It’s Publishing Day on Austenacious!
First of all, we offer our congratulations to one of our own: Good job, Karen Joy Fowler! You got an award!
Karen Joy Fowler, who wrote The Jane Austen Book Club back in 2004 and has and remains an active figure in Austeniana, won the fancypants PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction yesterday. Her novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves tells the story of a woman raised by scientists who adopted a chimpanzee as a sibling/science experiment. (Hey, I heard that episode of RadioLab!) The ladies of Austenacious have seen Fowler in person a couple of times since the site began: once on the Jane Austen A Go Go panel at Litquake a few years back, and once in conversation with Bill Deresiewicz at a bookstore in Berkeley. Both times, we’ve agreed that she was thoughtful, well-spoken, and an all-around delightful conversationalist. And it’s always nice to see a fellow Janeite succeed so spectacularly. Well done, Karen!
Have any of you read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves? Please respond with a report on the thematic similarities and differences of living with a chimp for a sibling and negotiating relationships through a book club featuring Jane Austen. Much obliged.
Also, over on The Billfold: How Much Was Jane Austen Paid for Some of History’s Best Books?
Not much, it turns out. (SURPRISE!) But this piece is an interesting look at creativity, generational wealth, and the concept of “a room of one’s own.” Read it!
Ladies writin’ books and putting them out into the world. It’s a good thing.
austenacious 