Events - 23 Mar 24

The library, the English Speaking Union and the Maison de l’Europe are pleased to invite the general public to the French National Public Speaking Competition in English for high school students on Saturday, March 23rd starting at 2 pm.

High school students from schools in the Pays de la Loire will be competing to represent France in the International Public Speaking Competition, organized by the English Speaking Union to take place in London this May.

The library is proud to help empower these young students! Please contact the library for more information and to sign up as a spectator at info@ellia.org or 02.41.24.97.07. This event is free and open to the public.

The film club presents a film in English once a month on a Saturday afternoon.

This showing will be of Mr. Turner, a 2014 biographical drama film based on the last 25 years of the life of artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the film stars Timothy Spall in the title role, with Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Jesson, Marion Bailey, Lesley Manville, and Martin Savage. It premiered in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where Spall won the award for Best Actor and Dick Pope received a special jury prize for the film’s cinematography.

The film was critically acclaimed and received four nominations each at the 87th Academy Awards and 68th British Academy Film Awards.

Watch the trailer here.

Due to the length of this film, screening this month will begin at 2:30pm and will be followed by a discussion in English. This activity is free and open to all library members.

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people. For this meeting, the group will read “Dear Mrs Bird” by AJ Pearce.

A charming, irresistible debut novel set in London during World War II about an adventurous young woman who becomes a secret advice columnist.

London 1940, bombs are falling. Emmy Lake is Doing Her Bit for the war effort, volunteering as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Services. When Emmy sees an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle, her dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent seem suddenly achievable. But the job turns out to be typist to the fierce and renowned advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Emmy is disappointed, but gamely bucks up and buckles down.

Mrs Bird is very clear: Any letters containing Unpleasantness—must go straight in the bin. But when Emmy reads poignant letters from women who are lonely, may have Gone Too Far with the wrong men and found themselves in trouble, or who can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she is unable to resist responding. As the German planes make their nightly raids, and London picks up the smoldering pieces each morning, Emmy secretly begins to write letters back to the women of all ages who have spilled out their troubles.

Prepare to fall head over heels with Emmy and her best friend, Bunty, who are spirited and gutsy, even in the face of events that bring a terrible blow. As the bombs continue to fall, the irrepressible Emmy keeps writing, and readers are transformed by AJ Pearce’s hilarious, heartwarming, and enormously moving tale of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Meetings are once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3 pm. Open to all library members. To sign up please contact the group coordinator at bookgroup@ellia.org.