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”

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!”

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”

2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 09 September 2021 > What's On

The 2021 UK Women’s Prize for Fiction has been won by Susanna Clarke for Piranesi, only her second novel, published 16 years after her immensely popular Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Like its predecessor, Piranesi is an experimental novel in the realm of fantasy. Piranesi lives alone in an immense labyrinthine house surrounded by sea. … Continue reading “2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner”

Carson McCullers on the LLCER Reading List

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 26 July 2021 > Pedagogy

One new book has been added to the programme limitatif for LLCER anglais: Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940). McCullers is often associated with Southern Gothic, along with authors like Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and Harper Lee. The author was born Lula Carson Smith in Georgia in 1917. The Heart is a … Continue reading “Carson McCullers on the LLCER Reading List”

Bringing the Underground Railroad to the Screen

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 16 July 2021 > What's On

African-American author Colson Whitehead and film director Barry Jenkins both made the same mistake when they were children and first heard about the Underground Railroad. The historical Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped slaves escape from the American South to freedom in the northern states or Canada. Both Whitehead and Jenkins pictured … Continue reading “Bringing the Underground Railroad to the Screen”

What’s Inside? Reading Guide: To Kill a Mockingbird

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 05 July 2021 > Pedagogy

In our series of author videos presenting our Reading Guides, here’s To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee presented by its author Lynda Itouchène.   Find out more about the guide on the site compagnon.