Our region is thrilled to announce our closing 2025 Tribute Grant Honorees: Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown!

In  2024, our membership voted to close out the Tribute Grant in 2025 in celebration of Jane Austen's  250th Birthday with two honorees.

In 2025, our Tribute Grant Creator, Kim Higgins and our Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto nominated Nan and Jennifer for the closing Honoree Award which was then voted on by the membership. The following criteria served as a guide. The nominees must have been long time JASNA members prior to 2010 (and the Portland AGM) and the nominees must have contributed enormously to our region. 

Both Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown with their spouses embody the attributes of a Tribute Grant Honoree. They both are longtime members of JASNA prior to 2010 and have volunteered above and beyond!

Congratulations to Nan Williams and Jennifer Snoek-Brown! We appreciate your many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region.
  
Meet Nan Williams and her husband David: 
Nan joined JASNA in 2002. Throughout the years, Nan volunteered in a myriad of ways at Spring Teas and Jane Austen December Birthday Celebrations. She also served as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Portland 2010 AGM. From 2017 - 2023, Nan and David volunteered their  community ballroom and hosted our annual Spring Teas at the beautiful Fairway Village Clubhouse. David graciously assisted Nan in making tea, moving tables, and cleaning up the event room. A perfect pair providing wonderful Spring Teas for our region!  
 
To read more about Nan and David, please follow this link: meet-nan-williams-our-2025-tribute-grant-honoree.html 

Meet Jennifer Snoek-Brown and her husband Sam: 
Jennifer joined JASNA in 2005. Jennifer created our website in 2013 and managed it. She also gave in depth presentations with her husband Samuel Snoek-Brown and hosted the New Members Meeting in 2013. In 2017, our region awarded Jennifer a Tribute Grant to attend the 2017 AGM in Huntington Beach, California where she co-presented with Pauline Beard, Professor Emerita at the Huntington AGM. 

 To read more about Jennifer and Sam, please follow this link:  meet-jennifer-snoek-brown-our-2025-tribute-grant-honoree.html

Nan Williams joined JASNA in 2002. Throughout the years, Nan volunteered in a myriad of ways at our  events while her husband, David helped with set up and clean up.

In 2010, Nan served as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Portland JASNA AGM conference and was a hit at the Hospitality Desk. She is long remembered for her welcoming manner and for providing superb red apples which initially were for decoration. The attendees enjoyed the apples so much that Nan and David brought more and more to the conference. Nan also assisted with the AGM meals, centerpieces, raffle baskets, and filling hundreds of swag bags. 

In 2014 for our December Jane Austen Birthday Luncheon at the Holy Names Heritage Center, Nan provided a display table featuring memorable items from the 2010 Portland AGM. She also collected photos taken during the AGM for this showing.

From 2016 - 2017, Nan took over the tremendous work and artistry in creating raffle baskets for our Spring Teas and selling raffle tickets.

We are also deeply grateful to Nan for volunteering the beautiful Fairway Village Ballroom and then hosting our Spring Teas there from 2017 – 2023 in Vancouver, WA. Altogether, Nan and David hosted 4 Spring Teas there: 2017 - 2019 and 2023.

At the Fairway Village Clubhouse, Nan set lovely tea tables. Nan also collected raffle items and created beautiful raffle baskets through 2017 with leftover books sold individually. She collected payments for them and sold raffle tickets.

Once our attendance and donations grew, Nan streamlined the donations by suggesting having "a proper book sale" at our annual Spring Tea. This was first implemented at out 2018 Spring Tea with a book and tag sale which we continue to hold today.

After we reconvened after the pandemic, Nan and David hosted their final Spring Tea in 2023. Each Spring Tea included a presentation or performance:

• 2017:  Jane Austen and the Master Spy presented by Sheryl Craig.  
• 2018:  Austen in Battle: How the ‘Long War’ Affected Jane’s Family and Novels presented by Collins Hemingway. 
• 2019:  Jane Austen and The Theater presented by Kimberly Brangwin Milham.
• 2023: The Battle of Prague Interactive Performance presented by Nancy Gallagher (JASNA Wisconsin) with Janet Johnson (JASNA Southwest) on piano.

As always, David helped with setting up the Spring Tea and graciously assisted Nan in making tea, moving tables, and providing cleanup.

A perfect pair providing wonderful teas! 

Thank you to Nan and David Williams for their many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region! We appreciate their most gracious and attentive hosting!

Jennifer Snoek-Brown joined the JASNA Wisconsin Region in 2005 with her husband Sam. In 2011, they moved to Oregon and joined our region. In 2014, they became life members of JASNA.

In 2011, Jennifer created our Weebly website which debuted on  January 1, 2012. From the beginning, it contained a blog format with easy to add updates. This was so forward thinking that it remains relevant today--15 years later! Our region is deeply grateful for Jennifer's technical expertise in setting it up and managing our website until 2016.

In 2013, the Snoek-Browns hosted the 2nd Annual New Members Meeting at their home for a lively discussion of Persuasion. Thirteen of us attended who were new or who joined within the last year or two, also members who were less familiar with Austen's works, as well as those who wanted to welcome new members in a more personal way.

Jennifer and Sam also gave other depth presentations about Jane Austen's writings (see attachments):

•  2015:  "Sanditon" presented by Jennifer and Sam.
• 2016:  "Lady Susan" presented by Jennifer and Pauline Beard, Emerita.  
• 2017:  "Rescues in Jane Austen Novels" presented by Sam.
• 2018:  "Tale of Two Janes: A Gossip Story and Sense and Sensibility" presented by Jennifer and Sam.

 
In 2016, the Snoek-Browns moved to Tacoma, WA.

In 2017, our region awarded Jennifer a Tribute Grant to attend the Huntington Beach AGM! There, Jennifer co-presented a breakout session with Pauline titled, “The Talk: Lady Susan the Novella and Love & Friendship the Film.” This was especially exciting because for the first and only time, we had a Tribute Grant Recipient (Jennifer) with an Honoree (Pauline) co-presenting an AGM breakout session. That's never been done before! 

Jennifer is also the only member in our region to receive the double award of a Tribute Grant Recipient (2017) and a Tribute Grant Honoree (2025)! 

After Jennifer returned from the 2017 AGM, in the spirit of the "reel librarians" that she blogs about, she thanked our region with an insightful video about her Tribute Grant experience. Here's the link:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MBro9ZmCHQ

Jennifer is an academic librarian and the OER Librarian for Tacoma Community Library. Previously, she was a faculty librarian at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, OR. She also has a website blog titled "Reel Librarians" about librarians in film <reel-librarians.com/>. Jennifer grew up in libraries and wrote her undergraduate honors thesis titled, "A Glimpse Through the Glasses: Portrayals of Librarians in Film.” Jennifer continued her interest in analyzing the image of librarians in movies during her MLIS studies, and throughout her career as a librarian.

Sam teaches college writing and literature at Pierce College. He serves as Production Editor for Jersey Devil Press and has served as the fiction judge for local literary contests in Oregon and Indiana. Sam is the recipient of a  2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship. for his novel, Hagridden. He has also have been shortlisted in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition, twice for short fiction and once for a novella. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist in the 2013 Story South Million Writers Award. In 2015, he also was a contributor to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Sam is also the author of 5 books!

Jennifer and Sam are photographed each holding their favorite Jane Austen novel: Jennifer is holding her mother's copy of Persuasion that she gave to her. Interestingly, Jennifer's mother is also a lifetime JASNA member who introduced Jennifer to Jane Austen's writing. Sam's favorite Jane Austen novel is Northanger Abbey. The book he's holding is the copy he purchased during his graduate studies when he took a Gothic Romance fiction class (which was his first introduction to Jane Austen!). Between them is a hand-made pillow that reads Pride and Prejudice because "they both agree (as English majors!) that Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's best-written and best-plotted work." 

Thank you to Jennifer and Sam for their many years of service to the Oregon-SW Washington Region! We appreciate the timeless and relevant website created by Jennifer, the new members meeting that they hosted, and the many erudite presentations that they gave to our region!

The Oregon-SW Washington Region announces that Governor Tina Kotek has proclaimed December 16th as Jane Austen Day in Oregon!

Governor Kotek signed the proclamation in honor of Jane Austen who is one of the most influential and enduring authors in English Literature. Hereafter, Jane Austen's birthday of December 16th will be known as Jane Austen Day in Oregon! 

Our region together with the Southern Oregon Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America applied for the proclamation.

Thank you to our Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto and our Assistant Treasurer, Arnie Perlstein for their diligent work. Arnie updated the JASNA template for the application then wrote a press release letter to Oregon media outlets, both with Vonnie's input. 

And thank you to Governor Tina Kotek for signing the proclamation and to Secretary of State, Tobias Read for witnessing it!

We are most appreciative that Jane Austen's birthday of December 16th has been officially recognized in the state of Oregon as Jane Austen Day!

The Oregon-SW Washington Region gathered in the upstairs event room at the Hillsboro Public Library for a dual celebration of our region's 40th Anniversary and Jane Austen's 250th Birthday. This is our first anniversary photo ever! Photo taken by Janeite Coco Madrid.

Our region is hosting a combined dual celebration of Jane Austen at 250 with our region's 40th Anniversary!

On November 16th (Sunday), we'll gather at the Hillsboro Brookwood Public Library in the upper floor event room overlooking a scenic pond and walkway from 12 - 3 pm at 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy, Hillsboro, OR 97124.

Registration is FREE to all, funded by a generous donator.  To reserve a seat, please register by sending an email titled "Birthday Celebration" to <[email protected]>. 

All 3 of our founders will participate with Frank McClanahan serving as Master of Ceremonies. Mary Margaret Benson will provide a brief history of JASNA and our region's founding History. Frank will facilitate a look back at our region with reminisces from the membership about memorable activities and events including our region hosting the Portland AGM in 2010.  Paula Stepankowsky will toast Jane Austen.

Then independent scholar and regional member, Arnie Perlstein will lead an interactive presentation on "40 Years of Jane Austen Scholarship in Persuasions."

Harp music will be provided by local harpist, AnnaLee Driscoll.

The afternoon will include buffet potluck dining. If attending, please bring a treat, either savory or sweet or both for the tea table. Tea, bottled water, and cranberry punch will be provided along with a sheet cake (from Mary Margaret Benson).

Other specialty buffet selections include cucumber sandwiches and madeleine cookies reminiscent of our first meeting, also lavender shortbread cookies in honor of Kim Higgins and in memory of the late Mary Thiras-Benjamin.

Additionally, we'll have a gallery viewing of photos of those no longer with us, relocated, or unable to attend as they are also a part of our celebration.

Regency themed costumes are encouraged but not required!

Come early and take a walk around the pond or afterwards, stroll the walkway.

See you there!

Meet our July speaker, Paula Stepankowsky!

Once again for our July meeting, co-founder  Paula Stepankowsky will present and this time at her lovely home in Longview, WA!
 
Paula is a native of Spokane, Washington, where she attended Marycliff High School and earned a B.A. Degree in English Literature from Fort Wright College. She then earned an M.A. Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia before moving to Longview, Wash., where she was a reporter for The Daily News for 15 years, most of that time as business/industry reporter.

After returning to the University of Missouri as a Davenport Fellow in Economic and Business Reporting, she became the Pacific Northwest correspondent for Dow Jones NewsWires, and later a Pacific Northwest reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones NewsWires.

In a career shift in 2008, Paula returned to graduate school and earned a MA in Teaching from the University of Portland. For the next 14 years, she taught Language Arts to Middle School students at St. Rose School in Longview, where she continues to teach Art Appreciation as a volunteer.

As a volunteer, Paula has worked with many groups and organizations. She has been on the board of LifeWorks of Cowlitz County since 2014.  She is the Cowlitz County representative on the board of the ARC of Washington and is a volunteer for the Special Olympics. She is a volunteer for Child Advocates of Cowlitz County, and she is also on the board of Trustees of the Longview Public Library. 

Paula is a co-founder of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic High School in Vancouver, Washington, as well as a co-founder of The Burney Society, an international literary society dedicated to the study of Frances Burney d’Arblay, Jane Austen’s literary predecessor. 

Paula is also one of our region's founding members. Paula read about JASNA in the New York Times in about 1983 or soon after it was founded. She wrote to the JASNA President and asked if there were other JASNA members near her. The JASNA President gave her the name of Mary Margaret Benson of Linfield, OR. Paul contacted Mary Margaret Benson to see about forming a region in Oregon/SW Washington.

They held the first Oregon & SW Washington meeting at Mary Margaret's house in Linfield in 1984. Frank McClanahan (Mary's husband) was there and a few others. Paula also helped to set up the reading groups and spoke at many of the early meetings in the 1980's and early 1990's.

Additionally, Paula was the editor of JASNA News for seven years from 1990-1997, and also served as an ex-officio member of the board of the Jane Austen Society of North America during that time.

Paula served on the organizing committee for the 2010 Portland AGM. Her chief involvement was to set up the Lit Chicks exhibit at Multnomah County Library. The display of caricatures, books and manuscript letters was all from her collection and that of her sister and her husband, who own the Jane Austen first editions displayed there. They subsequently have acquired first editions of all of Jane Austen's novels.

In 2017, our region honored Paula as a Tribute Grant Honoree for her contributions to our region, and also because she was instrumental in the success of the 2010 Portland AGM, and for promoting great literature.

At our July meeting, Paula will speak again on Jane Austen And The Sisterhood of the Pen. This will be the first time that she has given this presentation. 

Paula's presentation will include over 50 first editions by contemporary women writers of Jane Austen which Paula owns as she is a serious collector of antique books.  We'll see first editions from such authors as  Frances Burney, Ann Radcliff, Maria Edgeworth, Charlotte Smith, Lady Caroline Lamb, Mary Brunton, Hannah More, Jane West, Elizabeth Inchbald, the Porter Sisters, etc.  

Additionally, Paula also has more than 70 original Gillray and Rowlandsom cartoons, quite a few of them hanging, that members will see. 

As a bonus, we'll also tour Paula's curated rose garden of 82 rose bushes.

What a wondrous time we'll have with Paula!

Thank you Paula!

Behind the Scenes:
The Novel Life Of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography 
by Janine Barchas, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood
Speaker: Janine Barchas
Part 3.

Our region gathered with our guest, Janeite and multi-published author and professor, Janine Barchas, on June 15th for a special anniversary event in celebration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday.

Janine gave a a behind the scenes presentation of her new book, The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood.

Our new regional member, Cindy Filer, hosted us at her beautiful home in NE Portland.

It was an intricately timed meeting as our guest and her friend arrived directly from the airport. Our Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto greeted Janine and her friend when they arrived. The author thoughtfully brought hostess gifts for our hostess Cindy and our RC, Vonnie for all the work they did to make this event happen amid a Father's Day weekend. The dish towels are a fun take on Austen with "Greetings from Austin Texas." What a special souvenir in remembrance of our speaker, Janine Barchas from the University of Texas at Austin! 

Here our regional members converse with Janine Barchas and her friend and dine on all sorts of culinary delights while sipping cooling refreshments during Portland's 74 degree temperature.

After mingling inside, we adjourned onto Cindy's beautiful white octagon deck. There, Janine gave her laptop presentation titled, "Behind the Scenes: The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography."  After a fascinating Q&A and more mingling, Janine and her friend were off and sped away.

Thank you to Janine Barchas for visiting our region and giving such an intriguing and insightful presentation on Jane Austen! We all are eager to purchase your book: The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography.   

Behind the Scenes:
The Novel Life Of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography 
by Janine Barchas, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood
Speaker: Janine Barchas
Part 2.

Here, our region prepares for our Jane and Janine June Meeting. On June 15th (Father's Day) we welcomed multi-published author and Janeite, Janine Barchas, for a special anniversary event in celebration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday. Janine gave a engrossing presentation of her new book, The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood.

Our new regional member, Cindy Filer, hosted us at her beautiful home in NE Portland where we gathered on her spacious white octagon deck with an arboretum forest in the background to hear and see Janine's unique presentation. 

Here, Cindy Filer and Vonnie Alto (Regional Coordinator) prepare for this special event. 

Behind the Scenes:
The Novel Life Of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography 
by Janine Barchas, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood
Speaker: Janine Barchas
Part 1.

Our region welcomed multi-published author and Janeite, Janine Barchas, on June 15th for a special anniversary event in celebration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday.

Our new regional member, Cindy Filer, hosted us at her beautiful home in NE Portland where we gathered on her spacious white octagon deck with an arboretum forest in the background to hear Janine speak. 

Janine is the author of The Lost Books of Jane Austen. Janine gave a a behind the scenes presentation of her new book, The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography, illustrated by Isabelle Greenwood.

Janine accompanied her presentation with a handout. See attached file.

We learned that graphic novels are a hot new genre flooding libraries and bookstores. The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography is a novel about a female author (Jane Austen) written by a female scholar (Janine)

We got a first hand behind the scenes look at the The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography. This is Janine's second scholarly book since writing The Lost Books of Jane Austen.

The Novel Life of Jane Austen is a dual creation with Janine providing the text and research (the how, what, and when) and Isabelle the illustrations. It is the first graphic novel written about Jane Austen and her life. It took 3 years for Janine to write the book.

Janine selected 3 phases of Jane Austen's life to document and told Austen's life 3 parts:

• Part 1: Budding Writer 1796-1797 (The promise of Jane Austen in her twenties)
• Part 2: Struggling Artist 1801-1809 (The genteel poverty of Jane Austen in her early thirties)
• Part 3: Published Author 1811 - 1817 (Jane Austen's final years at Chawton House)   

The book celebrates Jane Austen's life while focusing on Austen's relationship with her sister and family. Cleverly, the author uses a matted color palette and portrays Austen wearing a yellow dress in the cartoon panels for the reader to identify her which explodes into a bright reds of maroon, magenta, fuchsia, and pink to show Austen writing or imagining her stories.   

Janine inserted new information from her research about Austen. Everything presented in the graphic novel is based on fact and history with authentic engravings and newsletter images and maps integrated into the artwork. As one member noted, the book becomes a tour guide for readers to reminisce about their travels to England.

Both the author, Janine, and the illustrator, Isabelle, conducted many site visits over the course of a  year to document Jane Austen's travels to such places as Netalee Abbey, Farleligh Castle, the village of Chawton, and the Jane Austen House Museum.

Janine found herself challenged on how to recreate 3 distinct eras in Austen's time. She used Austen's spectacles to denote the 3rd section of the book or Jane's final years at Chawton. Isabelle also added age lines to Austen's face to age her.  

We also discussed the world of Jane Austen and what attracts readers to Jane Austen's writings.  

Based on Janine's classroom experience as a teacher, Janine noted that young people live in a world of too much choice and multiple social media platforms that everything is acceptable.

One of our members, Cynthia Eckersley noted that young people really crave a world that is calm with a right/wrong way to behave as compared to a lack of formality and chaos that exists in today's society. Hence the appeal of Jane Austen to youthful readers.

Cynthia insightfully noted that during the 18th-19th century of Jane Austen, women couldn't hold a job or own land; in today's world, there's too much freedom. The pandemic turned the world upside down. As a result, people today are moving towards the past for entertainment and history (such as re-enactments, including the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath and the Versailles Masked Ball).  

Regional Coordinator, Vonnie Alto asked, "Why write a graphic novel?" Janine answered that words and images in a graphic novel work in unison. Janine's previous book, The Lost books of Jane Austen shows that pictures illustrated how Austen became popular--but words together with pictures better reveal Austen's life.

Vonnie asked a follow up question: "Why read a graphic novel?" Janine responded by stating that Austen's fans crave other ways to experience Austen. A graphic novel provides a unique medium to recount Austen.

Graphic novels are also a way of creating a visual dynamic based on research with images. Words and images work together to transport the reader back in time into the era and life of Jane Austen. Janine compared the effect to screenwriting.  The visuals and words come together. It's rich and brings it alive.

Janine noted that Austen pulled from her ordinary life and put it into her novels which the graphic novel explores.

Since the The Novel Life of Jane Austen is a different medium, Janine is waiting to see how readers react to it. She said that a visual sense is needed to appreciate a graphic novel. 

Janine had such a positive experience writing The Novel Life of Jane Austen that she would like to write another one to continue Austen's life story--as none of us wants a good story to end. Janine noted that the movie, Clueless is based almost word for word on Jane Austen's Emma. It opened a door into graphic novels. Janine stepped through that door by writing The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography.    

Thank you, Janine Barchas, for visiting our region and showing us how your created The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography.  And thank you to our host, Cindy Filer for hosting our region at her lovely home!