming up, Ali was thinking of us creating a piece in the author’s style, and today was a brilliant opportunity for our writers to give it a go!


We began with a Jane Austen themed fill-in-fun sheet, where our writers were encouraged to try and emulate her writing style. We had some very good matches and some which were a little more avant-garde, with additions of protofeminism, the morbid acceptance of death, and a man whose silk gloves were covered in blood.


Ali then got our writers to completely forget about the Jane Austen theme and create a scene of going to a party with a friend - but where only the friend knows any of the guests. Our regency writing wasn’t forgotten for long though, as for the last part of the session Ali got our writers to redo their story but in Jane Austen’s style. Many moments were able to be carried over, such as women glancing at clocks and disliking parties, but we got the addition of a scandalous centimetre of calf being shown and the protagonist almost fainting from the shock.


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