To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Institut français, a series of French-English dialogues between prominent writers and thinkers of our times has been specially organised. The programme extends throughout the year, enabling a wide variety of topics and issues to be debated. Les Dialogues du centenaire were inaugurated by novelist Hisham Matar, who discussed 'History, Identity and Violence' on the 20 January 2010.

Quentin Blake and Bruno Heitz on Children's Literature

At 7.30pm, 3rd February

Renowned illustrator, Quentin Blake, and French author-illustrator, Bruno Heitz, discuss children's literature and illustration from their perspectives on either side of the channel. The debate will be animated by a drawing contest in which Blake and Heitz challenge each other's talent.
Quentin Blake has been drawing for over sixty years; his illustrations most famously accompany the tales of Roald Dahl. Bruno Heitz is a prolific comic-book artist and illustrator whose series are published by Gallimard and Le Seuil.

Pierre Assouline and Richard Holmes on Writing Biographies

At 7.30pm, 10th February

Biographers Pierre Assouline and Richard Holmes discuss their work from their idiosyncratic Franco-British perspectives. How has the writing of biographies evolved over the past few decades? What differences can be drawn between the genre in France and in the UK?
Pierre Assouline is a novelist, biographer, and journalist whose most recent book in English is Hergé, the Man who created Tintin. Richard Holmes has written numerous biographies, notably those of Coleridge and Shelley, and contributes regularly to The New York Review of Books.

Text and the City: Paris and London

At 7.30pm, 3rd March

Eric Hazan's newly translated urban history of Paris, The Invention of Paris, A History in Footsteps, maps centuries of architectural revolutions and weaves concrete development with politics and literature. Iain Sinclair equally understands the poetics and politics of place. In London Orbital, Sinclair walked the length of the M5 motorway circling London on foot. His latest work, Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire pieces together the oral accounts and occult psychogeography of East London. The pair will discuss their journeys through Paris and London.

Child Psychoanalysis: A Franco-British Comparative Study

At 7.30pm, 10th March

This conference coincides with the launch of the first book published in English on the work of Françoise Dolto, Theory and Practice in Child Psychoanalysis (G.Hall, F. Hivernel, S. Morgan). The Institut aims to start a long overdue dialogue between psychoanalytic/psychotherapeutic communities in France and the UK and to consider possible research avenues for the future. Among the participants in this discussion are Dr Christopher Reeves, the Director of the Squiggle Foundation; Professor Juliet Mitchell, University College London; Claude Boukobza, President of Espace Analytique in Paris; and Bice Benvenuto, Director of Dolto Association and of a Casa Verde, Rome.

Dominique Manotti and Joan Smith on the Political Crime Novel

7.30pm, 17 March

Dominique Manotti's latest translation, Affairs of State, tells of foreign workers in a landscape where murder has a political meaning. Joan Smith's recent thriller, What Will Survive is political in a broader sense. Both writers see the world as something far removed from the cosy village life of traditional crime fiction, more in common with Nordic authors such as Stieg Larsson than Agatha Christie. The pair will discuss their influences, their aims, and why the crime novel is pre-eminently a political form.

Historical Evolutions in the Twentieth Century: French and British Perspectives on Stalinism

At 7.30pm, 24th March

Stéphane Courtois, expert on the history of the French Communist Party and editor of the review Communisme, and Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad, and, most recently, D-Day, The Battle for Normandy, will discuss evolutions in the work of historians in France and Britain. The pair will consider these evolutions in relation to their work on the Soviet archives on Stalinism and its after-effects. They will also reflect on renewed attempts today to justify or deny crimes against humanity perpetrated by the system.

William Boyd and Marc Dugain on Literature

At 7.30pm, 14th April

Internationally-acclaimed novelist William Boyd (A Good Man in Africa, An Ice Cream War Brazzaville Beach, Any Human Heart) has been translated into over thirty languages. He is also the author of a collection of screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction writings. Marc Dugain wrote La Chambre des officiers, inspired by the story of his grandfather. The book sold millions of copies, and was adapted to film. Dugain's novels and short stories (Campagne anglaise, Heureux comme Dieu en France, La Malédiction d'Edgar, Une exécution ordinaire), have since been very successful. His first film will be soon released in France. Both of these great writers will discuss literature in all its forms, an opportunity not to be missed.

Further dialogues will be announced later in the year

Prices: £5, conc £3

Venue:
Institut français
17 Queensberry Place, London, SW7 2DT
T. 020 7073 1350
www.institut-francais.org.uk