Episode 19: Becoming Jane Austen Fangirls with JASP Organizers Jennifer Abella and Inger Brodey

This week on the podcast we’re taking you to a land of Regency balls, sweeping romances, and perfectly composed prose! We sit down with Jenny Abella and Dr. Inger Brodey who run the Jane Austen Summer Program, an annual four-day symposium focusing on the author's novels for academics and Austen fans alike at our alma mater - the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We explore why Jane’s works still resonate with readers today, dispel common misconceptions about fangirls of her novels, and discuss the delicate balance a fangirl must strike between loving an author’s work and engaging with it in an academic context. Not only do the ladies give us advice on how to make the most of your symposium experience and reveal next year’s theme for the program, we even get Jenny and Inger to answer a few painstaking Jane Austen-themed Would You Rather questions! Speaking of our Fandom Would You Rather game, this episode also features a question submitted by our friend Zach from the Always Hold onto Smallville podcast!

Where to Find the Jane Austen Summer Program:
Twitter: @JASPhotline
Facebook: @janeaustensummer
Instagram: @janeaustensummer
Support the program at: https://janeaustensummer.org/donate/

Hope to attend next year? Check out their 101 guide to the Program!

Where to Find Jenny:
Twitter: @nextjen
Instagram: @jenabella78