Jane Austen's 250th: Caroline Sanderson for Jane Austen ~ The Life of a Literary Titan

Caroline Sanderson began her career as a bookseller, and later worked in publishing publicity before becoming an author and journalist. Since 2000 she has compiled the monthly non-fiction previews for The Bookseller magazine, where she is Associate Editor. Caroline is also a Royal Literary Fund Writing For Life Fellow, supporting writing skills within the NHS. In 2024 she was appointed Honorary President of the Society of Indexers.

She joins us for her biography of Jane Austen, a concise and fascinating look at one of the world's undisputed literary titans.

There's something about Jane...

Jane Austen lived only just into her forties, never married, never had children, lived all her life in the south of England and rarely strayed far from the genteel and orthodox social circle into which she was born.

She completed only six novels, and achieved little fame in her lifetime. Yet over 200 years after her death, she remains one of our most revered writers, and one of the most regularly adapted for television and film. Her novels are beloved by readers all over the world who continue to be inspired, beguiled and delighted by her often comic, and always shrewd insights into the calculations, and complexities of human hearts and minds.

This concise biography aims to get to the heart of the enigmatic woman who was Jane Austen, and to the enduring qualities in her work which make it so universally loved and admired.