Archives: Events

If you enjoy exploring all forms of textile and multimedia art, this activity is for you.

We experiment with many different techniques (embroidery, weaving, patchwork, quilting, collages…) and we take pleasure in sharing and exploring various types of work together.

Lately we have completed individual and shared projects which may be displayed.

No previous expertise required. Just come and join us!

Welcome to “Write Here, Write Now”!

Writing and sharing : join this series of workshops for people who love to write in English and don’t mind sharing what they’ve written (although this sharing is not mandatory). We’ll explore different themes and genres. Keenan Brown, a library volunteer, will guide you through different ways to stimulate your writing, keep you inspired, all in the company of lovers of literature.

“You can make anything by writing” (C.S. Lewis). Following Lewis’s invitation, let’s explore the world at large, as well as your own secret gardens through words…while discovering the unknown realms of the writing of others.

Workshops will be run Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the library once a month. They are free for library members (maximum of 10 participants). For more information and/or to sign up, please contact the group leader.

Anglofams is an international community designed to connect English-speaking families with kids of all ages in the area. Parents can share stories and resources, seek advice, and provide a casual, social environment for their children to meet other bilingual kids.

February’s meet up will be at Dreamland.  (Located in Centre commercial de l’Atoll between Intersport and Darty.)

This event is open to all library members.  Families are asked to cover their own cost of entrance.

To sign up, please e-mail the group leaders here. We kindly ask that you RSVP by January 27th.

Come and play (simple) Bridge (cardgame) at the library! Engage in a brain-stimulating sport: the Mini Bridge Exclusive Society. Discover, learn and play Mini Bridge in a relaxed, casual and informal ambiance. Mini Bridge, as developed by MBES allows and encourages

• conversations while playing the game,
• comments and remarks before, during and after the game,
• second thoughts,
• not taking oneself too seriously,

…in a nutshell, MBES (Mini Bridge Exclusive Society) proposes a different concept from the competing conventional Bridge Clubs.

Feel free to sign up and come and discover this new activity for library members! It is free and open to members of the library. Please contact the library to join!

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.

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41 years ago, the Fete de la Musique was launched in France, and has now gone global. Eight years ago, France launched a national festival called “La Nuit de la Lecture”.

The library is honored to be able to participate once again in this event which takes place in bookshops and libraries throughout France and runs over a couple of days to celebrate reading in general! Click here for full program in France.

The library’s event will highlight readings from 10 most-loved library books. Each reader will explain why they choose their book followed by a discussion period.

Free and open to the public, no reservation needed. Come and enjoy!

Pyjama party and story time for kids aged 4 to 8 years old! Come wearing your coziest pyjamas, bring a blanket and settle in for a story time in English followed by a snack.

This event is free and open to the public as a part of the program “La Nuit de la Lecture”. Spaces are limited. Reservations recommended at info@ellia.org.

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 “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

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.

For the 8th year in a row, the Film Club will organize group outings to a selection of films being shown as part of the Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers.

Mark your calendars!  The final film selection will be released on January 10th.  Check back in and if you’re interested in attending as part of the library’s group, you can sign up.  Please note all RSVP’s and payments will be due by January 12th.  The advantage to attending with the library is your spot will be guaranteed and you won’t need to wait in line!

This year there will be a large tribute to Ken Loach, who will be present for 2 days.

If you’re interested, you can find the festival’s full program on their website.

For more information on the Film Club’s selection, please contact the group leader.

The January read for the book club are “Foster” and “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan.

Foster :

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas’ house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom.

Small Things like these :

“It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.”     

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