Geoff Dyer on Camus | listen on Culturethèque

Thursday 15 September, 7.00pm

Forget about existentialism. This is all about Camus' sensuality.

Geoff Dyer is the author of four novels, the latest one being the most beautiful and extraordinarily successful Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. He has also published seven nonfiction books, including Working the Room, out in paperback in August 2011, But Beautiful, a book about jazz which was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize and is now considered a classic, and Out of Sheer Rage, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. He is a regular contributor to many publications in the UK and the US.

Gaby Wood, Head of Books at The Daily Telegraph, will chair the talk.

David Nicholls on Truffaut | listen on Culturethèque

Thursday 22 September, 7.00pm

From Les Quatre Cents Coups to L’Amour en fuite… this is all about passion!

David Nicholls trained as an actor before making the switch to writing. As a writer for film and TV, he has twice been nominated for BAFTA awards. He is the author of three novels, including One Day, which was published in hardback in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim, and stayed in the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list for ten weeks on publication.

Simon McBurney on Rabelais | listen on Culturethèque

Thursday 13 October, 7.00pm

France's Shakespeare? Rabelais, no doubt!

Simon McBurney is an Olivier Award-winning and Tony-Award-nominated actor, writer and director. He is the founder and artistic director of the theatre company Complicite, which performs throughout the world. Among their latest productions was A Disappearing Number, a devised piece conceived and directed by McBurney, played at the Barbican in Autumn 2008 and toured internationally. In February 2009 he directed the Complicite production Shun-kin, which was produced in London and Tokyo in 2010.

Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent, will chair the talk

Michael Morpurgo on Giono | listen on Culturethèque

Thursday 10 November, 7.00pm

Is there a more beautiful title than "The Man Who Planted Trees"?

Multi-award winning author Michael Morpurgo was from 2003 to 2005 the UK Children's Laureate, a role which took him all over the the country to promote literacy and reading. He is one of Britain's best-loved writers for children and has won many prizes, including the Blue Peter Book Award for his novel, Private Peaceful. He is the author of War Horse which is now in its fourth year of sell-out performances in London. It recently opened on Broadway, winning 5 Tony Awards. Michael’s novel Shadow was recently awarded the Red House Children’s Book Award 2011.

Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent, will chair the talk

Felicity Lott on Hugo | listen on Culturethèque

Thursday 17 November, 7.00pm

Not only does Felicity Lott read Hugo... she also sings his poems!

Born in Cheltenham, Felicity Lott is an English soprano who has appeared at all the great opera houses of the world and worked with the greatest conductors (Andrew Davis, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Jurowski, Carlos Kleiber, Antonio Pappano and Simon Rattle). She has received many honorary doctorates, including those from the Universities of Oxford, London, Leicester, Sussex, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Glasgow and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent, will chair the talk

See also the French melody concert introduced by Felicity Lott on 29 Nov

Simon Schama on Colette

Thursday 15 December, 7.00pm

Because all your senses are addressed, reading Colette is like having a feast…

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University.  His award winning books, translated into 15 languages, include Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Landscape and Memory, Rembrandt's Eyes, A History of Britain, The Power of Art, Rough Crossings, and, most recently, The American Future: A History.  His art columns for the New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for criticism and his journalism has appeared regularly in the Guardian and the Financial Times where he is Contributing Editor.  He has written and presented forty films for BBC2 on subjects a diverse as Tolstoy, American politics and John Donne and won an Emmy for The Power of Art.

Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor of The Independent, will chair the talk

in English

£12, conc £8, students £5

early reservation recommended

Doors open at 6.40pm, no entry permitted after 7.00pm

Maybe you missed Will Self on Montaigne, Alain de Botton on Stendhal, Posy Simmonds on Flaubert, Edmund de Waal on Proust, Tom McCarthy on Robbe-Grillet or Kate Mosse on Maupassant? If so, you can listen to the talks on Culturethèque.
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