In January 1813, a novel called Pride and Prejudice was published by Thomas Edgerton.

Its author was anonymous, identified only as the same ‘lady’ who had published the rather popular Sense and Sensibility two years earlier. Like its predecessor the novel became quite a success, receiving positive reviews in the press and increased speculation as to the identity of its authoress.

Two hundred years later and we are as familiar with Jane Austen’s name as we are with her most famous literary work.

Of her six novels, it has always been Pride and Prejudice the world has been most drawn to. Even in its earliest incarnation, First Impressions, it seems to have been a favourite with Austen’s friends and family. First written sometime between 1796 and 1797, the manuscript would have been read aloud by Austen for their amusement, perhaps more than once. In one letter Austen joked that she would not let her friend, Martha Lloyd, read it again because she had leant it to her so many times she feared Martha would re-write it from memory and publish it as her own. Even in these early days, publication was something that Jane Austen hoped for. Her father, the Reverend George Austen, even wrote to a London publisher Cadell (who was known for publishing Ann Radcliffe’s work) on her behalf and offered them First Impressions. The offer was declined and the manuscript remained in Jane’s possession – a blow perhaps for the young woman of 1797, but also blessing.

In 1809 Austen, with her mother and sister, moved to the village of Chawton, Hampshire. After the unhappy and settled years living in Bath, where Jane’s creative output had ground to a halt, Chawton was a welcome and inspiring change. Austen returned to the manuscripts of her youth, first redrafting what would become Sense and Sensibility and then turning her attentions to First Impressions. The novel, which Austen called her ‘own Darling child’, was ‘lop’t and crop’t’ until it became Pride and Prejudice.

Last year, 2013, was the novel’s 200th anniversary.

Excepting a lull in the mid-19th century, the novel’s popularity has grown and evolved over the last two hundred years. It is a very special kind of novel, one that not only maintains relevance two whole centuries later but that does so on a global scale. It enjoys numerous adaptations every year, be they television series, films, stage adaptations, modern retellings or even zombie horror.

So what did 2013, Pride and Prejudice’s bicentenary year, give us? And what is it, really, that made it so important for us to celebrate it?

My first solo year in the Austen business (it is, indeed, a business- and a huge one at that) was in fact 2011, Sense and Sensibility’s bicentenary. It was a year abuzz with Austen because the 200th anniversary of Sense and Sensibility also meant the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s work in print.

Bath’s Jane Austen Festival was bigger than ever, even featuring on an episode of BBC One’s Masterchef, whilst BBC2 filmed the event for a special programme with Prof. Amanda Vickery called ‘The Many Lovers of Jane Austen’.

Balls, talks and celebrations were held across the globe and a flurry of new Austen related books, from etiquette guides to biographies, hit the shelves – including my own. The Austen community, so to speak, worked hard to make the most of such an important event, and it stands out in my mind as a year marked by celebration. But as 2011 rolled into 2012, there was a question to be asked: what do we do next time?

Whilst Sense and Sensibility is a fantastic text, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice is the world’s favourite Jane Austen novel.

The Jane Austen Centre marked the date with a live streamed continuous ‘read-a-thon’ of the novel, universities across the country held conferences and even the smallest of libraries joined the celebrations with talks, discussions and reading groups.

Royal Mail released a set of beautifully illustrated stamps, available at the Post Office Shop online. (Fun fact: these were also the subject of a question in the recent University Challenge Final).

The BBC’s adaptation of P.D James’ Death Comes to Pemberley, which takes place after the events of Pride and Prejudice, proved that our appetite for Austen is borderline insatiable: we are always looking for something more.

Though still undoubtedly a year of celebration, in reflection Pride and Prejudice’s bicentenary was more subdued and thoughtful than Sense and Sensibility’s. Everywhere it asked the question ‘Why Jane Austen?’ and then proceeded to answer it with the wit and grace one expects when it comes to Austen.

Events like the Jane Austen Festival’s ten day read-a-long of the novel in Bath’s central library, where everybody from little old me to Mr’s Bingley and Wickham of the BBC’s 1996 production read a chapter aloud, were attended by men and women of all ages who had come simply to sit and listen.

I ran a workshop for Key Stage 4 and 5 – which I also gave as a talk to the above festival goers – called ‘The Modern Miss Austen’. Getting teenagers excited about literature can be notoriously difficult, but the response to Austen was overwhelming.

There’s a reason films that place Austen’s work in modern settings, such as Clueless, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bride and Prejudice, work so well. It’s the same reason that we still adore the BBC’s 1996 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (no, not just Colin Firth’s wet shirt scene). Austen is a master of character creation, of capturing real human emotions, reactions and behaviour rather than two dimensional figures that function only within their own historical context.

The reason we still read her is because 200 years later, a sixteen year old girl can pick up Pride and Prejudice and find a heroine she can relate to: a heroine who is lively and flawed, who doesn’t get it right the first time. A heroine for whom romance is important, but is not her everything and whose hero, equally imperfect, loves her as much for her mind and conversation as beauty. And the novel can make that reader laugh as it pokes fun at the pompous and ridiculous, whilst also teaching her something about herself and the world around her – even if she doesn’t realise it.

It’s remarkable how many of the teens in my workshops had come across real life Miss Bingleys and Mr Wickhams, but even more so to watch them use the novel to shape their own thinking.

The response, across ages and genders, and across the globe to 2013’s celebrations was nothing short of phenomenal. It inspired a new generation to pick up the works of Jane Austen, and reminded the rest why they had loved her so much in the first place. Be it the romance, the wit or the keen social commentary, there seems to be something in Jane Austen for everyone.

And if nothing else, the bicentenary reminded me why I got into this business in the first place.