Next Lecture:

11am Wednesday 18 November 2026

Becoming Jane Austen, the Making of a Literary Superstar

Presented by Annalie Talent

When Jane Austen declared that she wrote ‘only for fame’, she was, of course, being ironic as she published anonymously;  there is no record on her gravestone that she was a writer, and her books fell out of print shortly after her death.  But now, Jane Austen is one of our best loved authors, with legions of adoring fans throughout the world.  Her novels have inspired countless stage and screen adaptations, and even provided solace to soldiers in the trenches.  She is the face of the £10 banknote, and she adorns tea towels and fridge magnets everywhere.  Jane Austen is now very famous indeed.    But how did it all happen?

Following a career in teaching, Annalie Talent spent several years working on education programmes at museums and literary houses across the UK, including the Wordsworth Trust and Wordsworth House; Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire, and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  She has worked with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and Chawton House Library in promoting Austen’s work to young people.