Reading
Let your kids’ imagination run wild through listening to our librarians' favourite stories from French authors. For Beyond Words, let them discover tales about literature. This sessions is also a good occasion to develop the sensibility to French for young learners.
Talk
"Imagine a Stephen King thriller hijacked by Proust" Lee Langley (The Spectator)
Told in a rhythmic and propulsive prose that weaves seamlessly from one consciousness to the next over the course of a day, Laurent Mauvignier’s The Birthday Party is a deft unravelling of the stories we hide from others and from ourselves, a gripping tale of the violent irruptions of the past into the present. Meet Laurent Mauvignier, a major contemporary French writer in conversation with author and translator Lauren Elkin.
Readings by Félicité du Jeu
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Laurent Mauvignier, The Birthday Party (Fitzcarraldo, 2023) |
Talk
Gallic Books launched 15 years ago with a mission to publish the very best of French into English, and have since gained a reputation for championing books that are brilliant, unique and always enjoyable. With Beyond Words, they are delighted to showcase three of the most exciting and successful authors from their pool: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, screenwriter, director and author of Devils and Saints; Antoine Laurain, international bestselling author of The Red Notebook; and Muriel Barbery, author of the global sensation The Elegance of the Hedgehog.
Join them for a special evening with award-winning journalist Viv Groskop. Together, they'll talk about their latest books, their writing lives and how publishing compares in France and in the UK.
Readings by Félicité du Jeu
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Jean-Baptiste Andréa, Devils and Saints (2022) |
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Antoine Laurain, An Astronomer in Love (2023) |
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Muriel Barbery, A Single Rose (2023) |
Talk
In Lessons, Ian McEwan masterfully unravels a fascinating chronicle of our time. How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? What can we really learn from the traumas of the past? From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the fall of the Berlin Wall, from the COVID pandemic to climate change, one of the greatest British writers discusses his 500-page sociopolitical epic tour de force with Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature at Southbank Centre.
Readings by Olivia Ross
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Ian McEwan, Lessons, (Vintage Publishing, 2022) |
Talk
In recent years, debates around France’s colonial past have multiplied in the public sphere and literature has played a significant political and critical role to address this legacy. From the Belgian colonisation in Congo (2012) to the Indochina War in An Honourable Exit (2022), Goncourt Prize-winning author Éric Vuillard deconstructs the official versions of History, a history written by the victors. He will discuss how literature aims to illuminate structural inequalities and oppression with Natalya Benkhaled-Vince, historian of the French Empire, decolonisation and post-colonial histories.
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Éric Vuillard, An Honourable Exit (Pan Macmillan, 2023) |
Talk
Once a figure of scandal, now a literary icon – Colette (1873-1954) is being hugely celebrated in France as 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of her birth. Acclaimed authors Deborah Levy, Michèle Roberts, Emmanuelle Lambert and Diana Holmes join the celebration with a discussion on her colourful life but above all on her luminous writing, with its implicit feminism and affirmation of a profound joie de vivre.
Readings by Olivia Ross
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Emmanuelle Lambert, Sidonie Gabrielle Colette (Gallimard, 2022) |
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Deborah Levy, La Position de la Cuillère, translated by Nathalie Azoulai (Sous-Sol, 2023) |
Talk
“Virginia Woolf wrote my biography before me when publishing Orlando, a century ago” says trans writer and philosopher Paul B. Preciado.
Published in 1928, Virginia Woolf’s pioneering novel tells the story of a young man who transmigrates into different bodies, from man to woman, through the centuries. By deconstructing the binary system of gender identities, Orlando finds a powerful relevance in today’s queer theory. In a conversation with author, academic and literary critic Merve Emre, philosopher and writer Paul B. Preciado will discuss how Orlando resonates with his personal transformation, writing and theory, and became the main inspiration of his upcoming film, Orlando : ma biographie politique.
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Paul B. Preciado, Dysphoria mundi (Grasset, 2022) |
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Paul B. Preciado, Can the Monster Speak, translated by Frank Wynne (Fitzcarraldo, 2021) |
Talk
Poet and artist Tarek Lakhrissi explores the themes of desire, queer poetic and empowerment through a reading followed by a conversation
with curator Lynton Talbot. The discussion will delve into the relation between his writing and visual arts practice, and his use of language as a tool for resistance and self-defence.
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Tarek Lakhrissi, Le sang !/Blood! (Lafayette Anticipations, 2022) |
