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The Alliance strives to provide a full range of activities for its members, students and guests: from French films to lectures to wine tastings and cooking classes, as well as art, photographic and didactic exhibits, and social events, including conversational get-togethers. For more details, call 713 526-1121. |
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Events |
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Contact us by E-mail at frenchalliance@sbcglobal.net
Alliance Française de Houston Phone: 713-526-1121
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The Wine School at the Alliance
By Charles M. “Bear” Dalton of Spec’s
The Wine School continues classes at the Alliance this Spring and Summer. Please call Bear Dalton’s office at Spec’s, 713 526-8787, for details on classes and reservations.
Click here to see the Houston Chronicle’s video of Bear Dalton, caught in a calm moment at the wildly successful Rodeo Houston Wine Auction, as he explains how to taste wine.
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BOOKS Thanks to Scottish novelist Peter May, for his wonderful presentation and reading at the Alliance on March 4. The internationally acclaimed thriller and mystery writer and former journalist lives in France with his wife, writer Janice Hally. The evening was enhanced by a tasting of wines of the region, especially the Gaillac wine Domaine Sarabelle Saint-André, which was tasted for the FIRST time in Houston. This wine and the Gaillac region are featured in Peter’s latest book, The Critic. The wine was a hit, and will be on the shelves at Spec’s in about 6 weeks.
May is best known for his series of China Thrillers, set in contemporary China, which feature a clash of cultures and personalities between a complex and acerbic American doctor and a wry and enigmatic Chinese policeman, as they work together-with two distinctly different approaches- to solve the crimes they are investigating.
His new series, the Enzo Macleod files, is set in France, a landscape May knows well, and revolves around seven unsolved murders. French journalist Roger Raffin has published a book, embarassing to the powers that be of course, detailing these unsolved crimes, and Enzo Macleod sets out to solve them. In 2006, the first book, Extraordinary People, was published. This “cold case” takes us from the hallowed halls of l’ENA to the depths of the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris, all the while winding through the Enzo’s complicated personal life.
TheCritic was published in November 2007 and deals with the murder of a world-famous wine critic. Peter May’s work is available at Houston favorite mystery bookseller, Murder By The Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For more on Peter May (and Enzo) see http://www.enzomacleod.com/
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Peter May |
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More Mystery set in France
Cara Black |
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You may want to add Cara Black to your reading list, as the Alliance staff has done, following her wonderful presentation here on March 11 on the arrondissements of Paris and some of the events and locales that have inspired her stories. Cara, author of the Aimée Leduc series, which chronicles the adventures of a female investigator in Paris, spends a lot of time in Paris, but lives in San Francisco with her husband, a bookseller, and their teenage son. She is a member of the Paris Société Historique in the Marais and an accomplished photographer. All of her books in the series are available at Murder by the Book, where manager David Thompson reports that this “arrondissement by arrondissement” series of books is very popular with Francophiles and mystery lovers alike. She is currently working on the new book of the Aimée Leduc series. For more on Cara Black, visit her website here. Interview with Cara Black click here. Pour lire un article en français sur son Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, cliquez ici.
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"Famously French"
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"Famously French" is a multi-part television documentary series devoted to revealing some of the great things about France to English-speaking audiences. Written and directed by Malcolm Pepper, the show is hosted by French media celebrity (news anchor, correspondent, journalist, writer, director) Philippe Labro and French TV star Sandra Lou. The first installment is devoted to the region of Alsace, and had its Houston premier at the Alliance on February 28. "Famously French" presents France in English, at its best, striking a balance between old and new, traditional and cutting-edge, simple pleasures and high culture, unique old-world craftsmanship and the latest technology. Each part of the series will focus on a different region, highlighting specific points of interest, regional specialties, geography, art, food, wine, and much more. "Famously French" illustrates, in the most spectacular way, what the most informed travel guides just allude to. Click here to see “Famously French” on-line.
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GRAND MERCI to these Sponsors:
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Exhibition: Artist Isabelle DUPUY Opening Reception May 8, 2008, 6-8 p.m.
Born in France in 1969, Isabelle Dupuy spent her childhood in the country side of Provence, in Southern France. She developed her artistic skills at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Valence, France as a teenager and young adult. It became a passion. Isabelle developed her style of Impressionism from her favorite artists, Monet and Renoir. Her paintings are often inspired by locations near her home in the French countryside. Through her art, Isabelle transports the viewer to open spaces, much like the home she grew up in. She enjoys capturing on canvas the vivid colors and light of the Mediterranean. In Houston, she is represented by Galerie Mado Chalvet.
Join us on May 8, 2008. Meet Isabelle Dupuy and see some of her latest works at the opening reception from 6-8 p.m. |
POINT ACTUALITE FRANCAISE
Le 13 mai à 18 heures, Danielle MICHEL CHICH nous fera le point sure l’actualité française. Ce projet est destiné aux Français éloignés depuis longtemps de la France et aux francophiles qui souhaitent garder un lien et une connaissance de l’actualité française.
En France, tout se passe sous forme de débat contradictoire. Tout fait débat. On est pour ou on est contre. On ne se contente pas de dire ce que l’on pense : d’emblée, on choisit son camp…
Vous quittez la France quelque temps et vous êtes perdus : vous ne pouvez plus entrer sur le ring des « débats nationaux ». L’actualité de ces deux derniers mois n’échappe à cette observation : -grand débat sur l’euthanasie (à partir de la demande juridique de Chantal Sebire, atteinte d’une grave tumeur du visage, qu’on l’aide à mettre fin à ses jours) -la situation au Tibet et la participation du chef de l’Etat aux cérémonies d’ouverture des Jeux Olympiques, et même la participation des athlètes français aux JO de Pékin -la réforme des apprentissages fondamentaux à l’école primaire -la mise à l’honneur d’Israël au salon du Livre de Paris -les débordements racistes des supporters dans les stades de foot… et même… Clinton ou Obama ?
Toujours pour ou contre… Tout fait débat, divise et anime…
Le souvenir des élections municipales (16 mars) s’efface déjà et cède, jour après jour, le pas à ces débats contradictoires. Quelques nouvelles « people » surnagent sur l’actualité : l’influence de Carla Bruni sur le nouveau look du président de la république. Nous parlerons cinéma aussi – avec l’étonnant succès d’une comédie populaire -et écouterons les derniers succès de la scène de la nouvelle chanson française.
Un panorama vivant et illustré des sujets qui occupent les media, préoccupent les Français et animent les conversations dans les cafés, les bureaux et les dîners entre amis. Comme si vous y étiez…
Danielle Michel-Chich est journaliste, essayiste et auteure.
Point Actualité Française Damielle MICHEL CHICH le 13 mai 2008 18 heures à l’Alliance Française La présentation sera suivie d’une réception |
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Alliance student and Board Member Jim Mansfield completed the Paris marathon in April, and will run the Québec Marathon |
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in August during the celebration of Québec’s 400th Anniversary.
How about a “Team AF de Houston” for next year’s Paris marathon?? |
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News from Alliance members |
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Alliance student, photographer Frazier King’s latest exhibition “Orchidaceae” is at Houston’s Museum of Printing History through June 21, 2008.
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