Jane Austen 250
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Jane Austen’s 250th Anniversary Celebrated with Annual Festival
Friday, 12 September, 2025The Jane Austen Festival is back for its 24th year, with Bath once again set to be the backdrop for the largest celebration of Jane Austen in the world.
This year promises to be an extra special event as Bath celebrates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, with the festival being the pinnacle of the celebrations for the renowned author. From themed tours, book fayres and even games of croquet, the city of Bath will be transported back to the early 19th century and the Regency era which Austen herself would’ve experienced.
Bath’s most famous resident has been remembered throughout 2025; however, the main festival begins on 12 September and continues for ten days leading up to the final day on the 21st.
The official opening of the festival will be on Saturday 13 September, as the world-famous Grand Regency Costumed Promenade will make its way through the city, with 2,000 people set to be dressed up in Regency attire. Events will continue throughout the ten-day celebration with Regency picnics, themed afternoon tea, and re-enactments of Austen’s most revered works.
The festival also coincides with BSU’s moving in week – where new students arrive on campus and move into their accommodation ahead of their first semester of university. Students can take a break from setting up their new home and join people from across the region by heading into the city centre and joining in with the festivities. This is the perfect opportunity to explore the key landmarks that are mentioned in Austen’s books – such as the Royal Crescent – and explore new surroundings in a unique way.
Despite only living in Bath for five years, Jane Austen has had a lasting impact on the area. Her significance to Bath and the fact she is still celebrated to this day shows the impact that her novels have had, and the festival seeks to continue the tradition of showing off her work.
Bath Spa University Senior Lecturer for Literature Dr Nicky Lloyd spoke on Austen’s significance to the city and why she is still celebrated to this day:
“Austen’s work gives us a fascinating glimpse into the intersections between literature and place. In Northanger Abbey and Persuasion her portraits of Bath do far more than sketch a fashionable city. Through her particular brand of realism - attentive to everyday exchanges and social etiquette - Austen’s depiction of Bath plays out some of her most pressing concerns.
“The urban space of the city becomes more than just a backdrop, embodying complex ideas about social performance and the politics of class and gender. Austen takes us beneath the glossy exterior of Bath as a Regency spa resort to expose anxieties about modern social life.”
She continued:
“Austen’s writing speaks to us across time and place, and her concerns are still recognisably ours. Her treatment of consumer culture, gossip and social interaction in the novels resonate deeply in our contemporary world.”
"Austen's work is also taught here at BSU, on one of our core second-year modules, ‘Voices in Conversation’. Austen is placed in dialogue with James Baldwin, bringing together two hugely influential figures who foregrounded questions of power and difference in their work. The work done on this module raises important questions about how Austen’s work speaks to other writers, literary movements and historical moments as well as how we consume and reimagine her novels in the twenty-first century.”
BSU has also worked in partnership with the National Trust and their team at the Bath Assembly Rooms, giving students the opportunity to research and develop new, inclusive resources. Through this partnership, students have produced some wonderfully innovative projects, including an interactive clothesline exhibit inspired by the white dress Austen planned to have made up for a ball at the Assembly Rooms, which encourages audiences to explore Regency fashion through Austen’s eyes.
If you want to find out more about Jane Austen’s novels and other great authors and their work, then our English Literature courses can be found on our website. More information about the festival and the full schedule of events can be found on the Festival website.