Archives: Events

Join us for our ever-popular game night and pizza party! Cost is 7 euros (covers pizza and non-alcoholic drinks, 5 euros for native English speakers and children under 13). Event starts at 6 pm sharp. Last entry at 6:15 pm. No reservations necessary, just come and enjoy!

For music lovers who are not necessarily musicians, the library presents a series of sessions aimed at illustrating English Classical Music in its most beautiful forms. Each session will focus on a composer, with a short presentation of their work as well as listening to select pieces and videos. The point is to share comments and criticism as a group.

Free and open to all library members, for more information or to sign up please contact the group coordinator here.

The film club presents a film in English once a month on a Saturday afternoon. This showing will be of “The Full Monty”. The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo. The film is set in Sheffield, England and tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act (à la Chippendale dancers) in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for the main character, Gaz, to be able to see his son. Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go “the full monty”—strip all the way—hence the film’s title. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers’ rights, depression, impotence, homosexuality, body image, working class culture and suicide. Watch the trailer here.

Screening begins at 3 o’clock sharp and will be followed by a discussion in English. This activity is free and open to all library members. If possible, please reserve by signing up at the front desk. 

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

The November read for the group is A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler. This lyrical and poignant collection of stories about the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its impact on the Vietnamese was acclaimed by critics across the nation and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Each story in the collection is narrated by a different Vietnamese immigrant living in the US state of Louisiana. The stories are largely character-driven, with cultural differences between Vietnam and the United States as an important theme. The collection was re-released in 2001 with two additional stories, “Salem” and “Missing”.

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.

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 library members. No need to reserve, just come and enjoy! If anyone has some extra yarn please bring it in.

Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything (in English of course!) over a cup of coffee or tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

For music lovers who are not necessarily musicians, the library presents a series of sessions aimed at illustrating English Classical Music in its most beautiful forms. Each session will focus on a composer, with a short presentation of their work as well as listening to select pieces and videos. The point is to share comments and criticism as a group.

Free and open to all library members, for more information or to sign up please contact the group coordinator here.

Do you love French food and restaurants? Would you like to speak English more, but in a relaxed environment? Join the Luncheon Club! Enjoy a meal and great conversation in English once a month at a local restaurant. This activity is open to library members. For more information or to sign up, please contact the group coordinator here.

Treat yourself to an afternoon of a collective reading of one of Shakespeare’s plays. 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. Free and open to all library members, for more information or to sign-up please contact the group coordinator here.

Come to another exciting event at the English-language Library: “Burgess’s Innocence: Writing The Black Prince”.

In an interview in the 1970s, Anthony Burgess talked about his plan to write novel about the Black Prince. After reading the interview, Roberts was intrigued to find out what of this novel Burgess had left behind. It turns out that he had written a screenplay on the Black Prince that was never turned into a film. After reading the screenplay, Roberts decided to try to turn it into the novel that never was. “The Black Prince” was published by crowd-funded publisher Unbound in 2018. It tells the story of Edward of Woodstock, son of King Edward III and father of Richard II, who spent is life fighting in the Hundred Years’ War. “It’s a stylistic pastiche that is far more than a tribute act – as though Roberts has dismantled the clockwork that made Burgess tick and reassembled it in a new form.” – The Guardian. Click here for the review in goodreads.

Adam Roberts has made a name for himself as a Science Fiction novelist, a literary critic, and a professor. He received his Master’s in English from Aberdeen University and his PhD from Cambridge. He teaches literature and creative writing at Royal Holloway University of London. He has published over 40 books ranging from novels to short story collections to parodies to literary criticism, along with numerous articles and blogs. His most notable works include Jack Glass (2012), Salt (2001), Gradisil (2007) By Light Alone (2011), and Yellow Blue Tibia (2010).

This talk is free and open to the public. No reservations necessary, but seating is limited. This event has been sponsored by the CIRPaLL, research group at the University of Angers.