Archives : Évènements

WORD FOR WORD, the theater company from San Francisco which transforms short stories into great theater will be presenting ”Stories by Lucia Berlin” directed by Nancy Shelby and JoAnne Winter. The performance will include 5 stories: “Her first detox”, “Emergency room notebook 1977”, “Unmanageable”, “502” et “Here it is Saturday”…all available at the library for those who would like to read them beforehand.

Lucia Berlin (1936-2004) published 77 short stories during her lifetime. Most, but not all, were collected in three volumes from Black Sparrow Press: Homesick (1991), So Long (1993), and Where I Live Now (1999). These gathered from previous collections of 1980, 1984, and 1987, and presented newer work. Early publication commenced when she was twenty-four, in Saul Bellow’s journal The Noble Savage and in The New Strand. Later stories appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, New American Writing, and countless smaller magazines. Homesick won an American Book Award. Berlin worked brilliantly but sporadically throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and most of the 1980s. By the late ’80s, her four sons were grown and she had overcome a lifelong problem with alcoholism (her accounts of its horrors, its drunk tanks and DTs and occasional hilarity, occupy a particular corner of her work). Thereafter she remained productive up to the time of her early death.

Shows are on Wednesday, April 18th at 8 pm & Thursday, April 19th at either 2 or 8 pm at the Quart’Ney, Maison de quartier associative, 5/9 Ernest Eugène Duboys à Angers.

Limited seating available so we highly recommend that you reserve early. To reserve, simply send an email by clicking here or give the library a call at 02.41.24.97.07. Donations will be accepted at the door.

Word for Word’s mission is to “tell great stories with elegant theatricality, staging performances of classic and contemporary fiction”. Made possible by the generous support of the Florence Gould Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Photo 1: The Author, Lucia Berlin – Albuquerque, New Mexico,1962. Photo: Buddy Berlin (© 2015 Literary Estate of Lucia Berlin LP)

Photo 2: L-R Indiia Wilmott, Norman Gee, Jeri Lynn Cohen, Gendell Hernández, Ryan Williams French.”Good times in the Chevy Corsair.” Word for Word’s Lucia Berlin: Stories; photo credit, Julie Schuchard.

The pizza and board games evening is scheduled one Tuesday a month from 6-8 pm. Cost is 7 euros (covers pizza and non-alcoholic drinks, 5 euros for children 12 and under and native English speakers). No reservations necessary, just come and enjoy!

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people.

The April read  for the group is “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer. On September 6, 1992, Christopher McCandless’ body was found inside an abandoned bus in Alaska. One year later, author Jon Krakauer retraced McCandless’ steps during the two years between college graduation and his demise in Alaska. McCandless shed his legal name early in his journey, adopting the moniker “Alexander Supertramp”, after H. Davies. He spent time in Carthage, South Dakota, laboring for months in a grain elevator owned by Wayne Westerberg before hitchhiking to Alaska. Krakauer interprets McCandless’ intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau and McCandless’ favorite writer, Jack London. He explores the similarities between McCandless’ experiences and motivations, and his own as a young man, recounting in detail Krakauer’s own attempt to climb Devils Thumb in Alaska. Krakauer also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah desert during 1934, at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless’ parents, sister Carine, and friends.

When and where: Meetings will be held in the library once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3:00. Cost: FREE to all members of the library. To join: Please contact Anne Kaar at bookgroup@ellia.org

Treat yourself to an afternoon of a collective reading of Shakespeare’s Henry the Fourth. This activity consists of watching a BBC production on DVD and then reading relative scenes. This is a great activity for lovers of language and fans of the great wit. The activity is free for library members. Please sign up at the front desk.

Come along and bring your knitting,
Have a natter while you’re sitting,
Or learn to knit with wool provided,
Needles loaned and stitches guided.
Knitted garments are très chic,
So be in vogue and start this week.

Knit and natter is a free activity open to all members. No need to reserve, just come and enjoy yourself!

This is a special moment when the community gathers together to talk about everything and anything (…in English of course!) and sips coffee and tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop in, no need to reserve!