Parisot Literary Festival.
The third weekend in October will once again set Parisot
abuzz with book lovers as the 6th literary festival takes place on 19, 20 &
21 October. There is something for all tastes this year, with a diverse programme
that includes history, fiction, literary crime, art and an award-winning
playwright.
We have two fantastic historians talking about their latest,
fascinating books: Clare Mulley’s ”The Women who Flew for Hitler” explores the
lives of two extraordinary women whose skills put them at the heart of the
Third Reich but whose choices meant they ended their lives on opposite sides of
history. Richard Vinen is Professor of History at Kings College London and his
book “The Long ’68” examines the volatile period of social unrest which started
as a protest by students at the Sorbonne and quickly spread to include massive
national strikes. At its height, around ten million French workers went on
strike and the whole state teetered on the brink of collapse. The protests
created such fear that De Gaulle secretly fled France for a few hours, and his
wife permanently expatriated her jewellery collection.
We always include at least one debut novelist in the
Festilitt line-up: Mary Lynn Bracht's hard- hitting debut “White Chrysanthemum"
explores a little-told chapter in Korean and Japanese history - the abduction
of Korean women to be used as 'comfort women' for the Japanese army. It tells
the story of two sisters, Hana and Emi, separated by the second world war as Hani
rescues Emi from a Japanese soldier, is captured herself and forced into a
military brothel in Manchuria.
Graeme Macrae Burnet is best-known for his
Booker-shortlisted novel “His Bloody Project” and he joins us to discuss his
two French-set literary crime novels “The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau” and
“The Accident on the A35” which pay homage to Georges Simenon's ‘Maigret’.
We also welcome our first ever graphic novelist, Nick Hayes,
whose stunningly beautiful book, “The Drunken Sailor” traces the life of the French
poet, surrealist and gun runner, Arthur Rimbaud; following him from his
childhood in the Ardennes to the absinthe-soaked hedonism of the Parisian gay
and literary scenes, to his flight to Egypt, Yemen and Indonesia.
Finally, in another festival first, we will be in
conversation with award-winning playwright Mike Poulton about how he translates
thrilling fiction into thrilling theatre. Mike adapted Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf
Hall” and "Bring up the Bodies” and Robert Harris’s “Cicero trilogy” for
the Royal Shakespeare Company.
We will also have our usual second-hand book sale with
hundreds of recent books in great condition, at very low prices. If you have
any books you can donate, please email maggietallentire@live.fr
For more details on the authors, please visit our website www.festilitt.com
If you want to join the Festival dinner on Saturday night or
lunch with the authors on Saturday and/or Sunday you must reserve. Please email
info@festilitt.com
