At the age of twenty seven, in the early 1950s, Anna Quillen became addicted to Jane Austen while residing pregnantly in the Philippines. When bouts of homesickness reinforced morning sickness, she discovered that Jane Austen reading binges provided the most effective relief for both conditions. Alas, the Austen gene was not transmitted; not one of her four children has gone farther than to keep a copy of Pride and Prejudice on the bookshelf. Anna graduated from Tusculum Collge (Greenville, Tennessee) in 1946 and received a Master's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1948. She was a newspaper reporter in Kingport, Tennessee, and subsequently taught remedial English in the Philippines and Wisconsin. She learned of the existence of the Jane Austen Society in 1987 while living in New York City and has participated its activities ever since.

Susan read her first Jane Austen novel at age 13--Pride and Prejudice--and she has continued to read it and the other novels repeatedly throughout her life. In 1980 Susan joined the fledgling Jane Austen Society of North America. Susan has served as the treasurer for the National organization of JASNA, co-coordinator of the New York City Annual General Meeting, and regional co-coordinator and treasurer for the Oregon and SW Washington chapter. In her professional life, Susan is the chief Administrative Officer for River Network, a national conservation organization headquartered in Portland Oregon. As part of her professional responsibilities, Susan has assisted hundreds of river protection groups across the country with financial and human resource management and strategic planning. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, has an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University, and has studied nonprofit administration at the New School University.

Frank McClanahan is a retired high school English teacher who has taught Jane Austen novels for almost twenty years. He is also a member of the Oregon Native Plant Society and is an active demonstrator against the Iraq War.

I was not born in the UK but grew up in the North of England...first loving reading Austen as a child, I now enjoy teaching her novels at Pacific University in Forest Grove. I have given two papers at JASNA AGMS and I have an essay on Mansfield Park in Persuasions on line which may be accessed through jasna.org ....I plan eventually to write a book on teaching Jane Austen in the American College Classroom. In my ever decreasing spare time, I enjoy gardening and matching food with wine.