English-language Library in Angers

The first annual Angers Literary Festival will take place on September 23, 2023 from 10 am-5 pm at the Salons Curnonsky in downtown Angers. Free and open to the public, the festival will feature Paris-based American authors Ajiri Aki, Amanda Dennis, Kate Gavino, Jake Lamar, and Lindsey Tramuta. You can learn more about our fantastic line-up below. Although this event is free, we ask that you RSVP, so we can get an accurate headcount.

The festival is being held by the English-language Library in Angers with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America, France.

Program for the day :

10-10:45 am–the festival begins with a warm welcome from the Embassy of the United States of America, France and the city of Angers.

Audrey Chapuis, Director of the American Library of Paris will speak about the future of libraries.

11 am-12 pm—Jake Lamar will speak about his new novel Viper’s Dream and living and writing as an American in France.

12-2 pm lunch break and book sale

2-3 pm—Amanda Dennis and Kate Gavino will speak about having dual identities as a writer–Amanda as both an academic and a novelist and Kate as both a writer and an illustrator.

3-4 pm–Lindsey Tramuta and Ajiri Aki will talk about the women who are redefining Paris and how the city inspires their work.

4-4:30 pm–book signing

4-5:30 pm–Meet and greet with the authors (wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided)

Guest speakers and authors :

AUDREY CHAPUIS is the Director of the American Library in Paris. She has worked in libraries for close to twenty years, including posts at Widener Library in the Harvard College Library system and the Pritzker Legal Research Center at the Northwestern University School of Law. She received her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois in 2006 and her Executive MBA from HEC Paris in 2022. She is a passionate advocate for digital literacy, intellectual freedom, open access in scholarly publishing, and community building through cultural programming.

AJIRI AKI is the founder of Madame de la Maison, an entertaining and lifestyle brand that has been featured in Vogue, Domino, Remodelista, Grazia, and Metropolitan Magazine. She is the co-author of the New York Times best-selling Where’s Karl? A Fashion-Forward Parody about Karl Lagerfeld. Her most recent book is Joie: A Parisian’s Guide to Celebrating the Good Life. She was featured in Lindsey Tramuta’s book The New Parisienne.

AMANDA DENNIS is a Paris-based professor and author. She released two books in 2021–the novel Her Here, as well as a non-fiction book on Samuel Beckett, called Beckett and Embodiment: Body, Space, Agency. She has written for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, and Paris Lit Up. She is the recipient of a Whited Fellowship in creative writing and spent a year as a Princeton in Asia fellow in Thailand. She is an assistant professor of comparative literature and creative writing at the American University of Paris.

KATE GAVINO is a writer and illustrator. She is the author of three illustrated books: Last Night’s Reading (2015), Sanpaku (2018), and A Career in Books (2022). Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, the Believer, the Washington Post, and more.

JAKE LAMAR is a Paris-based writer. After graduating from Harvard University, he spent six years writing for Time magazine. He has lived in Paris since 1993 and teaches creative writing at Sciences Po. He is the author of a memoir, seven novels, numerous essays, reviews and short stories, and a play. His most recent work, Viper’s Dream, is set in the jazz world of Harlem between 1936 and 1961. He is a recipient of the Lyndhurst Prize (for his first book, Bourgeois Blues), France’s Grand Prize for best foreign thriller (for his novel The Last Integrationist), and a Beaumarchais fellowship for his play Brothers in Exile. He is currently working on a memoir about his life in Paris.