A Cultural Season On Sports

From 27 July to 12 August, all eyes will be on London and the 30th edition of the modern Olympic Games. Through several seminars, debates, talks and screenings, the Institut français proudly takes up its role as heir to Baron Pierre de Coubertin. We will host a series of sports-themed cultural events in South Kensington between February and July 2012. With sport as the underlying topic, the Institut intends to cover all the current issues, thanks to the participation of experts from both sides of the Channel. To kick off the season, the inaugural conference Olympics Games: What Are We Talking About on 16 February will look at the heritage of Pierre de Courbertin. The Institut will also organise a day of talks dedicated to more economic questions such as football as a business, and sport betting on 15 March.

Are You Game? is curated by José Carlin Perez and organised by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni

Programme

Writing About Sport Is it Really Writing?

Often lowly regarded by their own editorial team, sports journalists are seen as mere spectators of their art. How creative and investigative can the act of writing really be if one is limited to the narration of athletes' exploits? To debate this issue, we have invited Dominique Issartel from the French sports daily newspaper L'Equipe to tell us about his experience as an Olympics correspondent. Xavier Rivoire, former London correspondent for L'Equipe and author of successful biographies of Arsène Wenger and Robert Pires, will also join in. Jean Durry, Secretary General of the French Academy of Sports and author of notable works on the Olympic spirit, will give us his expertise on the evolution of the practice of sports writing. Anthony Clavane, journalist at the Sunday Mirror and author of Promised Land (which was named the Sports Book of the Year) will give us a British perspective on the challenges of writing about sports. Georgia de Chamberet (Bookblast literary agency), who has recently worked as writing coach for Louis Saha's thought-provoking book, Thinking Inside the Box (Vision Sports Publishing, 2012), will chair the debate.

Thu 7 June 6.30pm – 8.00pm | £5, conc. £3 | in English | early reservations recommended | bookings will open soon 

Watch for free Are You Game? first conference "What Are We Talking About" which happened at the Institut on 16th February 2012