<p>Jane Austen is often seen as an isolated genius who appeared from nowhere, or she is treated with a simplistic cult-like reverance which overlooks the complexities of her work. In this special edition of Front Row, exactly 250 years after Austen's birth, we take a close critical eye to a writer who innovated the novel as a form and revolutionised a literary style rarely seen before.</p><p>Fellow novelists Tessa Hadley and Kamila Shamsie join Samira, alongside academics Professor John Mullan and Dr. Sophie Coulombeau, to deeply delve into the texts themselves, revealing a witty writer herself steeped in the literature of her day, discussing how she contsantly evolved her craft and why her status has fluctuated with trends across the last two centuries.</p><p>With readings by Dame Harriet Walter</p><p>Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ciaran Bermingham</p>