Ben Crystal at the RWB

A TESOL reminder for this Monday at the RWB Ben Crystal and Shakespeare on Toast!

Dear TESOL France and Friends,

One of our plenary speakers, Ben Crystal, has decided he likes Paris so much that he's going to stick around one more day after the conference to do a reading from his book: "Shakespeare on Toast" at the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in the Marais! The TESOL France crew agrees: this is a pretty cool book.

When: Monday, November 29th at 4:30pm
Where: Red Wheelbarrow, 22 rue Saint Paul, 75004 Paris
How: Metro: Saint Paul
Why: Cause you really like Shakespeare and/or need a crash course.

What's Toast?
"Shakespeare on Toast" knocks the stuffing from the staid old myth of Shakespeare, revealing the man and his plays for what they really are: modern, thrilling and uplifting drama. Author Ben Crystal brings the bright words and colourful characters of the world's greatest hack writer to life, handing over the key to Shakespeare's plays, unlocking the so-called difficult bits and, astonishingly, finding Shakespeare's own voice amid the poetry. Told in five Acts, "Shakespeare on Toast" sweeps the cobwebs from the Bard - from his language, his life, his time - revealing both the man and his work to be relevant, accessible and full of beans. This is a book for everyone, whether you're reading Shakespeare for the first time, occasionally find him troublesome, think you know him backwards, or have never set foot near one of his plays but have always wanted to.

Who: Some tidbits about Ben Crystal:
He is an actor and a writer. He studied English Language and Linguistics at Lancaster University before training at Drama Studio London. He has worked in TV, film and theatre, including the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe, London. He is a narrator for RNIB Talking Books, Channel 4 and the BBC. He co-wrote "Shakespeare's Words" (Penguin 2002) and" The Shakespeare Miscellany" (Penguin 2005) with David Crystal, and his first solo book, "Shakespeare on Toast – Getting a Taste for the Bard" was published in 2008. He regularly gives workshops on performing and speaking Shakespeare.

So if you like (or miss) his Plenary on Sunday November 28th fear not! You'll get a second chance on Monday November 29th at 4:30pm at the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in the Marais. 22 rue Saint Paul, 75004 Paris. Metro Saint Paul.

See you at the Conference AND at the reading of "Toast!"

Sincerely,

The dedicated volunteers of TESOL France

Amanda Vickery presents Behind Closed Doors, At Home in Georgian England, November 26, 2010, at Université Paris-Diderot, Institut d'Anglais Charles V

The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore, Ariane Fennetaux, (Université Paris 7-Denis Diderot :Institut d'Etudes Anglophones Charles V) and Yale University Press are very pleased that Amanda Vickery will be presenting and signing copies of her book Behind Closed Doors, At Home in Georgian England - at 10, rue Charles V. 75004 Paris at 4:30 pm on Friday, November 26th.


Shortlisted for the 2009 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History: Behind Closed Doors was highly commended by the judges of the Hessell-Tiltman prize and described as "outstanding in every way."

In this brilliant new work, Amanda Vickery unlocks the homes of Georgian England to examine the lives of the people who lived there. Writing with her customary wit and verve, she introduces us to men and women from all walks of life: gentlewoman Anne Dormer in her stately Oxfordshire mansion, bachelor clerk and future novelist Anthony Trollope in his dreary London lodgings, genteel spinsters keeping up appearances in two rooms with yellow wallpaper, servants with only a locking box to call their own.

Vickery makes ingenious use of upholsterer’s ledgers, burglary trials, and other unusual sources to reveal the roles of house and home in economic survival, social success, and political representation during the long eighteenth century. Through the spread of formal visiting, the proliferation of affordable ornamental furnishings, the commercial celebration of feminine artistry at home, and the currency of the language of taste, even modest homes turned into arenas of social campaign and exhibition.

Amanda Vickery is professor of history, Royal Holloway University of London, and the author of The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England, which won the Whitfield, Wolfson, and Longman History Today prizes.

John Lichfield, Our Man in Paris book launch December 9th, 2010

Since 1997 John Lichfield, The Independent’s correspondent in France, has been sending dispatches back to the newspaper in London. More than transient news stories, the popular ‘Our Man in Paris’ series consists of essays on all things French. Sometimes serious, at other times light-hearted, they offer varied vignettes of life in the hexagone and trace the author’s evolving relationship with his adopted country.

Many of Lichfield’s themes concern the mysteries of Paris and its people. Who is responsible for the city’s extraordinary plumbing? How can you drive around the Arc de Triomphe and survive? He also ponders the phenomena that intrigue many foreigners, such as the eloquence of the capital’s beggars and the identity of the intimidating but fast disappearing concierge. Visiting places as different as the Musée d’Orsay and Disneyland, he explores culture high and low as well as the everyday pleasures and problems of living in Paris.

Leaving the capital, the dispatches also cover provincial France, especially a part of rural Normandy where the author has a house. Here he writes of a dysfunctional farmer neighbour, the difficulties of tending an ‘English’ lawn and the threat of a new high-speed road development to his tiny commune.

Nor are more general aspects of French society ignored. A section deals with politics, examining the Sarkozy phenomenon as well as anti-French sentiment in the United States, while another follows the author’s children through the bureaucratic French education system. Predictably, there are pieces on French food and restaurants, while Lichfield also guides the reader through the linguistic minefield of tu and vous as well as exposing the continuing spectre of the German Occupation and collaboration.

Our Man in Paris is a highly readable account of our nearest neighbours and their idiosyncracies. Perceptive and affectionate, it provides a wealth of insights into France and the French.

John Lichfield has been with The Independent since its launch in 1986. He was previously US correspondent and Foreign Editor. In 1999 he was named Foreign Reporter of the year in the UK Press Awards for his dispatches from France. He was born in Stoke on Trent in 1949 and educated in Macclesfield and Cambridge. He is married with three children.

Don 't miss the book launch of 'Our Man in Paris' on December 9th from 6pm to 8pm at The Red Wheelbarrow Bookshop. All are welcome.