Gearing Up for a Big Year

What an exciting year this will be!

August will see the 400th anniversary of the birth of French playwright and lexicographer Thomas Corneille. He was brother to the more famous Pierre Corneille, author of Le Cid.

In October I will see the publication of my new book, Great Authors and the Cats Who Owned Them, beautifully produced by the Bodleian Library Publishing Company of Oxford. The library is holding an exhibition on the history of pet ownership, and my book fits that theme nicely. I just cannot wait to hold this ‘darling child’ in my hands and see it find its first readers. One writer included is Mark Twain. Did you know that when he travelled, he used to rent kittens, so he always had a cat to play with? Twain was convinced that the feline species was far superior to the human one.

Then, on December 16th, it will be Jane Austen’s 250th birthday and it seems the whole world will be celebrating this hugely important literary anniversary. Conferences, balls, talks, new books, guided walks, and afternoon teas will be held from Italy to New Zealand, Brazil to Australia. A new statue of Jane Austen will be erected in Winchester, visitors will flock to Chawton, Bath, Steventon and Lyme Regis, and millions of people will reread the novels that have brought them such joy.

My diary is filling up fast with Jane Austen talks, and my friend Dr Ruth Wilson and I will be bringing out a small volume entitled Still Talking of Jane Austen. In 1943 two good friends who were popular authors of the day, Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, produced a fascinating little book called Talking of Jane Austen. They wrote succeeding chapters and discussed Jane Austen’s characters as if they were real people, analysed why they loved her novels so much, argued with each other over favourites, and attempted to work out the future fates of her characters after the close of each novel. It proved a very popular book and was followed up a few years later with More Talk of Jane Austen. Ruth and I, two good friends who love to ‘talk Jane’ have decided to do our modernised version of that book as our tribute to Jane Austen in this hugely important anniversary year. I’ll keep you posted about a publication date.

I had a sad encounter the other day with a woman who told me proudly that she never read books. I don’t want to even begin to imagine a life without books in it. As you chose to receive this newsletter, I assume you too love books, and I hope that 2025 is packed with fabulous reading material for you.

Do you know of any other literary anniversaries coming up? Let me know by leaving a comment.