Katherine Pancol

Yasmina Reza

Olivier Barrot

Monday, February 11, 7:30 p.m.

Special edition: Olivier Barrot in conversation with Tom Bishop, Director, Center for French Civilization and Culture, NYU.

FRANCOIS BON

Monday November 12, 7:30 p.m.

Trained in mechanical engineering, François Bon came back to an earlier passion for literature and published his first novel, Sortie d’usine at the age of 29. He has by now published over 30 novels and plays, amongst them: L'Enterrement (1992, Prix Paul Vaillant-Couturier, Prix du livre en Poitou-Charentes), Dans la ville invisible (1993, Prix Télérama), Paysage fer (2000, Prix France Culture / revue Urbanisme « La ville à lire »), Mécanique (2002, Prix Louis Guilloux), Daewoo (2004, prix Wepler). A versatile author, François Bon also penned 3 volumes about Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones. Fascinated by the shift to digital reading he founded the literary website: www.remue.net. His recent book, Après le livre, appeared both in print and digitally. He has also created writing workshops for the underprivileged.

FRANZ-OLIVIER GIESBERT

Monday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.

The brilliant career of Franz-Olivier Giesbert has been marked by extraordinary contrasts, ever since, before the age of twenty, he began his meteoric rise in French journalism on the regional Paris Normandie. He held every important post including as journalist and eventually director of the leading left-leaning weekly, Le Nouvel Observateur, of the most important French daily newspaper, the right-wing Figaro and eventually, the conservative weekly Le Point. A friend and admirer of presidents François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, and Nicolas Sarkozy, he broke with them on the publication of exposé books on each. Alongside his political writings, Giesbert has also been a major cultural critic in print and especially on television with programs such as Le Gai Savoir and Culture et Dépendances.

Born in the U.S. of a father who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, Giesbert has also been a correspondent in America. His novels and non-fiction works include Jacques Chirac (1987); Le Président (1991); L’Affreux (1992, Grand prix du roman de l’Académie française); La Souille (1995, Prix Interallié); François Mitterand, une vie (1996), L’Américain (2004); La Tragédie du président (2006); Un très grand amour (2010, Prix Duménil); Dieu, ma mère et moi (2012).

NICOLAS FARGUES

Monday, September 24, 7:30 p.m.

Nicolas Fargues was born in 1972. Following childhood years spent in Cameroon, Lebanon, and Corsica, he studied literature at the Sorbonne and then did stints as a journalist, publisher, and  librarian. Fargues turned to fiction in 2000 with Le Tour du  propriétaire, followed by Demain si vous voulez bien a year later. His first major success came with One Man Show in 2002, based on what he had learned in the world of media and celebrities; two years later, he published Rade Terminus, inspired by four expatriate years directing the Alliance Française in Madagascar. Among his more recent books are J’étais derrière toi (2006) (I Was Behind You), Tu verras (2011), for which he won the Prix du Livre France  Culture-Télérama, and this year, La Ligne de courtoisie. Nicolas Fargues lives in Paris.

LYDIE SALVAYRE

Monday, April 16, 7:00 p.m.

Born in France, though as the daughter of Spanish republicans in exile not a native French speaker, Lydie Salvayre quickly became enamored with the French language as she grew up in Southern France. Following a degree in French Literature, she switched to studies in the medical field with a specialization in psychiatry. While an established psychiatrist, she turned back to her former love of literature and published her first novel, La Déclaration, in 1989. She has since published over a dozen novels, including La vie commune (Everyday Life, 1991); La puissance des mouches (The Power of Flies, 1995); La Compagnie des spectres (The Company of Ghosts, 1997, Prix Novembre and voted best book of the year by the magazine LIRE); La Médaille (The Medal, 2003); Portrait de l'écrivain en animal domestique (Portrait of the Writer as a Domesticated Animal, 2007). Among her latest publications are Petit traité d’éducation lubrique (2008), BW (2009) and a biography of Jimi Hendrix, Hymne (2011).

DANIEL PENNAC

Monday, March 5, 7:00 p.m.

Daniel Pennac is one of the most prolific and the most diversified writers in France. He has written many novels for children, a number of novels for adults including one about children, graphic novels, illustrated books, an autobiographical essay about school that explores brilliantly how kids learn, Chagrin d’école (School Blues) that earned him the Prix Renaudot in 2007, as well as an earlier essay on reading literature, Comme un roman, that examines the rights of the reader. The novels series depicting the saga of the Malaussène family brought Pennac worldwide fame (most are translated into English). Pennac, who lives in and writes about the Belleville section of Paris taught school for a number of years and still serves as a consultant and frequent visitor in lycées or grade school classes.

DELPHINE DE VIGAN

Monday, February 6, 7:00 p.m.

While working for an opinion polling organization, Delphine de Vigan used a pseudonym for her first novel, Jours sans faim(2001), an autobiographical work on a successful fight against anorexia. Since 2005, when she began publishing under her own name with a collection of short stories, Les Jolis Garçons, she has written four novels including Un soir de décembre (2005), No et moi (2007) and Les Heures souterraines (2009), which earned her numerous literary prizes as well as a sizeable public. Delphine de Vigan’s most recent novel, about her bipolar mother, Rien ne s’oppose à la nuit (2011) won three important prizes and was shortlisted for the Goncourt. She is published by the Éditions Jean-Claude Lattès.

LES 100 ANS DES EDITIONS GALLIMARD

Monday, January 24, 2011

In 1988, Antoine Gallimard became the head of the Editions Gallimard, one of the world’s most prestigious publishing houses. He succeeded his father, Claude Gallimard who, himself, had followed his father, the founder of this venerable enterprise now celebrating its centennial year. Gallimard is a unique, independent house, boasting more Nobel Prize winners and Goncourt Prize novels than any other French publisher. In 22 years at its helm, Antoine Gallimard has both followed a singular tradition and kept his company young and forward looking into the 21st century. One of the most respected persons in his industry, Antoine Gallimard was elected President of the French National Publishers Syndicate in 2010.

CAMILLE LAURENS

Monday, March 21, 2011

Camille laurens began her career as a teacher in France before moving to morocco, where she lived for twelve years. while living in Marrakesh, she wrote her first three books, the first, Index, released in 1991 by P.O.L., which has also published the majority of her work. After losing her infant son, she wrote her 1995 novel, Philippe, as a literary account of her loss, to hlep her deal with her grief. As a result, she began writin 'autofiction', rather than traditional fiction, publishing several works, including Quelques-uns, l'Amour, and Ni toi ni moi. Dans ces bras-là, (P.O.L 2000) (In His Arms, Random house, 2004) was the winner of the Prix Femina and Prix Renaudot Lycéen in 2000 and was also nominated for the Prix Goncourt. her work has been translated into some thirty languages. Camille Laurens, who lives in Paris, is a vice-president of the Maison des Ecrivains et de la Littérature.

VINCENT DELECROIX

Monday, April 25, 2011

Vincent Delecroix is a French academic and writer, born in lille in 1969. He teaches Philosophy at the Sorbonne and writes on religion and philosophy. As an author of fiction, he has received the Grand Prix de Littérature de l'Académie Française for his novel Tombeau d'Achille (2008); published a volume of short stories, La preuve de l'existence de Dieu, and a series of novels: Retour à Bruxelles (2003); A la porte (2004); which was adapted for the theatre in 2007 by M. Bluwal and received two drama awards; Ce qui est perdu (2006), prix Valéry Larbaud; and La chaussure sur le toit (2007).

MARC DUGAIN

Monday, September 26, 2011

Marc Dugain was born in 1957 in  Senegal, but his family moved back to France when he was 7. While still a child, Marc accompanied his grandfather on a visit to La maison des Gueules cassées, a chateau that housed soldiers from World War I who had been victims of facial mutilations. This became the subject of Dugain’s first novel, La Chambre des officiers (1998) (The Officer’s Ward, 2003), a best seller that won some twenty literary prizes including the prestigious Prix des Libraires, Prix des Deux-Magots and Prix Roger Nimier. His more recent works include novels with contemporary historical settings: Heureux comme Dieu en France (2002); a life of J. Edgar Hoover in La malédiction d'Edgar (2005) and the machinations of Stalinism as well as the catastrophe of the submarine “Koursk” under Poutine in Une exécution ordinaire (2007). His latest book is L’Insomnie des étoiles (2010). Dugain has also worked for films, TV, and the theater, and several of his novels have been brought to the screen successfully.

OLIVIA ROSENTHAL

Monday, October 24, 2011

Paris-born novelist Olivia Rosenthal has published 8 books since 1999,  including Mes Petites Communautés (1999), On n'est pas là pour disparaître (2007 - Prix Wepler, Prix Pierre Simon) and Que font les rennes après Noël? (2010 - Prix du Livre Inter, Prix Alexandre-Vialatte). She has also written a number of plays and has been featured as a performance artist in collaboration with filmmakers, writers, choreographers and directors for numerous festivals, including Avignon. 

Her most recent project L'architecture en paroleattempts to depict where people live not through the architecture of places but through the words of those who inhabit and frequent them.

JEAN HATZFELD

Monday, November 21, 2011

While working as foreign and war correspondent for Libération, journalist Jean Hatzfeld covered one of the major stories of contemporary times, the genocide in Rwanda. For Hatzfeld, it was an event to which he came back a number of times. Returning to Rwanda on his own, he spent time with Tutsi survivors and wrote Dans le nu de la vie (2000, Prix France Culture). Next, hisin-depth interviews with genocide perpetrators resulted in Une saison de machettes (2003, Prix Femina and Prix Joseph Kessel). La stratégie des Antilopes (2007, Prix Médicis) relates the aftermath of the genocide, and its psychological consequences. Jean Hatzfeld’s writings, which helped the world at-large to understand one of the most brutal wars of the 20th century, have earned him the Prix Jean Marin Bayeux des Correspondants de Guerre.

MARC LAMBRON

Monday, February 8, 2010

Marc Lambron is a writer, literary critic, and also a member of the Conseil d’État. Since 1993, he has been the literary critic for Le Point and a collaborator to Madame Figaro, La Règle du Jeu, La Nouvelle Revue Française, SENSO, and other publications. He has received literary prizes for three of his books: the Prix des Deux Magots for L’impromptu de Madrid (1988); Prix Colette for La Nuit des masques (1990); and Prix Femina for L’oeil du silence (1993). His other books include: 1941 (1997); Étrangers dans la nuit (2001); Mignonne, allons voir si la rose, about Ségolène Royal (2006); Une saison sur la terre (2006); Eh bien, dansez maintenant… (2008); Théorie du chiffon (2010).

Monday, March 1, 2010

Linda Lê, a writer and literary historian, left her native Vietnam for France at the age of 14 after the fall of Saigon.  Her first novel, Un si tendre vampire (1986), was published when she was just 23 years old.  Her works include Les Evangiles du crime (1992); Calomnies (1993); Les Dits d’un Idiot (1995); Les Trois Parques (1998); Lettre morte (1999); Voix (1999); Les Aubes (2000); Autres Jeux avec le Feu (2002); and Personne (2003); In Memoriam was shortlisted for both the Prix Femina and the Prix Médicis in 2007. Her last novel, Tu écriras sur le Bonheur, was published in 2009.

YANNICK HAENEL

Monday, April 12, 2010

About the time he turned thirty, toward the end of the 1990s, Yannick Haenel, a former professor of French, devoted himself to literature and in a short time has published a number of novels and non-fiction works that have brought him not only renown and major literary prizes but also considerable controversy. Among his books are Introduction à la mort française (2001), Évoluer parmi les avalanches (2003), A mon seul désir (2005), Cercle (2007) which won both the Prix Décembre for 2007 and the Prix Roger Nimier in 2008, and his latest, the novel Jan Karski awarded both the Prix Interallié and the Prix du roman Fnac in 2009. Jan Karski, a Polish resistance figure who saved many Jews in World War II, appeared in Claude Lanzmann’s celebrated film Shoah. But Haenel’s book, which is labeled a “novel” elicited a violent reaction from Lanzmann and launched a bitter controversy. The cause célèbre continues.

JEAN CHRISTOPHE RUFIN

Monday, September 27, 2010

Trained in medicine, essayist and novelist Jean-Christophe Rufin also studied at Sciences Po. During the 1970s, he traveled to Africa as a volunteer doctor and participated in his first humanitarian mission in Eritrea. As one of the co-founders of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) and current director of Action Against Hunger (Action contre la faim), he has led many missions in Africa and Latin America, which inspired two novels: The Abyssinian (L’Abyssin), winner in 1997 of the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman and the Prix Méditerranée; and Brazil Red (Rouge Brésil), winner of the 2001 Prix Goncourt. Another novel, Lost Causes (Les causes perdues) was awarded the 1999 Prix Interallié. Globalia, in 2004, deals with a potential totalitarian world of the future in novelistic form.

Jean-Christophe Rufin is also a political essayist. His works include L’Aventure humanitaire (1994), which looks at human rights activism, and La Dictature libérale. He is the author of a major report for the French government on racism and anti-semitism in France. He was elected to the Académie Française in 2008. In 2007, he was named Ambassador of France to Senegal and served until earlier this year.

Monday, October 25, 7:00 p.m.

Claire Castillon dropped out of the university to pursue her dream of writing. At age 25, she published her first novel, Le grenier (2000), and has since published almost a novel a year. In 2004, she won the Grand Prix Thyde Monnier for Vous parler d'elle. Her other works include: La reine Claude (2002); Insecte (2006)--which was translated into over 12 languages and published in English as My Mother Never Dies (2009); On n'empêche pas un petit coeur d'aimer (2007); Dessous, c'est l'enfer (2008); and, most recently, Les cris (2010). In 2005, she took part in the "litté-réalité" experiment, 48h au Lutetia, in which she and seven writers were locked in the Hôtel Lutetia for 48 hours in order to produce a short story on the theme of sleep.

REGIS JAUFFRET

Monday, November 22, 7:00 p.m.

Playright and author Régis Jauffret developed his passion for literature from his childhood reading of Virgina Woolf and Marcel Proust. His first published work was a one-act play, Les Gouttes, in 1985, but since then he has written mostly novels. Three of these have been awarded major literary prizes: Prix Décembre 2003 for Univers, univers; Prix Fémina 2005 for Asiles de fous; and Prix France Culture/Télérama 2007 for Microfictions. Other novels include: Clémence Picot (1999); Lacrimosa (2008); and in 2010, Tibère et Marjorie, as well as Sévère, inspired by the real-life assassination of banker Edouard Stern, after Jauffret covered the trial for Le Nouvel Observateur.

2009

ERIC FOTTORINO

Monday, February 9, 2009

Eric Fottorino is a widely read novelist and journalist, and director of the Le Monde group. He has published numerous volumes of fiction and non-fiction, which earned him coveted prizes, especially for his novels, including the Prix Europe 1 and Prix des Bibliothécaires for Un territoire fragile 2000, the Prix François Mauriac de l'Académie française for Caresse de rouge, 2004, the Prix France Télévisions for Korsakov, 2004 and the Prix Femina for Baisers de cinéma, 2007. Other books by Eric Fottorino include Cœur d'Afrique, 1998, Le Tiers sauvage, 2005, and Petit éloge de la bicyclette, 2007.

FREDERIC MITTERRAND

Monday, April 13, 2009

Frédéric Mitterrand is one of the best known and most versatile figures in the French world of media. Immensely successful as actor, screenwriter, television presenter, producer and director, he is undoubtedly most popular for his film adaptation of the opera Madame Butterfly, his television documentaries and talk shows, and his celebrated culture programs on French radio. He has written a number of books on history and film (Mémoires d'exil; Les aigles foudroyés; four volumes of Destins d'étoiles; Les années de Gaulle), as well as more personal works such as tous désirs confondus and especially his recent La mauvaise vie, which earned him quasi unanimous praise. In June 2008, Frédéric Mitterrand was appointed director of the prestigious French Academy in Rome (the Villa Medici) by President Sarkozy.

CHARLES DANTZIG

Monday, September 21, 2009

Best known as a novelist and essayist, Charles Dantzig has also translated F. Scott Fitzgerald and Oscar Wilde. His novel Nos vies hâtives (2001) won both the Prix Roger Nimier and the Prix Jean Freustié; his oddly named Dictionnaire égoïste de la littérature française earned him three major prizes in 2005: the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, the non-fiction prize of the Académie Française, and the Prix Décembre. Other works include Un film d’amour (2003), Je m’appelle François (2007) and the even more oddly named Encyclopédie capricieuse du tout et du rien (2009).

Photo credit: Paul Delort/ Le Figaro

CATHERINE CUSSET

Monday, October 12, 2009

Trained as a specialist in French 18th century literature (École normale supérieure) Catherine Cusset taught for a decade at Yale. As her novels and essays earned her an ever greater following in France, she gave up her academic career to devote herself fully to writing. Her books include En toute innocence (1995), Le problème avec Jane (1999), published in English as The Story of Jane (2001), La haine de la famille (2001), Un brilliant avenir (2008—Prix Goncourt des lycéens) and most recently, New York – Journal d’un cycle (2009). Catherine Cusset lives in New York.

ERIC REINHARDT

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Eric Reinhardt followed his first novel, Demi-sommeil (1998) with a hard-hitting attack on conservative values, Moral des ménages (2002). His cuttingly humorous social criticism of capitalism and the plight of the middle class is carried on by the antiheroes of his next two novels, Existence (2004) and Cendrillon (2007). As a free-lance editor/publisher of art books Eric Reinhardt has worked with such diverse figures as choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, architect Christian de Portzamparc, visual artist Sarkis or shoe designer Christian Louboutin.

JEAN ECHENOZ

Novelist Jean Echenoz is the winner of several literary prizes: the Prix Médicis for Cherokee (1983); the Prix Novembre for Les grandes blondes (1995); and the Prix Goncourt for Je m’en vais (1999).  His other books include Le Méridien de Greenwich (1979); Nous trois (1995); L’Equipée malaise (1999); Jérôme Lindon (2001), an homage to his publisher.  A number of his works have been translated into English, including his most recent novel, Ravel (2006).

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A Linda LE Evening

Monday, March 3, 2008

With Tom Bishop, Esther Allen, and Jacqueline Chambord

Linda Lê, a writer and literary historian, left her native Vietnam for France at the age of 14 after the fall of Saigon.  Her first novel, Un si tendre vampire (1986), was published when she was just 23 years old.  Her works include Les Evangiles du crime (1992); Calomnies (1993); Les Dits d’un Idiot (1995); Les Trois Parques (1998); Lettre morte (1999); Voix (1999); Les Aubes (2000); Autres Jeux avec le Feu (2002); and Personne (2003).  Her latest novel, In Memoriam, was shortlisted for both the Prix Femina and the Prix Médicis in 2007.

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MICHEL SCHNEIDER

Michel Schneider is a writer as well as a magistrate at the Cour des Comptes, a psychoanalyst, and a former Director of Music at the French Ministry of Culture.  His 2006 novel, Marilyn, dernières séances, based on the myth of Marilyn Monroe, was awarded the Prix Interallié.  Other books include Glenn Gould, piano solo (1988); La Tombée du jour (1989); Maman (1999); Big Mother (2003); and Morts imaginaires (2003), awarded the Prix de l’Essai Médicis.

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SYLVAIN TESSON

The author, Sylvain Tesson, is a geographer and a world traveler. On foot, on bicycle, and on horseback, he has explored the steppes of Central Asia, Siberia, and many other areas of the earth that have been relatively neglected. He has published numerous accounts of his expeditions and his Petit traité sur l'immensité du monde (Equateurs, 2005) and Eloge de l'énergie vagabonde (Equateurs, 2006) have been hailed as veritable manifestos. Sylvain Tesson is an honorary member of the Institut de Recherche sur les Expériences Extraordinaires and a member of the Executive Committee of the French Society of Explorers.

Photo credit: Allison Maguy

BENOIT DUTEURTRE

Writer and music critic Benoît Duteurtre is the author of numerous, widely translated novels, including: L’Amoureux malgré lui (1989); Tout doit disparaître (1992); Gaieté parisienne (1996); Le Voyage en France (Prix Médicis 2001); Service clientèle (2003); La Petite Fille et la cigarette (2005); and La Cité heureuse (2007). His most recent book, Les Pieds dans l’eau (2008) was shortlisted for the Prix Renaudot. Also a musician, he is the producer and presenter of “Etonnez-moi Benoît,” a weekend music program on France Musique.

MARIE NIMIER

Marie Nimier is widely acclaimed as a writer in multiple genres. She has written extensively for the stage, has penned lyrics for several composers, has written works for children and young adults. But she is best known as a novelist. Her first novel, Sirène earned her prizes both from the Académie Française and the Société des Gens de Lettres (1985); for La Reine du silence, an evocation of her father, the novelist Roger Nimier, she was awarded the Prix Médicis (2004). Other novels (all at Gallimard) include La Girafe, Vous dansez ?, and, this fall, Les Inséparables (Prix Georges Brassens).

2007

CECILE GUILBERT

Cécile Guilbert, an essayist, is author of Saint-Simon ou l'encre de la subversion (1994); and Pour Guy Debord (1996). L'écrivain le plus libre (2004) is a mixture of biography, commentary, and imaginary dialogue, highlighting the character of the English libertine pastor, Laurence Sterne (1713-1768). Her forthcoming work is entitled Surviving Andy Warhol. She is also the author of the novel Le Musée National.

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CLAUDE ARNAUD

Claude Arnaud is a novelist, biographer and essayist, winner in 2006 of the Prix Femina de l'Essai for his work Qui dit je en nous ? His first novel, Le Caméléon, received the Prix Femina du premier roman in 2004. His other works include Chamfort (1988); Le Jeu des quatre coins (1998); and, a biography, Jean Cocteau (2003).

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Clémence Boulouque is a novelist and the winner of the 2003 Prix Fénéon for her first novel, Mort d'un silence (2003), which deals with her childhood and her father's death. It has been adapted into a film by William Karel, entitled La Fille du Juge. Her books include Sujets libres (2004); Le Goût de Tanger (2004); Au Pays des Macarons (2005); Chasse à Courre (2005); and recently Nuit ouverte (2007). She is also a literary reviewer for Le Figaro and France Culture.

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