Jane Austen @ 250

Kate Evans is a British writer, cartoonist, multimedia artist and public speaker with 30 years’ experience. Her previous work includes the internationally acclaimed historical biography Red Rosa and the award-winning graphic reportage Threads from the Refugee Crisis. Patchwork is her eighth work of graphic non-fiction based on the quilt that Jane Austen created in the later years of her life. Kate Evans takes the fabrics of this patchwork coverlet and uses them to illustrate a beautiful, brilliantly immersive and compelling comic-book retelling of Jane Austen’s life. She patchworks together the narrative from Austen’s own words, seamlessly interweaving snippets from her letters and stories and tells her life story from the cradle to the grave, including riotously joyous comic excerpts of her novels.

Anusha Viswanathan is an actor, born and brought up in Calcutta, with a love for books. She has a Masters in English Literature from Jadavpur University. Her filmography includes Aparajito directed by Anik Dutta, a film on the making of Pather Panchali where she played the character of Durga. She has worked with directors like Mainak Bhaumik, Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Srijit Mukherji and is also well known for her work on Bengali television.

An alumna of Loreto House, La Martiniere for Girls and Presidency College, Calcutta, Priyadarshinee Guha has a Masters in Modern History and a gold medal from Calcutta University. Passionate about teaching she chose to make this her life force. She has taught History and English for the last 30 years in reputed schools of Calcutta. As a teacher of History, she has conducted several workshops for students and for training of teachers in using novel and creative approaches in the classroom. She was the Vice-Principal of Indus Valley World School from 2021-24. A trained Rabindra Sangeet singer, she has worked for several years in a reputed Bengali theatre group in Calcutta. She has mounted award winning theatre productions for schools and directed water ballets set to Tagorean themes. A multi-faceted person, she has been the master of ceremonies for events and is a regular moderator at the city circuit. Presently as the Associate Vice-President of the Kolkata Centre for Creativity she carries on her passion in the sphere of education by designing courses, talks, workshops and events.