An Evening with Devoney Looser
USA Today bestselling author Devoney Looser tells some of the weird and wonderful stories of how she, a first-generation college student from a working-class Minnesota family, came to center her life around one fabulous author, Jane Austen. From tales of writing her five books, to playing roller derby in middle age as Stone Cold Jane Austen, Devoney invites the audience to consider the wacky ways that books and authors are handed down—and might continue to be handed down—from one generation to the next. Looser talks about how Austen inspired her, through her mother, to pursue an education, not to find a husband, although eventually Austen led her to both. Her first conversation with her husband of nearly thirty years was an argument over Jane Austen. (He asked Devoney to marry him several hours later, and she said no, which was the best answer in that moment, of course!) These stories will resonate with audiences looking to laugh at the ridiculous and to be inspired, especially those still (as Devoney is) on paths to discover their own inner Elizabeth Bennet.

Wild for Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s longstanding reputation as mild, quaint, and conventional novelist and woman is undeserved. In this entertaining, illustrated lecture, Looser tells stories of signal, wild moments in Austen’s writings, life, and afterlife. Whether describing Austen’s celebration of muddy dress hems, her surviving a shoplifting aunt, or her befriending an international spy, Looser makes the case for how the great novelist became (and stayed) wild in her own lifetime and across the 250 years since. After this talk, you’ll come away with your own sense of how, and why, to keep Jane Austen wild.

Jane Austen’s Celebrated Contemporaries

Contrary to popular belief, Jane Austen wasn’t a singular and lonely writer, toiling away in literary obscurity for herself and the novel. As they say, it takes a village, a truism that applies to hundreds of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women writers. Some, like Catharine Macaulay, were international celebrities fêted with fireworks and statues. Others, like the mother-daughter team Susannah and Elizabeth Gunning, published books by the dozens but barely stayed afloat. In this illustrated lecture, Devoney shares these stories, alongside those of the Porter sisters, Jane and Anna Maria Porter, subjects of her biography, Sister Novelists. Thousands of novels were published in English by women during the decades before and after Austen. The audience, after having a new literary world opened up to them, will leave inspired to make sure literary history, and women’s history, doesn’t forget them a second time.

Embracing a Reading—and Rolling—Life

In this conversational chat, Devoney Looser describes what it means to embrace a life of reflection, reading, and writing alongside one of joyful physical activity, even if you’ve never been an athlete before. In her early 40s, Devoney joined her first roller derby league on a lark—the first organized team she’d been on since playing soccer at age16. The experience was transformative. What she was unprepared for were the ways it strengthened not only her physical self, after having given birth to two sons and lost touch with her own body as her own, but how it would change for the better her reading and writing self. Looser will talk about the ways that unlikely parts of ourselves might go hand in hand and about how it’s never too late to find the strange things that keep you rolling from youth, to middle age, and into later life.

“Pride, Prejudice, and Peer Pressure”

“Jane Austen’s cause of death has remained a mystery. But her letters and books offer clues”

“The (Almost) Wildness of Elizabeth Bennet: Devoney Looser on the Perennial Appeal of Jane Austen’s Remarkable Heroine”

“Devoney Looser was a great speaker. I invited a good friend, who’s rather a Jane Austen super fan, and my expectations were fairly low, as I have not read Austen, only see Pride and Prejudice in most of its iterations. Looser was funny, so knowledgeable, engaging. She would be interesting, I think, on any subject.”

“Arts & Letters Live events are always a treat – truly an exceptional experience with every event! Devoney Looser gave a delightful lecture providing fascinating historical and personal context to Jane Austen’s works. It is truly delightful to see the deep connections Austen’s writings have formed with each new generation of readers – the discourse around her works and fiercely held favorites always bring about such lively and deeply fun discussions! Thank you for putting together such a wonderful event!”

“The speaker was so in love with her subject and spoke with delightful enthusiasm. The audience was engaged. It was a wonderful evening.”

The author’s lecture was amazing! I found it interesting, informative, humorous, and just the right length.”

“What a WONDERFUL lecture by Devoney Looser! Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Jane Austen still draws the crowds. Long live Jane!”