On behalf of the RFW Board of Directors and volunteers we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.
As of today, Regency Fiction Writers–The Beau Monde has 359 members and counting! It’s our promise that RFW-TBM will open and welcoming to all writers of Regency-set fiction. I like to think of it as we have an enormously long dining table with enough chairs for anyone who wants to pursue their dream of writing Regency-set fiction. We will always find another chair.
We are excited to share our well-rounded portfolio of resources, many accessible here on our website. Some are open to the public, but many are exclusive to members. If you haven’t already or know someone who would like to join our organization, annual memberships are just $25 USD until December 31st, 2020 and will increase on January 1st, 2021.
- The Beau Monde’s General Discussion Forum, where you can ask questions about historical details, craft, networking, and really anything you have a question about. Note: The forum is not live yet. We hope to have it operational in the coming weeks with a formal launch on Nov. 5th. We’ll post an announcement with the link when the forum is live.
- The next Beau Monde Writers’ Retreat and Soirée will be a virtual event. The Board of Directors made this decision after much discussion about the uncertainty of what will happen in 2021 with COVID-19. The board has been resolute in its efforts to put the membership’s welfare first when considering either to meet in person or to meet virtually.
- Interact with the other Beau Monde members and lovers of the Regency Era on our social media pages: Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Twitter, Pinterest
- We host a Book in A Week (BiaW) group/challenge starting every 3rd Friday for seven days.
- Please check out our Regency Academe classes that we have scheduled through June 2021. Members receive discounted rates.
- Access to the online version the Regency Realm, a compendium of Regency Research Resources (member-only page-specific password required)
- TBM Quick Reference Guide/On Dits is published monthly. Expect our October edition later this month.
- Subscribe to our monthly newsletter The Regency Reader which has articles from our members and others. We all look forward to reading through the New Releases for the coming month. There’s nothing like seeing your book spotlighted beside the books of your favorite authors. Note: We have photos of our editors’ furry friends too!
- This blog, The Quizzing Glass, is available by subscription so you won’t miss a post. Again, articles on all things Regency. Members may want to contribute an article. We have a Featured Author post where one of our members answers questions about his/her writing process and discuss their books. A great way to introduce yourself to your fellow members.
Those programs are what we have now. And while you might be thinking we have gone a little overboard, just wait until you see what new programs we have planned for 2021!
We are absolutely thrilled to announce Hilary Davidson, author of Dress in the Age of Jane Austen, as the presenter for our January Members-only Zoom meeting!
Talk: Jane Austen is, foremost, a social commentator. Dress is a nuanced social marker, and her novels use clothing and needlework to pinpoint niceties of character. Austen’s letters reveal a lively interest in clothes, alongside her concerns about how to dress well on limited income. During the author’s short life, unprecedented and accelerated change saw Britain’s turbulent entry into the modern age. Clothing reflected these transitions on local and global scales, and exploring the dress experiences of people who lived through Austen’s age goes a long way to understanding her work, her time, and its histories. In this talk, dress historian Hilary Davidson explores the lives and dress of the middle-class British gentry during the ‘long’ Regency (1795-1823) through the lens of Jane Austen’s life and writing, drawing on five years of research for her ground-breaking 2019 book.
Biography: Hilary Davidson is a dress historian and curator with a remarkable breadth of knowledge and experience. After training as a bespoke shoemaker in Sydney, she moved to England for her MA in the History of Textiles and Dress, and became curator of fashion and decorative arts at the Museum of London. Hilary is currently completing a PhD in archaeological textiles at La Trobe, Melbourne, and is an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney. For fifteen years she has lectured and published on fashion, textiles, and design history and theory, and has taught at many institutions in Australia and Europe. Hilary is also a consultant in historic textiles for the Oxford English Dictionary, is an editorial board member for the journal Fashion Studies, and has presented on a number of television programmes, including the BBC documentary Pride & Prejudice: Having a Ball (2013). Her reconstruction of Jane Austen’s pelisse coat led to this extensive study of British Regency dress, her first monograph. She is based between Sydney and London.
There’s more to come—in February, Janet Mullany will be presenting Upstairs-Downstairs in the Regency!
We’re currently lining up some great presenters for 2021. Would you like to be one of them? Email Courtney Scalo at academe [at] thebeaumonde [dot] com. We’re looking for presentations on a broad range of topics- Regency history, writing craft, marketing/ promotion, author business, and more!
We would also appreciate it if everyone would share this announcement using the icons below. Our introductory membership rate of $25 for a whole year is only going to last until the ball drops on New Year’s Eve! Let’s get the word out so people can sign up before the price increases January 1st!
Again, thank you for your interest and part in the Regency Fictions Writers–The Beau Monde community.
Ann Chaney,
Out-going 2020 RFW President
P.S. If you have any questions, please contact President-Elect Vanessa Riley at presidentelect [at] thebeaumonde [dot] com or our Membership Director at membership [at] thebeaumonde [dot] com. We look forward to hearing from you.