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 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
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
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.
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 20th Century. We also have other books by most of these
authors in the library
