Sign language or oral language for the Deaf, cochlear implants on babies ? Gerald Shea, author of « Song without words », a memoir on his experience as a partly deaf adult, recounts the history of sign language, largely promoted in France by Abbé Charles Michel de l’Epée who founded the first public school for the deaf, in a new book, « The Language … Read More
Two young writers share the Prix littéraire de la Vocation Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet
What was most striking at the Prize giving ceremony of Prix littéraire de la vocation Marcel Bleustein Blanchet was the youth and enthusiasm of the two laureates. This year the jury, presided by Christophe Ono-Dit-Biot, could not decide between two laureates, Nina Leger and Simon Johannin.
Photos, photos and more at MEP
The first exhibitions of the Rentrée in Paris were held last week at Maison Européenne de la Photographie and there were three openings at the same time. The French artists Anne and Patrick Poirier are showing old and new photographs “Vagabondages argentiques, 50 ans de bricolage photographique”, the Burmese-Indian father and son Richard and Pablo Bartholomew are exhibited in parallel in “Affinités” … Read More
Martigny, the center of artistic world, again
Cecilia Bartoli was singing at Fondation Pierre Gianadda for the 25 th time and Daniel Marchesseau was curating an exhibition there for the fifteenth time. The combination of Haendel sung by the diva with cellist Sol Gabetta and her brother’s baroque orchestra, Cappella Gabetta, with a hundred paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne in the background, was a winner. Again … Read More
Lilian Tuck delivers a new gem
« Sisters », the new short novel by National Book award winner, Lilian Tuck is not about sisterhood as we immediately understand in Christopher Nicholson’s quote on the title page: « First and second wives are like sisters ». It is the most subtle, cruel, funny story on marriage, infidelities and sexual passion. After her wonderful autobiography « The double life of Liliane », published in … Read More
Henri de Turenne, a year later
When Henri de Turenne died last year on August 23, at 94, I was so sad, I could not write about him. His modesty, his elegance, his youthful mind and his fantastic sense of humor made him, till his last days, the most fun friend to visit and to listen to. I admired and respected him enormously. A year later, … Read More
A Colombian feast at Colette’s
There was a double news that evening at Colette, the it store on rue St Honoré which is celebrating its twenty years. Kristina McLean was presenting her alternative guide book to Bogota, Columbia’s trendy capital city which is a hip destination with Carthagena and its music and book festivals in January. And Colette was announcing its closing at Christmas. A … Read More
“Madame Elisabeth”, a lovely summer read
It’s nice from time to time to read a good historical novel that you cannot put down ! and this is the case with « La sœur du Roi », a love story of Elisabeth, youngest sister of Louis XVI th, written by Alexandra de Broca, a screenwriter and widow of Philippe de Broca, one of France’s major film directors.