We heard from Bonny Wise of JASNA’s Louisville Region, which is sponsoring a Jane Austen Festival (PDF) on July 18-19, 2009. Last year’s inaugural Festival was a raging success. Your Editrix is perfectly delighted to have been invited to speak at the Festival and we hear that Janeites are traveling from all over the U.S. to attend. The Editrix’s talk, “Five Things a Jane Austen Heroine (or Hero) Needs to Know,” is based on information included in The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World, with the opportunity to expand on some subjects based on the interests of the listeners.

The Festival features not only a charming and erudite speaker *coughs modestly* but a Regency fashion show, a session of “Dressing Mr. Darcy,” afternoon tea each day, period sewing classes, and a Regency Ball on July 18. Admission is $6 per day, afternoon tea is $25, including admission (advance reservations strongly recommended), and the ball is $15 or $25 for a couple. We hear the sewing classes are already sold out, so we recommend that you make reservations for tea and the ball soonest.

While in town, we are also hoping to take a field trip to the Louisville Slugger Museum to see where the Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness was shaped from a mighty branch hewn from the Tree of Enlightenment. Well, not so much as the Cluebat is of course metaphorical but you never know what goodies one might pick up from the Louisville Slugger Museum! We hope to meet many of our readers–both of the blog and of The Jane Austen Handbook–at the Festival this summer.

ETA: Only the Saturday sewing workshop is sold out. There is still room at the Sunday workshop. Also, on the grounds of Locust Grove will be “the shops of Meryton,” featuring a milliner, a mantua-maker (dressmaker), shoemaker, and authentic English entertainments such as a puppet show. The shopkeepers will also have Regency-era goods for sale such as clothing and accessories. There also will be men’s activities–stay tuned for more details!