Jane Austen Book Club NYC

Here's the link to a Google Drive folder containing three additional short readings on Persuasion for our discussion on Tuesday, October 20th. The folder also contains Mar's video of my presentation on Persuasion for the Bryant Park Reading Room on August 25th!

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope."

Please join us on three Tuesday evenings in September and October for a deep-dive into Jane Austen's most romantic novel.

About Persuasion
In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, a shy English spinster seeks to win back the love of the man she jilted eight years before. Persuasion is Jane Austen's last-completed work, published only after her death in 1817. It embodies many of the same themes and techniques that the author explored in her earlier fiction — while also edging into new artistic terrain: influenced, perhaps, by the dawning Romantic movement. Its richly emotional, autumnal tone and intense attention to the inner life of the protagonist, make Persuasion a perennial favorite.

Please note that you are most welcome to join in at any point our Persuasion discussion series. You do not need to commit to all three sessions in order to participate. And first-time readers of Jane Austen are particularly welcome!

Schedule of Gatherings
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM Eastern:
Discussion of Volume 1 of Persuasion (chapters 1 through 12)

[No meeting on Tuesday, October 6th, but if you'd like, you can hear SRK discuss her stage adaptation of Persuasion in an online class for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.]

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 7:00 PM Eastern:
Discussion of Volume 2 of Persuasion (chapters 13 through 24)

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 7:00 PM Eastern:
Wrap-up of Persuasion and discussion of supplemental reading materials that can be found here.

Meet Your Facilitator
Sarah Rose Kearns is a playwright, performer, and lifelong Jane Austen enthusiast. Her stage adaptation of Persuasion debuted off-Broadway in 2021 and has since received productions at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore and at the National Archives in the UK. Her one-act play Manydown, which imagines one important night in the lives of Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra, has been performed more than a dozen times in seven US states, as well as in the UK and New Zealand — and was recently adapted as a short film by Prerna Ramachandra. Rose's third and latest play The Austens, a full-length dramatic comedy about the beloved novelist and her family, has had staged readings in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and at Jane Austen’s brother’s house in Chawton, the English village where the play is set. She also collaborated as dramaturg and co-librettist on Brittany Sokolowski's forthcoming opera, Sense and Sensibility. In addition to her creative work, Rose is passionate about the work of building strong communities through art. Since its inception in 2020, Rose has served as a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) committee for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; and, since 2023, as co-Regional Coordinator for the JASNA New York Metropolitan Region. She is the founding artistic director of The Holy Theatre, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization in New York City, with a mission to make plays and other gatherings that leave people feeling nourished connected, and more able to be brave.

About the Registration Fee
Your payment of $4 per session for each of the three sessions in this series will help the organizers cover monthly Meetup platform fees. Any additional proceeds will support The Imaginists, the educational programming wing of The Holy Theatre, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization. If the fee is a barrier for you, please contact the organizers and we'll work something out!