Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at the Steventon rectory, Hampshire, UK. Jane began writing stories, plays and poetry at age 12. Her first novel Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously in 1811. She went on to publish another three novels in her lifetime, Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815) also anonymously, which was common for female novelists during this period, as it was deemed immodest to seek fame. She died in 1817, and her novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published shortly after her death.