Name: Book launch! PEN PORTRAITS: JANE AUSTEN by Janet Saidi
Start: 2025-09-30T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-09-30T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Skylark Bookshop

Book launch! PEN PORTRAITS: JANE AUSTEN by Janet Saidi

Please join us as we celebrate the launch of POCKET PORTRAITS: JANE AUSTEN, by Columbia local and long-time Friend of Skylark, Janet Saidi.
Join us for a trip back in time to the Regency-era life of Jane Austen, one of literature’s most beloved novelists, with this captivating exploration of her works and the timeless themes of romance, family, and society.
Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen takes you through the moments of Jane Austen’s life—some well-known and some which may be unexpected. These are the moments that shaped her six published novels, which draw deeply on themes of family, agency, philosophy, and love. From excerpts of her swoon-worthy tales like Pride and Prejudice and Emma to insight into Austen’s social commentary and why her works still leave their mark on contemporary pop culture, this book paints a vivid portrait of the complicated woman behind the quill.
This beautifully curated book is both an inspiring biography and a celebration of literary brilliance. Whether you’re a longtime admirer of Austen or just beginning your literary adventure, Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen will leave you fascinated, inspired, and longing for more.
Janet Saidi is the creator of The Austen Connection, a public-humanities and journalism project that connects Austen’s literature to the pop-culture and current events of our world today. The project has been featured in publications such as Electric Lit and The Christian Science Monitor, and at national and international conferences such as Melbourne’s AustenCon and the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) AGM. A professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, Janet has taught writing, editing, and producing for fourteen years. In addition to her work as a producer at KBIA, her journalistic work has appeared on NPR, the BBC, PBS, and in Los Angeles Times and The Christian Science Monitor. Pocket Portraits: Jane Austen, from Simon & Schuster’s Adams Media, is a celebration biography for Austen’s 250th year.