The Literary World

Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary is being celebrated with statues, festivals, and literary tributes across Hampshire and beyond, honouring her enduring legacy as one of England’s most beloved authors.

In 2025, the literary world is raising its teacups to toast Jane Austen, marking 250 years since her birth in Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775. The milestone has sparked a wave of commemorations across the UK and internationally, celebrating the wit, wisdom, and cultural impact of the author whose novels continue to enchant readers two and a half centuries on.

Winchester Cathedral’s service featured dramatic readings by actors from the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation, alongside new hymns inspired by Austen’s prose. And Chatsworth House hosted outdoor film screenings, talks, Regency-themed teas, and a ball, and they took advantage of the house and its grounds as seen in the movie. 

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Don't miss out:

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Jane Austen’s House in Chawton has hosted a year-long series of themed festivals, including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma, culminating in a birthday celebration this December.

Forty years ago, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale emerged as a chilling vision of a dystopian future. Her speculative fiction was never meant to be fantasy. She famously stated that everything in the book was drawn from real-world precedents. That grounding in historical and contemporary oppression gave The Handmaid’s Tale a haunting plausibility.

Published in 1985, the novel introduced readers to Gilead—a theocratic regime where women’s rights are stripped away and fertility becomes a tool of state control. Four decades later, the book remains a cultural touchstone, its themes echoing through literature, television, politics, and protest.

Island Voices 2025 is celebrating C.S. Lewis’s iconic fantasy novel with a series of lectures exploring his Irish and Ulster-Scots heritage. Talks begin September 25th in Derry, offering fresh insights into how Lewis’s cultural identity shaped the mythic landscapes of Narnia.

2025 has seen a major revival in dystopian fiction, led by three standout releases:

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• Sunrise on the Reaping continues The Hunger Games saga with the 50th Games.

• Watch Me revisits the Shatter Me universe a decade later.

• Ava Reid’s Fable for the End of the World introduces a fresh dystopian tale with literary flair

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​All three titles are earning high praise on Goodreads, signaling renewed reader appetite for dystopian worlds that blend nostalgia with new perspectives

The word “robot” was first introduced to the world through literature — specifically in a 1920 play titled R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Czech writer Karel Čapek. The term comes from the Czech word “robota”, meaning forced labor or drudgery. Čapek’s play explored themes of industrialization, artificial intelligence, and rebellion — decades before such ideas became mainstream.

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It’s a brilliant example of how speculative fiction can shape language and cultural imagination. 

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips A haunting novel set in a West Virginia asylum during the Civil War, exploring trauma, motherhood, and survival. It’s been praised for its lyrical prose and historical depth.

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Definitely something to put on my 'to-read' list.