(72 mins)

Renowned illustrator, Quentin Blake, and French author-illustrator, Bruno Heitz, discuss children's literature and illustration from their perspectives on either side of the channel. The debate will be animated by a drawing contest in which Blake and Heitz challenge each other's talent. Quentin Blake has been drawing for over sixty years; his illustrations most famously accompany the tales of Roald Dahl. Bruno Heitz is a prolific comic-book artist and illustrator whose series are published by Gallimard and Le Seuil.

The Second Sex, in its newly translated, unabridged edition is about to come out, 60 years after its first appearance in France. Its translators, Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, spoke about the intense four years they spent working on it. The Second Sex is one of France's most widely read books in English and certainly the one that has had the most far reaching impact on the world. Simone de Beauvoir's seminal work weaves together history, philosophy, economics, biology, and a host of other disciplines, commonly known in France as "culture générale." Sheila Malovany-Chevallier and Constance Borde have lived in France for over forty years, writing books and teaching at Sciences Po. They shared their fascinating adventure into the worlds of translating and publishing, and especially their foray into the multi-faceted mind of Simone de Beauvoir.
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(59 mins)

Hear two great voices of children's fiction in dialogue: Grégoire Solotareff, the renowned French children's book author-illustrator, meets Michael Rosen, radio reporter, poet and children's book author. Grégoire Solotareff has written 128 books in fifteen years and his books have been translated around the world. Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen has written numerous illustrated books. Today he is considered one of the greatest poets of his generation.

Un Roman Français (Grasset, 2009) is a book about memory and childhood revisited, but also about the transition towards manhood, the metamorphosis of an immature boy into a pacified adult. Frédéric Beigbeder was in conversation with Agnès Catherine Poirier. Born in Neuilly sur Seine, columnist for Lire magazine, and presenter of Cercle on Canal Plus, Fréderic Beigbeder is the author of Vacances dans le coma, L'Amour dure trois ans (Holiday in a coma and love lasts three years), 99 francs (£9.99), Windows on the world (Windows on the world), L'Egoïste romantique and Au Secours pardon. He has just been awarded the prestigious Renaudot literary prize for Un roman français. French born Agnès Catherine Poirier moved to London in 1995. She is an independent journalist. As an author she published Les Nouveaux Anglais, Touché! A French woman's take on the English and Le Modèle anglais: une illusion française.
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The Sexual Life of Catherine M. was Catherine Millet's diary of sexual encounters and explorations. But one day she discovered a letter from which it became clear that her partner was involved elsewhere. Jealousy (Serpent's Tail, 2009) details the crisis provoked by this discovery and her reaction to it. Jealousy is the paradoxical confession of a libertine, who succumbs to the 'timeless and universal malady'. Catherine Millet is art critic, curator, and founder and editor of the prestigious magazine Art Press.

Digital libraries, e-books and emerging technologies are transforming the way culture, knowledge and information are created and disseminated. They have a fundamental impact on the self-conception and perception of libraries. How are libraries taking action in order to bloom and secure their future? This one day seminar was a unique opportunity to hear about experiments carried out by various libraries in Europe. The points of view of the entire book chain was considered, from the librarian, the publisher, the author, the supplier, to the reader. Photos on the right by Eurolis.

Celebrating the 500th anniversary of Jean Calvin, Jean-Paul Willaime (Academic Dean, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes de Paris and Chair in the History and Sociology of Protestantism), Max Engammare (Doctor of Theology, Renaissance and Reformation Historian) and Gilles Pétel, (Professor of Philosophy at the Lycée Français in London) were present to animate the debate.

In the last twenty years the concept of the quotidien, or the everyday, has been prominent in contemporary French culture and in British and American cultural studies. This book provides the first comprehensive analytical survey of the whole field of approaches to the everyday. By demonstrating the enduring contribution of Perec, Barthes, Certeau and others, and exploring the Surrealist and Situationist inheritance, the book proposes a genealogy for the remarkable upsurge of interest in the everyday since the 1980s. Michael Sheringham is Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. He has written extensively on André Breton and Surrealism, on modern and contemporary French poetry, and on Autobiography and related genres. A debate with Michael Sheringham to mark the paperback publication of Everyday Life: Theories and Practices from Surrealism to the Present (Oxford University Press, 2009).

The latest book by one of North Africa's most successful post colonial writers Tahar Ben Jelloun, Leaving Tangier is set in Tangier, in the early 90s. The protagonist, Azel, is one of a group of young Moroccans who gather regularly in a seafront café to gaze at the lights on the Spanish coast glimmering in the distance. Facing a future with few prospects, their disillusionment is matched only by their desire to reach this paradise. At the brink of despair, Azel meets Miguel, a wealthy Spanish gallery-owner, who promises to take him to Barcelona, on condition that he becomes his lover. Seeing no other solution, Azel agrees and, leaving behind his girlfriend, embarks on a new life.