Newsletter January 2014

NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2014

Christmas party

We had a great Christmas party and we really want to thank all of you for supporting Foal by buying tickets for our raffle. The money raised (342 euros) has gone directly to buying new books which will soon be in the library. (list out soon). We are already starting to think about prizes for this year so the raffle will be even bigger and better !  We would also like to thank our kind hosts for providing the venue and the lovely decorations which helped to make this such a festive event.

Upcoming events

We have quite a lot on the agenda

First, our famous Quiz which takes place on 28 February at the Martin Luther King venue (27 Bvd Louis Blanc). Come at 6pm in time for a drink. Quiz starts at 6.30pm. Please put 5 euros per person into a discrete envelope and hand it in on arrival  (the money goes towards expenses for the drinks and nibbles, anything left over goes into the book budget).

Next we have been invited to an event which may be of interest to Foal members. For several years now, schools in the region have set up debating societies (in English, of course). The semi-finals and finals take place on April 11th at the CRDP (Allée de la Citadelle, near the Lycée Joffre) at 1.30pm

 World Book Day on 6 March  Unbeknownst to most people, World Book Day, sponsored by Unesco, has existed for 17 years. I found out about it quite by chance and thought it would be a good idea if Foal did something. (I have talked to the Town Hall about this but it is too late for them to do anything this year). Our nearest opening day is 12th March so on that day  if you buy two books, you get another one free. This will be a win-win situation, you get a free book and Foal offloads books from our groaning permanent Book Sale shelves and boxes ! Money raised goes straight into the book  budget as does the money from your subscriptions.

World War One commemoration event

I thought it would be a good idea for Foal to hold an event to commemorate  the start of WW1. I put the idea to our Events Director (Philippe Marchand), and Katharine Claringbull and we have started working on an outline. At a Foreign Residents’ Committee (of which I am a member and which gets me in contact with Mairie people) meeting, I mentioned the project to the Mayoresse  who was extremely interested and directed me to the person in charge of the commemoration events with whom I had a meeting. He actually suggested that we hold the event in the Salle des Rencontres with the Town Hall providing what they call a « pot de l’amitié » afterwards. This would definitely put Foal on the map and be a big plus in our search for permanent premises.

Whatever the venue, the date for this event is 23rd May so you can pencil it into your diaries. The event would take the form of a series of vignettes relating to the war, a quiz, WW1 songs  by the Ochoeur group, a slide show…… More nearer the time

 Comédie du Livre

For the 29th edition of the Comédie du Livre, literary festival, to be held on 23rd, 24th and 25th May 2014,
the City of Montpellier has decided to pay tribute to

Contemporary Nordic literature

During the three day event, some thirty Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish will be taking part in a very rich programme of meetings, round tables and lectures.

We are very fond of Jo Nesbo and were hoping he would be among the authors, unfortunately he is not but it might be possible to have a breakfast meeting with one of the authors as we did a couple of years ago. Will keep you informed.

 10 Best books of the decade

The Brief, Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Known World by Edward P Jones

The Corrections byJonathan Franzen

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

 Thanks to the determination of Art Fell, the above titles will soon be available alongside FOAL’s existing collection of the 100 Best Novels of the 20^th Century.  We also have other books by most of these authors in the library