A Year with Jane Austen with Vanessa Zoltan and Julia Argy

A Year with Jane Austen
Every Other Sunday, January 4th - December 13th
8:00pm - 9:30pm ET

"I am delighted with the book! I should like to spend my whole life in reading it."

- JANE AUSTEN

Course description

Has an author captured the complexities of love, friendship, and society as poignantly as Jane Austen? 

In the 250th anniversary year of her birth, Jane Austen’s legacy remains as cemented as ever. 

Austen’s novels are touchstones for many of us. We reread them, watch the film and TV adaptations, and use them as hidden vocabulary. They are also fantastic for sacred reading; not just individually as novels, but in conversation with one another. We believe that Austen, through her six finished and published novels, created a universe in which the characters can speak to one another. 

Led by avid Jane Austen readers, and writers in their own right, Vanessa Zoltan and Julia Argy, A Year with Jane Austen will give members of the Not Sorry community the chance to delve deeper into the rich texts of Jane Austen. 

Over the course of a year, we will closely examine all six of Austen’s completed novels: Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. 

We’ll be reading the books individually, and closely. We will also be asking ourselves: through the entirety of her work, what is Austen trying to teach us about how to live and love?  

Every other Sunday (with few exceptions!), we will meet over Zoom to look closely at Austen’s texts. Through traditional sacred reading practices, along with wide-ranging conversations, we will explore what Austen wants to say about integrity, learning, and love. 

Each novel will be explored through an individual theme—tailored to the specific plot, characters, and elements of the text.

The overview

• Tuition:

  • Full tuition: $625

  • Can’t quite afford: $500 (Limited spacing available, see below for more information.)

  • Payment Plans are available for this course. Use the Klarna option at checkout.

• Registration Details: As soon as you buy your ticket, you will receive an email from programs@notsorryproductions.com confirming your spot and sharing the Zoom link for the class.

  • Please note that this email address could become lost in your spam folder, so it would be helpful if you add it to your address book.

  • You’ll receive a welcome email from the faculty by January 2nd.

• Date/Time: Every other Sunday from 8:00pm-9:30pm ET

• First Class: January 4th, 2026

• Final Class: December 13th, 2026

• Recording: Classes will be recorded for later viewing, but the course is best experienced if you attend each session live.

• Partial Scholarship Details: At Not Sorry, we want our programming to support fair wages to faculty as well as accessible tuition to our audience. With this in mind, we have a limited number of reduced tuition spaces available (first come, first served) at checkout. Add the item to your cart and select the reduced tuition here. If you can afford the full cost of the class, we trust you to purchase the full price ticket tier, saving the partial scholarship price for folks who couldn’t otherwise participate.

• Enrollment: There is no registration limit to this course, so the class could be anywhere from 10-100 folks, with plenty of room for small group interaction.

• Refunds are not available for this course.

• Questions? Email Courtney at programs@notsorryproductions.com, and she’ll return your message within 2-3 business days.

What You’ll need for this program

• Reliable Wi-Fi, a notebook/journal, and something to write with

• A copy of Emma, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. (Rather than purchasing them, you can borrow these novels at your local library. Additionally, these texts can be found for free online via resources like Project Gutenberg.)

• Students should come to the first session for each novel having read the book, prepared to discuss themes and spoilers in the first week of each four-week block.

WHAT TO KNOW

• No prior experience with sacred reading practices necessary, and no prior experience with Jane Austen novels necessary!

• This is an interactive program. You will be encouraged to keep your camera on and to engage with your fellow participants.

PROGRAM LOGISTICS

• Four class sessions per novel, live bi-weekly sessions on Zoom, every other Sunday night from 8:00pm-9:30PM ET (with a pilgrimage break exception in May).

• The courses cannot be separated for a la carte consumption.

The Course is Perfect For:

• Jane Austen devotees

• Those new to Austen, but looking to read and discuss in community

• Anyone craving the intellectual stimulation and warmth of a great book club

• Fans of the more popular Austen novels that wish to dive into the lesser-read novels in a close cohort of other eager readers

program Calendar

Faculty bio