Books & Ideas Talks 29 Aug - 19 Dec Café Philo Open to everyone interested in discussing philosophical issues in an informal setting, the Institut’s Café Philo meets every Saturday.
Books & Ideas Talks Thu 29 Oct Eve Guerra on Loss and Homecoming The French Institute is delighted to welcome Eve Guerra for the English-language launch of her debut novel, Repatriation, as part of the Institut's Black History…
Arts Books & Ideas Talks Wed 4 Nov The Bayeux Tapestry : Between Myth & History Join Michael Lewis, lead curator of the British Museum's Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, and Leonie Hicks, Professor of Medieval Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University, for…
Books & Ideas Talks Tue 10 Nov Jonathan Coe on Ravel and Vaughan Williams and the Music of Nations An evening of conversation and live music Jonathan Coe's new novel, Lessons in Harmony, imagines the unlikely friendship between the celebrated French composer Maurice…
Books & Ideas Talks Thu 12 Nov Reading Group on Quand tu écouteras cette chanson by Lola Lafon This reading group is dedicated to Lola Lafon's Quand tu écouteras cette chanson. Please note that the author won’t be present in person. In Quand…
Books & Ideas Talks Tue 24 Nov 2026 In Conversation with Rachid Benzine What can literature do in times of war? Join novelist and political scientist Rachid Benzine for the UK publication of The Man Who Read Books,…
Books & Ideas Talks Wed 2 Dec 2026 In One Brief Moment All Eternity with Elif Shafak Some 175 years after Gustave Flaubert gave Emma Bovary her arsenic death, Booker Prize shortlisted author Elif Shafak hands the pen to the women who…
Books & Ideas Talks Wed 9 Dec Claude Monet: A Life in Letters To mark the centenary of Claude Monet’s death (5 December 1926), Teresa Krasny and Karen Serres, art experts and co-authors of Claude Monet: A Life…
Books & Ideas Talks Thu 17 Dec Reading Group on L’allègement des vernis by Paul Saint-Bris This reading group is dedicated to Paul Saint-Bris’s L'allègement des vernis. Please note that the author won’t be present in person. In L'allègement des vernis,…
Talks Tue 19 Jan 2027 Hastings Wasn’t Everything: Rethinking 1066 with Peter Frankopan What if Hastings was not the most important thing the Normans did in 1066? Taking the Bayeux Tapestry as a starting point, historian Peter Frankopan…
Talks Thu 4 Feb 2027 Behind the Scenes: Bringing the Bayeux Tapestry to London How do you bring a nearly 1,000-year-old masterpiece across the Channel? As part of the Night of Ideas, the Institut français invites audiences to discover…
Talks Thu 25 Feb Roland, Turoldus and the Bayeux Tapestry: Storytelling in the World of 1066 The Oxford Chanson de Roland, preserved in a unique manuscript written in Anglo-Norman and held in the Bodleian Library, is a heroic tale of warfare, loyalty…
Talks Spring 2027 The Bayeux Tapestry Reimagined French artist Hélène Delprat will be presenting the missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry, which she has created at the Cité internationale de la tapisserie…
Talks Spring 2027 The Colours of the Bayeux Tapestry What can colours reveal about the Bayeux Tapestry? Renowned historian Michel Pastoureau, a leading specialist in the history of colours, offers a fascinating new perspective…
Talks 12 - 14 May Photo London: Symposium on the History of Photography The French Institute will organise a symposium on the history of photography during Photo London, curated by Taous Dahmani, a London-based French-British-Algerian art historian specialising…
Talks Tue 18 May The Bayeux Tapestry and Medieval Women The presence of only six women in the Bayeux Tapestry raises questions about women’s role in times of war and conquest. Elisabeth Van Houts, Honorary…
Arts Books & Ideas Concerts Kids & Families Talks Highlights of the Month Next event : De Gaulle (Part 1): Résistance Fri 23 Oct at 12:40
Arts Books & Ideas Concerts Festivals & Series Films Kids & Families Performances Talks 14 Oct 2026 - 25 July 2027 Beyond Bayeux: Stories from the Middle Ages Next event : The Bayeux Tapestry : Between Myth & History Wed 04 Nov at 19:00
Books & Ideas Talks 15 Oct - 17 Dec 2026 Reading Group Next event : Reading Group on Quand tu écouteras cette chanson by Lola Lafon Thu 12 Nov at 18:15
Arts Books & Ideas Concerts Films Talks Women Shaping the World Next event : Nathalie Baye: A Hundred Lives Thu 26 Nov
Arts Films Sept 2026 - Sept 2027 200 Years of Photography Next event : William Klein: 100 Tue 02 Feb at 17:00