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Deborah Yaffe

@deborahyaffe.bsky.social

Freelance journalist, Jane Austen fan, and author of two books, including Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom. New blog posts on Mondays and Thursdays at www.deborahyaffe.com

71 Followers  |  38 Following  |  127 Posts  |  Joined: 11.11.2024
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Posts by Deborah Yaffe (@deborahyaffe.bsky.social)

Thank you so much for reading so loyally!

08.01.2026 15:24 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Hail and farewell The first blog post I ever wrote about Jane Austen appeared here on February 4, 2013, nearly thirteen years ago. Todayโ€™s post is my 1,354thโ€”and my last.ย Iโ€™m not wrapping up the blog because Jane Auste...

Saying goodbye, after nearly 13 years of #JaneAusten blogging.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/hail-an...

30.12.2025 15:44 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Love at Christmas Christmas barely registers in Jane Austenโ€™s novels: Only three of themโ€”Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasionโ€”include true Christmas-time scenes.ย Still, the holiday comes in for occasional mentions in t...

The delights of the season, in #JaneAusten's Northanger Abbey.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/love-at...

26.12.2025 15:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The sound of music The Jane Austen's Desk online platform seeks crowdfunding to move the project forward in the absence of NEH funding.

Crowd-funding for an online #JaneAusten platform.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/the-sou...

22.12.2025 20:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Hear ye, hear ye On Tuesday, as you may have heard, we celebrated Jane Austenโ€™s 250thย birthday. Some of us, however, celebrated more officially than others: The governors of at least three U.S. states apparently signe...

Proclaiming #JaneAusten's birthday throughout the land.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/hear-ye...

18.12.2025 19:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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A happy birthday, for all of us No one who saw Jane Austen on the first day of her life would have supposed her born to be one of the worldโ€™s greatest novelists. Her doting father saw only โ€œanother girl, a present plaything for her ...

A momentous literary birthday! 250 years of #JaneAusten.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/a-happy...

16.12.2025 14:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Joining the club Every author dreams of having her work spotlighted by a celebrity with a book club, an online following, and a guaranteed power to pump up sales. Reese Witherspoon, anyone? Barack Obamaโ€™s annual best-...

#JaneAusten makes it onto a celebrity book club's list.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/joining...

11.12.2025 14:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Jane on the airwaves In her lifetime, Jane Austen may not have been as famous and revered as she deserved to be. But in death, sheโ€™s making up for lost time.ย Case in point: The BBCโ€™s talk-radio programming schedule for th...

BBC radio is celebrating #JaneAusten's birthday with wall-to-wall programming.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/jane-on...

08.12.2025 14:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Maybe you should go and report back! ๐Ÿ˜€

04.12.2025 17:03 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Paper trail How famous is Jane Austen? Let us assess the evidence: the screen adaptations, the TikTok mentions, the T-shirts and fridge magnets and tote bags.ย Or we could take a trip to the Grolier Club in New Yo...

Assessing #JaneAusten's fame, in an exhibit opening today in NYC.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/paper-t...

04.12.2025 17:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Home stretch Itโ€™s here at last: The final month of this Austen 250 yearโ€”which just happens to be the very month in which we will commemorate Jane Austenโ€™s 250thย birthday. As we march inexorably towards the great d...

Libraries everywhere are gearing up to celebrate #JaneAusten's birthday.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/home-st...

01.12.2025 16:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Roasted Turkey makes an appearance in more than one of Jane Austenโ€™s completed novelsโ€”and, it turns out, in one of the unfinished ones, as well.ย Given the fraught nature of Thanksgiving guest lists, perhaps i...

The immortal bird, in an unfinished #JaneAusten novel.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/roasted

28.11.2025 18:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Scary stuff Sixteen years ago, an up-and-coming young writer and a scrappy little Philadelphia publisher hit the jackpot with a simple recipe: 1. Take eight parts out-of-copyright text of Jane Austenโ€™s Pride and ...

A planned new #JaneAusten adaptation is taking an . . . unusual approach.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/scary-s...

24.11.2025 21:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Scary stuff Sixteen years ago, an up-and-coming young writer and a scrappy little Philadelphia publisher hit the jackpot with a simple recipe: 1. Take eight parts out-of-copyright text of Jane Austenโ€™s Pride and ...

A planned new Jane Austen adaptation is taking an . . . unusual approach.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/scary-s...

24.11.2025 21:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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On this day in 1808. . . One hundred and fifth in an occasional seriesย of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.ย How many marriage proposals did Jane Austen turn down?ย The story of poor Harris Bigg-Wither, whose December 1802 p...

Does the backstory to a letter #JaneAusten wrote 217 years ago today include a rejected marriage proposal?
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/on-this...

20.11.2025 15:07 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Coming attractions The telltale compression of the calendar pages confirms that we are hastening toward the end of this landmark Austen 250 year. But donโ€™t despair: With several marquee adaptations moving swiftly throug...

#JaneAusten adaptations likely coming our way in 2026.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/coming-...

17.11.2025 15:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Home sweet Wickham? In the English county of Hampshire, some forty miles from the village where Jane Austen was born exactly 250 years ago, a new planned community is rising. Dedicated to environmental sustainability (he...

A planned community with a #JaneAusten connection--or maybe not.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/home-sw...

13.11.2025 16:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Counting down Itโ€™s fair to say that most of us apprehend Jane Austen by way of words. But for a few outliers, numbers may provide a way into her work. As we count down toward The Big Birthday next month, this week ...

Celebrating #JaneAusten's 250th, with words and numbers.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/countin...

10.11.2025 15:23 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Bottoms up Which wine pairs best with Jane Austenโ€™s novels?ย As someone whose annual alcohol consumption can be measured in teaspoons, I wouldnโ€™t know. So I was bemused to run across a recent story headlined โ€œEnj...

Pairing #JaneAusten with the right vintage.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/bottoms...

06.11.2025 15:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I think I've seen some of those articles. Glad to hear there's reason for optimism!

03.11.2025 16:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Pet peeve About twenty-five minutes into Audibleโ€™s new audio adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Sir William Lucas summons Elizabeth Bennet over for a chat. โ€œSir Lucas! Good evening,โ€ she greets him.ย That sound ...

Driving this #JaneAusten fan crazy, in an otherwise excellent adaptation of #PrideAndPrejudice.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/pet-peeve

03.11.2025 16:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Pod life Does the world need another Jane Austen podcast? Color me skeptical.ย A rummage through Google and memory turned up eighteen non-fiction examples of the genre, and I doubt I found them all. There are p...

Ready or not, another #JaneAusten podcast is coming our way.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/pod-life

30.10.2025 16:22 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I very much enjoyed that piece!

27.10.2025 16:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Going over to the dark side? British screenwriter Andrew Davies turned eighty-nine last month, but heโ€™s not slowing down. Quite the reverse.ย Over the past six weeks, Daviesโ€”the author of four well-known TV adaptations of Austen n...

A screenwriter known for his #JaneAusten adaptations is planning some surprising new takes on her work.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/going-o...

27.10.2025 16:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Playing the palace, again In life, Jane Austenโ€™s royal connections were minimal. As Janeites will remember, the Prince Regent, later George IV, was a fan of her work. In 1815, a chance encounter scored Austen a private tour of...

Royal editions of #JaneAusten's books, on display in an actual palace.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/playing...

23.10.2025 19:30 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Unveiled at last No selfie sticks were anywhere in sight.ย On an overcast afternoon last week, Winchester Cathedral unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Jane Austen in its Inner Close, bringing an end to seven years o...

A controversial #JaneAusten statue is finally unveiled. www.deborahyaffe.com/post/unveile...

20.10.2025 14:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Listen up, Part II Jane Austenโ€™s influence on Bridgertonย is old news. If the whole feisty-Regency-heroines-in-marriage-plots thing didnโ€™t give it away, thereโ€™s the testimony of Julia Quinn, the author of the romance nov...

A British national treasure in the latest audio version of #JaneAusten's #PrideAndPrejudice.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/listen-...

16.10.2025 16:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Listen up No one knows how long weโ€™ll have to wait to see the newest screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the buzzy Netflix version now filming in the UK. But the latest audio version of the novel, a four-...

Celebrating the newest #PrideAndPrejudice adaptation, in luxe style.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/listen-...

13.10.2025 15:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

TikTok's latest #JaneAusten-themed trend.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/here-he...

06.10.2025 13:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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On this day in 1808. . . One hundred and fourth in an occasional seriesย of excerpts from Jane Austen's letters.ย Jane Austen, it seems, took a rather jaundiced view of the frequent childbearing that characterized Regency marri...

#JaneAusten's jaundiced views on childbirth.
www.deborahyaffe.com/post/on-this...

03.10.2025 15:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0