Garden Club visit
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On Thursday afternoon, June 5th, the Garden Club will visit the Arboretum in Angers. You can find information about the Arboretum here. This guided visit will take place in English. The cost of the visit will vary depending on the number of people attending but it should be no more than 12€. If needed, we can try to arrange a ride for you. We always plan lunch at a nearby restaurant before each garden visit, and you are welcome to bring snacks to enjoy afterward. If you would like more information about this activity, or if you would like to join us for the visit (or the visit + lunch), send an email to GardenClub@ellia.org. Future Garden Visits:
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*Date change* Saturday Reading Group
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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 « Mr. Wilder and Me » by Jonathan Coe. 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. Please note: the library will be closed on this day, so we will meet as a group in front of the library at 3:00 PM before walking together to a nearby café for our discussion.
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Angers Literary Festival: Possible Futures
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Our future is full of more questions than answers right now. How can we protect our democracies? How can we fight for human rights in a social media landscape filled with misinformation? How can we cope with climate change and ever-worsening wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts? Who should we listen to when deciding how to live ethically in response to today’s challenges? We have little precedent for how to answer questions like these. And all too often, when we turn to television or film, we find grim, stark, and dystopian portrayals of the future. That is why we need stories about other possible futures to tell ourselves and our children. We are proud to present the 2025 Angers Literary Festival, where we will hear from six thinkers on this topic. France 24’s Erin Ogunkeye will help lead the day. Amanda Bankert will talk about how veganism and food politics are changing in France and globally. Amy Plum will delve into how inclusivity and identity in young adult fiction is continuing to grow and evolve. Daniel Levin Becker will tell us about Indivisible Cities, a project from the French literary collective Oulipo that created fictional representations of cities under climate pressure and the role narratives play in advancing climate action. Kristina Kearns will explore the reality that even though only a narrow group of people is able to get published, the opportunity to experiment is more accessible than ever before. And Barbara Diggs will share how the history of Civil Rights era marches, boycotts, and strikes could continue to shape our politics in the present and future. At a time when we are facing unprecedented attacks on our access to knowledge, libraries remain a safe harbor for the free exchange of diverse voices and ideas. We believe in the power of books and conversations to inspire and shape the future we’ll share tomorrow. We are honored to announce that our festival will be supported by The de Groot Foundation which believes free speech and civil discourse are essential tools for exploring the defining issues of our times.
We hope you will join us for a day that will be filled with fascinating, illuminating, and hopeful discussions about our possible futures. Discover the « Possible Futures » Program Learn about our 2025 Featured Speakers This in-person only event is free and open to the public. Registration is required as space is limited. |
Reading Shakespeare
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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. The number of participants is limited. |
Take your TOEIC test
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The library is an authorised test center for the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test (the Test of English for International Communication). For more information please visit our TOEIC page or to sign up go to the official ETS website.
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Walk and Talk
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Get on those hiking boots and take some time to revel in the great outdoors! The group « Walk and Talk » organises an easy walk once a month – approximately 10 km, 2 to 3 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 your stamina up ! Maximum group is 20 so make sure to sign up! Want to sign up? Easy as pie!Sign up by sending your name, email address and phone numbers (perferably cell phone) to this email address. You will be sent full details of the walk in due time. |
Book Club reads « Once Were Warriors »
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The May read for the book club is « Once Were Warriors » by Alan Duff. The Book Club is full for the 2024-2025 year. If you would like to join the waiting list, please send an e-mail to reception. We also invite you to consider joining Books and Tea or Saturday Reading Group!
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Come and discover Angers’ Twin Cities
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Did you know that Angers is twinned with 10 different cities around the world? Each year, the city welcomes young ambassadors to live and work in Angers, helping to strengthen global partnerships and share their culture with local Angevins.
This lively and interactive event will include time for Q&A, so bring your curiosity and questions! |
Join us for an engaging presentation in English with Mishell Magnus-Ducloux from Austin, Texas, USA and Wanda Flemming from Osnabrück, Germany. They’ll introduce you to Angers’ sister cities in Germany and the United States, sharing stories of history, culture, politics, and current events — along with a bit about their own personal backgrounds.Garden Club visit
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On Thursday afternoon, May 15th, the Garden Club will visit the Jardin des Arcands located in Segré en Anjou Bleu. You can find information about this garden on their website at www.LesJardinsDesArcands.fr. The guided visit will take place in “Franglais” – that is the owner promises tell as much as she can in English with the rest in French. The cost of the visit is 10€ and if needed, we can try to arrange a ride for you. We always plan lunch at a nearby restaurant before each garden visit, and you are welcome to bring snacks to enjoy afterward. If you would like more information about this activity, or if you would like to join us for the visit (or the visit + lunch), send an email to GardenClub@ellia.org. Future Garden Visits:
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Angers Literary Festival: Writing Workshop
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To imagine the future, we must first understand the stories that shaped us. Join us for a writing workshop led by our 2025 Angers Literary Festival moderator Michelle Crowell. During the workshop, Michelle and the participants will go through a passage from Tara Westover’s acclaimed memoir Educated. They will then do a writing exercise on a technique from the passage. Michelle Crowell is an American writer and educator based in Nantes, France. She is pursuing a PhD in American Literature and holds a Master’s in General and Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic. She is currently finishing a memoir. This workshop is free and open to the public. Space is limited to 15 participants, so be sure to register in advance!
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