Supreme icon

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 17 October 2018 > What's On

The contentious nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court makes him the new colleague of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aka Notorious R.B.G.. She is a feminist and pop culture icon and the subject of a documentary just released in cinemas. Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court was the most contentious nomination process in … Continue reading “Supreme icon”

Festival America: Reading Ideas for Literature Classes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 17 October 2018 > Pedagogy

Cécile Sempere-Brun recommends: The Verdun Affair, by Nick Dybeck A novel about love and loss, forgetting and remembering. Reading A Verdun Affair is like travelling through space and time. The novel is set immediately after WWI, in France and Italy, as well as against the more glamorous background of 1950s Los Angeles. As the story … Continue reading “Festival America: Reading Ideas for Literature Classes”

“The Mothers”, a Coming-of-Age Story

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 17 October 2018 > What's On

We asked several teachers and authors who attended Festival America book festival in Vincennes in September to give us their favourite picks amongst the authors and books they encountered. Isabelle Brefort, who teaches at Lycée Jean-Baptiste Corot, Savigny-sur-Orge (91), recommends: The Mothers by Brit Bennett Can a secret ruin lives? Can our choices shape our … Continue reading ““The Mothers”, a Coming-of-Age Story”

“The Verdun Affair”, Love and Loss in WWI

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 17 October 2018 > What's On

We asked several teachers and authors who attended Festival America book festival in Vincennes in September to give us their favourite picks amongst the authors and books they encountered. Cécile Sempéré-Brun, who teaches at Lycée Raynouard, Brignoles (83), recommends: The Verdun Affair, by Nick Dybeck A novel about love and loss, forgetting and remembering. Reading … Continue reading ““The Verdun Affair”, Love and Loss in WWI”

“The Barrowfields”, a Haunting Family Tale from North Carolina

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 17 October 2018 > What's On

We asked several teachers and authors who attended Festival America book festival in Vincennes in September to give us their favourite picks amongst the authors and books they encountered. Gerald Kenny, who teaches at Lycée Saint-Sernin, Toulouse (31), recommends: The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis Nobody gets the parents they deserve, and Henry Aster is no … Continue reading ““The Barrowfields”, a Haunting Family Tale from North Carolina”

Filming “First Man”

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 16 October 2018 > What's On

How do you make a biopic about one of the most famous men of the twentieth century but who was famously private and discreet? There can be few people on the planet who don’t know who Neil Armstrong was, or rather what he did. But do many of us even know what the astronaut looked … Continue reading “Filming “First Man””

Black Power at the 1968 Olympics Fifty Years On

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 16 October 2018 > Celebrate

Fifty years after the Mexico Olympics, when African-American medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a Black Power salute to protest at discrimination, all three men on the podium that day have been recognised for their courage. On 16 October, 1968, two American sprinters made a symbolic gesture that became an iconic image of fight … Continue reading “Black Power at the 1968 Olympics Fifty Years On”

Game On Down Under

Posted by Speakeasy News > Sunday 14 October 2018 > Celebrate Shine Bright Lycée

The Invictus Games, initiated by Prince Harry for injured service people, is in Sydney, Australia for its fourth edition from 20 to 27 October. It is especially poignant in the weeks before the commemoration of the end of the First World War. Prince Harry served in the British Armed Forces for ten years. In 2013, … Continue reading “Game On Down Under”

Basquiat by Vuitton

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 12 October 2018 > What's On

Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most remarkable American painters of his generation is the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, from October 3, 2018 to January 14, 2019. From 1980 to 1988, Jean-Michel Basquiat managed to impose his underground style in the streets of New York, a city where hip-hop, graffiti and … Continue reading “Basquiat by Vuitton”

Brothers Out-laws…

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 08 October 2018 > What's On

Well known for slow-burn, humanistic character study films, who would have thought that for his English-language debut, Jacques Audiard would have chosen one of the most characteristically American of genres, the Western? Adapted by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain from Patrick deWitt’s 2011 novel, The Sisters Brothers reinvents the Western in a sensitive story about … Continue reading “Brothers Out-laws…”