ThoughtGallery.org > Beanie Feldstein, Devoney Looser, and Ruth Franklin: Rediscovering the Porter Sisters

Beanie Feldstein, Devoney Looser, and Ruth Franklin: Rediscovering the Porter Sisters

They paved the way for Jane Austen and the Brontë Sisters, so why haven’t we ever heard of the Porter sisters?

This Women’s History Month, get to know the brilliant, self-made single women who were famous on both sides of the Atlantic and counted among their fans at least one queen and a president. Between them, Jane and Anna Maria Porter published 26 books, including a bestseller, and arguably invented the historical novel. Then history left them in the past. 

What happened and why is the subject of Devoney Looser’s new book, Sister Novelists, which recaptures the lost story of the pioneering Porter sisters. Relying largely on their letters, which are collected at The New York Public Library, Looser’s literary detective work rescues the Porters from literary obscurity and pushes them back into prominence.

Looser discusses her trailblazing biography with author and critic Ruth Franklin. Actor Beanie Feldstein reads a selection of the sisters’ inimitable correspondence.











When: Mon., Mar. 27, 2023 at 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Where: New York Public Library—Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
476 Fifth Ave. (42nd St. Entrance)
212-340-0863
Price: Free
Buy tickets/get more info now
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They paved the way for Jane Austen and the Brontë Sisters, so why haven’t we ever heard of the Porter sisters?

This Women’s History Month, get to know the brilliant, self-made single women who were famous on both sides of the Atlantic and counted among their fans at least one queen and a president. Between them, Jane and Anna Maria Porter published 26 books, including a bestseller, and arguably invented the historical novel. Then history left them in the past. 

What happened and why is the subject of Devoney Looser’s new book, Sister Novelists, which recaptures the lost story of the pioneering Porter sisters. Relying largely on their letters, which are collected at The New York Public Library, Looser’s literary detective work rescues the Porters from literary obscurity and pushes them back into prominence.

Looser discusses her trailblazing biography with author and critic Ruth Franklin. Actor Beanie Feldstein reads a selection of the sisters’ inimitable correspondence.

Buy tickets/get more info now