Jennie Batchelor

Thank you!

Thanks, Dave. Hope all’s well with you.

You are very kind, Rose. Thank you so much!

Thank you. Very kind and please take care of yourself. You’d think in the 13 years since my son’s birth I would have a harder shell. I will next week. Just not this one.

I try not to talk about this much, but in case someone else needs to hear it… Being a carer to a loved one is incredibly hard physically and mentally and unbearable sometimes. Doing paid work on top of that can sometimes feel impossible no matter how much of a privilege it is to have the option.

A tin full of yellow square biscuits on an Arts and Crafts red, golf and green tea towel

It’s been an age since posting. No particular reason except all round busyness. But this gorgeous Christmas gift from the wonderful @mikinski.bsky.social (scholar and 18th century baker extraordinaire) could not go undocumented! #christmas #janeausten

Thank you for sharing your review, Sarah. I am so delighted to be part of this collection.

reviewed great collection on writers & new media in the 19C print culture sublime! ed and intro by alexis easley w essays by @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social & more!

in Review 19 --
www.review19.org/view_doc.php... & looking forward to talking about it at @navsa2025.bsky.social !!

But really, I (unapologetically) work on one thing: women’s work in the eighteenth century and to unearth women’s contributions to all of our histories. 3/3

Someone said to me recently, “You work on rather a lot of things: literary history, women writers, sewing and craft, book history, the eighteenth-century sex trades, education and so on”. I am not sure it was a compliment. 2/

Exhibition label about Susanna Sackree who helped raise the children of Edward Knight, the brother of Jane Austen.

Leaflet for the exhibition “Beyond the Bonnets”, featuring a fashionably dressed woman in 1780s clothing with a massive hat

Delighted to have received a text from a friend who saw the Beyond the Bonnets exhibition at the Winchester ARC, which (to my surprise) featured my published research on Susanna Sackree, who looked after the children of Jane Austen’s brother and later become the housekeeper of Godmersham Park. 1/

A crocheted bag with blue squares each filled with a white daisy.

A floral sprig: three flower heads on a single stem. The petals are purple, the leaves green.

After a mad few weeks of work, I finally finished a couple of projects. One big and one small. The crochet craft bag was supposed to be a beginner’s project, but every one of the 36 granny squares, magic circles and mattress stitch joins tested this beginner. The sprig was much more my comfort zone.

A frontispiece and title page of the Lady’s Magazine for 1777. The frontispiece shows Minerva and a woman presenting the magazine to two young girls

A map of north and South America

A transcription: Ann Nicklesons book

Couldn’t resist this almost disbound copy of the Lady’s Magazine for 1777. It has a map sampler pattern for the Americas I have desperately wanted for some time and I was worried this was going to be chopped up for its lovely plates. I hope “Ann Nickleson” would approve. This is her book.

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Looks terrific, Meg. Congratulations!

The Masquerade by Meghan Kobza | Waterstones Buy The Masquerade by Meghan Kobza from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

PSA: I have now become THAT person who blabs on about pre-ordering her book. Tbf, it is 25% off online @waterstones.bsky.social w/code OCTOBER25 (only through Friday!) so you might as well treat yourself 💅🏻
#18thc #skystorians #history @yalepress.bsky.social

www.waterstones.com/book/the-mas...

A long gallery filled with art work and plasterwork ceiling

A slide featuring a portrait of Jane Austen and a white worked shawl she embroidered

A picture of a woman in a black top looking into a mirror that reflects a gallery space filled with Turner’s art.

Still pinching myself. Last night I talked about “Jane Austen, Her Writing and Her Craft” before a sold out crowd at Harewood House and enjoyed one last walk round of our exhibition Austen & Turner: A Country House Encounter. It was both wonderful and sad But all good things, as they say…

A picture of a woman with glasses and long blonde hair standing in front of a poster with men and women in Regency clothing

Copies of the book Jane Austen Embroidery on a table

A handkerchief with a half completed floral sprig design in green and purple

What a marvellous day in Bath with Strictly Jane Austen Tours, talking all things Austen and attending and helping out at an embroidery workshop led by Alison Larkin. #Austenat250

I remember meeting you! Thank you so much for your kind words. I will be participating again next year with a completely new round of talks. So happy to be part of it!

A headshot of a woman with black glasses and brown hair with text explaining she is an academic, speaker and writer.

A picture of Regency costumes on display in the Old Library Harewood House with text describing a lecture by Batchelor entitled “Jane Austen, Her Writing and her Craft”

Excited for the week ahead. Not one but two talks to celebrate #Austen250. On Tuesday, I will be at the Gainsborough Hotel in Bath talking about Austen and women’s magazines. On Thursday, I will be at Harewood talking about Jane Austen’s Craft. Around that will be a lot of Head of Departmenting.

Today has been a long one. Nonetheless, I feel energised and humbled by the last meeting of today in which I joined the wonderful editorial team (and fellow editorial board members) of @abojournal.bsky.social for our annual meeting. ABO’s work and the work it supports are vital and outstanding!

Last night was the launch of Encounters with Jane Austen, a collection of essays, interviews, poems and short fiction about to commemorate the 250th anniversary of her birth. I wrote the book’s introduction to the book, which includes a short account of Austen’s life, work and legacies. #Austen250

So happy you got to see it, Susannah. And even happier you liked it!

Back into research after attending Attingham Trust's 'New Perspectives in Country Houses' course, and channelling Jane (photo from the amazing Austen/Turner exhibition at Harewood House, in collaboration with @cecs-york.bsky.social @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social )

Celebrating Jane Austen: A Talk and Readings Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen and launch of a new book

So excited for the launch of Encounters with Jane Austen on 2 October. Join Cheryl Robson (and me!) for a wonderful evening with April de Angelis, Katie Lumsden, Mary Hamer, Jen Francis, Caitlin Grills,Karenjit Sandhu and Kim Bailey. Tickets can be booked here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebratin...

Jane Austen’s real and literary worlds weren’t exclusively white – just read her last book, Sanditon While her inclusion of Miss Lambe, a Black character, is great, we should be wary of seeing it as representative of Austen having ‘radical politics’

Wonderful article on Miss Lambe in Jane Austen’s Sanditon in The Conversation by our brilliant colleague, Olivia Carpenter! theconversation.com/jane-austens...

Thanks so much for your fab introduction @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social Looking forward to our upcoming event too! Thanks also to contributors @juliamiller.bsky.social @aprildeangelis.bsky.social @zitaholbourne.bsky.social @marcellenewbold.bsky.social #janeausten #englishliterature bit.ly/42vsQyk

It was so lovely to be at the launch of Jane Austen’s Fashion Bible by the incomparable Ros Ballaster at Chawton House last night. Always a pleasure to hear Ros talk about Austen and the book is sumptuous #JaneAusten #Austen250

The book’s contributor list is incredible and includes Natalie Jenner, Julia Quinn, Katherine Reay,Talulah Riley, Janet Todd and so many incredible writers and artists.

A picture of me ( a woman with glasses and smile) holding a copy of a book entitled Encounters with Jane Austen beating a picture of Jane Austen sites on a pink backround

Top paragraph of my introduction to the book featuring a long quotation from Northanger Abbey that criticises those who decry novels

The title page of the book listing Jennie Batchelor as the author of the introduction and Cheryl Robson as compiled and editor

Book selfie! So pleased to have been part of Encounters with Jane Austen which out in just a few days from @aurorametro.bsky.social . It had been terrific to work with the brilliant Cheryl Robson and to be in such stellar contributor company. Find out more here: www.aurorametro.com/product/enco...