Janet Lewis Saidi needed to relax.

During the pandemic, the KBIA producer went in front of the mic to host a daily show given the challenges facing the college-based radio station while students had to be in lockdown.

To deal with those hectic days, she turned to Jane Austen.

“I started re-reading her books,” Saidi said. “In doing so, I thought it would be fun to write about these stories that talked about truth and power and race and misinformation. It’s all in there.”

Thus, the Substack “The Austen Connection” began; a series of articles diving into how these iconic stories still fit into our modern culture. Simon & Schuster liked what they read. Given 2025 would be Austen’s 250th birthday, the publisher wanted to celebrate the renowned writer with something light and fun. So they co

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