What the Dickens? 2023 Women’s Prize Winner

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 16 June 2023 > What's On

The UK’s 2023 Women’s Prize has been awarded to Barbara Kingsolver for Demon Copperhead, her retelling of Dickens’ David Copperfield set in modern-day Appalachia. She is the first author to win the prize twice, after winning in 2010 for The Lacuna. Kingsolver also received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Demon Copperhead. She was … Continue reading “What the Dickens? 2023 Women’s Prize Winner”

Matilda the Musical

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 19 January 2023 > Ready to Use

This A1+ worksheet is based on the trailer of the new Matilda musical, directed by Matthew Warchus and released on Netflix on 25 December 2022. It was adapted from Roald Dahl’s famous story and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Matilda the Musical. The story is faithful to Dahl’s orginal: Matilda Wormwood is an extraordinarly … Continue reading “Matilda the Musical”

Short List for the 2022 Booker Prize

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 21 September 2022 > What's On

The winner of the U.K.’s most prestigious literary prize, the Booker, will be announced on 15 October. The six authors on shortlist in the running for the prize are from the U.K., Ireland, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the U.S.A. Their books are overwhelmingly inspired by real historical events, from a terrible lynching in America to … Continue reading “Short List for the 2022 Booker Prize”

Festival America is Back!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 16 August 2022 > What's On

Festival America is usually a bi-annual celebration of the literature of the Americas in Vincennes (94). After two years of COVID cancellations, the festival is finally having its 10th edition celebrating 20 years from 22 to 25 September. The festival attracts large numbers of authors: 61 this year, mainly from the U.S. but also from … Continue reading “Festival America is Back!”

New Reading Guide: Brooklyn

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 09 August 2022 > Pedagogy

A new addition to the programme limitatif LLCER anglais Terminale is Brooklyn by Irish novelist Colm Tóibín (2009). It’s a very approachable novel covering themes of exile, homesickness, first love and personal choice. We’re preparing a Reading Guide for the novel, coming out just after the Toussaint holidays. Brooklyn is set in 1950s Ireland and … Continue reading “New Reading Guide: Brooklyn”

Paperback Festival in St Maur

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 22 June 2022 > What's On

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (94) is delighted to once again welcome dozens of authors from around the world to its festival St Maur en Poche from 24 to 26 June.  There will be lots of Anglophone authors present, including the inimitable Maggie O’Farrell, winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction for Hamnet, her imagining of the life … Continue reading “Paperback Festival in St Maur”

Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner 2022

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 17 June 2022 > What's On

Britain’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been awarded to a book narrated by a book. American-Canadian author Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel has the philosophical title The Book of Form and Emptiness, perhaps no surprise from an author who combines writing, teaching and being a Zen Buddhist priest. The teenage protagonist Benny finds the Book when … Continue reading “Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner 2022”

The Big Jubilee Read

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 13 April 2022 > Celebrate

Do some armchair travelling with the Big Jubilee Read: a list of 70 books, ten for each decade of Queen Elizabeth II’s record-breaking reign. As befits its head, the authors and settings range all over the Commonwealth: representing 31 countries on six continents. It includes eight Nobel Literature Laureates, and a lot of Booker Prize … Continue reading “The Big Jubilee Read”