Janelle Diamond

Jessica Henkin and Laura Wexler are sitting at a sun-soaked table in Wexler’s Roland Park dining room on a Sunday afternoon, a binder stuffed with 20 years’ worth of memorabilia scattered around them from Stoop Storytelling. There are programs, postcards, photographs, articles (including one from The Washington Post, when they hosted all of the Baltimore’s mayoral candidates), and even a neatly folded branded T-shirt that looks like it’s never been worn.

Jane Austen never visited Baltimore. Yet, true Janeites know her deep connection to the area. This month marks 250 years since the acclaimed English novelist and social commentator was born, but she remains as noteworthy and popular as ever. Since her death in 1817 at 41, Austen’s novels have rarely been out of print and her most popular tomes—Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma—are considered timeless classics that continue to be adapted for film, television, and theater.

—Illustrations by Haley Schulz ‘Tis the season for holiday gifts and, whether you’re buying for your favorite dog walker or your closest friends and family, we have one big suggestion: Shop local. It feels good and it does good. Shopping local keeps money in the community, of course. But it’s more than that.