Archives: Events

Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything…in English of course! For the time being, we are inviting everyone to come and socialize but will not be serving drinks in order to keep everyone safe! This is Coffee House with a “hold the coffee” protocol! Things will get better but meanwhile no coffee or tea!

Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

The library is holding its first Recycled Art Contest and invites everyone to create art from materials destined for the recycling or trash bins. Artwork must be made from recyclables or trash and be a maximum of 2 feet square. All the pieces must be secured with no sharp edges. Artwork with entry forms attached must be submitted before deadline date of June 5th. Artwork will be displayed in the library’s front window until June 11th.

Click here for entry forms.

On Saturday, March 27, meet the artist Warren Podguszer between 2 pm and 6 pm! He will give you a tour of his unique Art Show “Comme une furieuse envie de vivre” and will answer your questions! His exhibit, which will be up until May 4, is free and open to the public during opening hours.

Warren Podguszer or “Wawapod”, is 29 years old and lives in Paris. He has been practicing street photography for 6 years. At the beginning of his artistic journey, he created works of art digitally using images and photos. However, very quickly, he felt the urge to work with canvas. He equates painting to cooking, even if he doesn’t really know how to cook. When he paints, he has the impression that he takes ingredients he loves, here and there, and then mixes them to create a dish that makes him feel good!

Through his art, he aims to share nostalgic memories with the public. He tries, most of the time, with a range of colors, to bring to life characters that made us dream during our childhood. He takes great pleasure in creating worlds that mix references from our past or our present. The idea behind his art is also to provoke different reactions from the public by adding sentences to make people think, laugh or to denounce an issue. Passionate about art, he enjoys integrating iconic works of art into his style.

Like a journey inside his head, through his thoughts, dreams and inspirations.

Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything…in English of course! For the time being, we are inviting everyone to come and socialize but will not be serving drinks in order to keep everyone safe! This is Coffee House with a “hold the coffee” protocol! Things will get better but meanwhile no coffee or tea!

Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

If you would like to do textile arts while speaking in English, this activity is for you!

Participants will create textile pieces of their choice using any technique that suits them: embroidery, patchwork, quilting, weaving, collages. Our 2021 project is underway and is to create around 30 squares. It will also be an opportunity for each person to learn new techniques. Join us and contribute to this unique project!

Covid protocol require that you bring your own materials. Open to library members. If possible, please sign up at the front desk.

Feel like you need some air! Believe us, we hear you! Get on those hiking boots and take some time to revel in the great outdoors! The Walk and Talk committee organises an easy walk once a month – (approximately 10 km, 4 hours in the afternoon) in order to discover or re-discover the beautiful hiking paths of the Maine-et-Loire. Come along with good walking shoes, protection against rain, cold or heat according to the season… a bottle of water and a little “en-cas” to keep you going! Maximum group is 20 so be sure to sign up!

Open to library members only. Sign up by sending your name, email address and phone number (preferably cell phone) to the group leader by clicking here. You will be sent full details for the upcoming walk.

Looking for a way to get organised, stimulate yourself and reach for your dreams while expressing your creativity? This 2-hour step-by-step workshop is for you. What is a bullet journal? Check out the description here (https://www.tinyrayofsunshine.com/about-me)!

Jade, a student studying English at the Université d’Angers and library volunteer, has been bullet journaling for four years and is excited about sharing with others how to practice this marvelous concept ! All you need to do is to sign up, bring any notebook of your choice (blank, lined, dotted…), some pens or any supplies you like and get ready to create your new next best friend (on paper). This is not a diary or an agenda but creativity unbound to inspire you, to keep track of your past, organize your present and plan for your future. Your bullet journal will become your new safe space to pull everything together : your own bujo, your own rules and the ones you want to break !

Sign up by emailing info@ellia.org Free workshop for all. Max 7.

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

The March read for the group is The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Four mothers, four daughters, four families, whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who’s telling the stories. In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss and new hope for their daughters’ futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers’ advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives – until their own inner crises reveal how much they’ve unknowingly inherited of their mothers’ pasts.

With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.

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.

The March read for the book club is “Daphné” by Justine Picardie.

It is 1957. As Daphne du Maurier wanders alone through her remote mansion on the Cornish coast, she is haunted by thoughts of her failing marriage and the legendary heroine of her most famous novel, “Rebecca”, who now seems close at hand. Seeking distraction, she becomes fascinated by Branwell, the reprobate brother of the Bronte sisters, and begins a correspondence with the enigmatic scholar Alex Symington in which truth and fiction combine. Meanwhile, in present day London, a lonely young woman struggles with her thesis on du Maurier and the Brontes and finds herself retreating from her distant husband into a fifty-year old literary mystery.

To join the book club please send an email to the group coordinator here.