UPCOMING EVENTS

FRANCOPHONIE - SOIRÉE COMMUNE

FRIDAY - MARCH 2, 2018 - 6:30 P.M.

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE CONFERENCE CENTER
54 WEST CHICAGO AVENUE, CHICAGO IL 60610

RACLETTE WILL BE SERVED AT THE SWISS PAVILION !!!!

PLEASE JOIN US IN CELEBRATING THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, FOODS & MUSIC

$25 Admission / $12 Students / Free 5 and under

RSVP- Tel: 312 337-1070 or visit www.af-chicago.org/event/1624

SEE YOU THEN! AU REVOIR!

Kick Off Evening / Soirée commune

Get your passport to enjoy a world of regional delights and libations from Belgium, Benin, Canada, France, Haiti, Quebec, Romania, and Switzerland. And don't miss the sugar shack, or cabane à sucre, in our courtyard, whatever the weather! Warm up and finish the evening on the dance floor with Jennifer Jeffries, one of this region's premiere French-Canadian style fiddlers, with pianist Paul Watkins and caller Anthony Scarimbolo. Better safe than sorry! Please register early for this popular event. Watkins et du câlleur Anthony Scarimbolo. Ne tardez pas à vous inscrire pour cet événement populaire!

This evening is made possible thanks to our partners: Beninese Alliance of Illinois – Consulate General of Canada in Chicago – Cultural Service of the Consulate General of France in Chicago – Consulate General of Haiti in Chicago – Quebec Government Office in Chicago – Team Romania – Swiss Benevolent Society – Wallonia (Belgium) Trade & Investment Office

Beirut, Marrakesh, Port-au-Prince, Geneva... What do these cities have in common? Le français! The majority of French speakers live outside of the European continent, and French remains the most commonly learned language in the world after English. The 275 million or so French speakers scattered across the continents bring an enormous cultural diversity to the world. Our French World Festival / Festival de la Francophonie brings a taste of these cultures to Chicago and offers a new insight on la langue de Molière, de Beckett and de Senghor. Celebrate le monde with us in March through food, literature, music, film, and more!

LITERATURLENZ: FATMA AYDEMIR (G), URSULA FRICKER (CH), ROBERT PROSSER (A)

Literaturlenz2018© Goethe-Institut Chicago
Mon, March 19, 2018
6:00 PM
GOETHE-INSTITUT

150 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 200
Chicago, lL 60601

Language: German and English
Price: Free Admission

Reading with Authors from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria
Hallo, Grüezi, Servus! Literature from the three German-speaking countries.

Each year Literaturlenz brings together the Goethe-Institut Chicago, the Swiss and the Austrian cultural institutions for an evening of readings in German. Each author represents a unique voice in contemporary German-language literature. In 2018, we welcome Fatma Aydemir from Germany, Ursula Fricker from Switzerland, and Robert Prosser of Austria.

Our Literaturlenz writers will also visit the University of Illinois at Chicago (March 19, for students only), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (March 20), and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 1210 Heller Hall, 271 19th Ave S, Minneapolis (March 21, 6:30pm) for readings with German students and faculty.

ELLBOGEN
Hazal is almost eighteen and lives with her parents and her younger brother in Wedding in Berlin. While she works at her uncle's bakery, she applies – unsuccessfully – for more than 50 training positions. Her aunt Semra is the only family member who attended university. Hazal's father drives a taxi and is still a foreigner after having lived many years in Berlin. The marriage of her parents is without love, they keep their daughter on a short leash while her brother enjoys much more freedom. It comes as no surprise that Hazal is seething.

Fatma Aydemir© Bradley SeckerFatma Aydemir, born in Karlsruhe in 1986, studied German and American Studies in Frankfurt am Main from 2007 to 2012. She lives in Berlin and works as an editor for the German daily newspaper taz. She also writes for several magazines as freelancer. In 2017, Hanser published her debut novel Ellbogen, which has been honored with the Klaus-Michael-Kühne-Preis of the Harbour Front Literaturfestival.

PAST AND PRESENT LIES
Beba's dream is to become a pianist but she makes her living as a prostitute. She fled her home after the war to flee from poverty. She is saving her money to buy a piano and starts to perform at a Jazz club. Isa, who is a student, has a dream too. She wants to change the world and joins a group of leftist activists. As she is more and more radicalized, she and her comrades support the refuge movement. Senator Otten's utopia has given way to the realities of political life. Under pressure he gives orders to do away with a refugee camp and fails to anticipate how costly this decision will be.

Ursula Fricker, born in Schaffhausen/Switzerland in 1965, lives near Berlin. She holds a degree in Social Work and has worked in a home for mentally handicapped and as a theatre educator. In addition to journalistic articles she has published four novels. Her debut novel, Fliehende Wasser, was published in 2004 and was honored with two renowned Swiss awards. It was followed by Das letzte Bild(2009) and Außer sich (2012), which was nominated for the book award of Switzerland in the same year, as well as Lügen von gestern und heute (Past and Present Lies) which was honored with the Brandenburgischen Kunstförderpreis 2017.

PHANTOME
In 1992, Anisa flees from Sarajewo to Vienna. During the beginning of the ethnic cleansing, she leaves her father behind – she will never see him again. She could not bid farewell to her boyfriend Jovan, a Bosnian Serb, who has been drafted. Decades later, her daughter Sara travels to Bosnia-Herzegovina following the traces of her mother. Together with her tagger-friend is submerges herself into a region filled with contradictions where each day is celebrated like the previous one – where the impact of the war are noticeable everywhere.

Robert Prosser© Melanie HaukeRobert Prosser, born in 1983, lives in his hometown Alpbach in Tyrol and in Vienna. He studied comparative literature, cultural and social anthropology and spent a lot of time in Asia, the Arab world and England. Prosser performs all over Europe. He is co-founder of Babelsprech for advancement of young poetry and curates the reading series Kombo Kosmopolit. He published among others the novel Geister und Tattoos (Klever, 2013) and is co-publisher of Lyrik von Jetzt 3 (Wallstein, 2015). His novel Phantome was published by Ullstein fünf in August 2017. He has received several German and Austrian awards and scholarships.

FRANCOPHONIE - SOIRÉE SUISSE

Switzerland – The Art of Time

Monday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission – In English
Alliance Francaise Conference Center – 54 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago IL 60610
Tel: 312 337-1070 or visit www.af-chicago.org/event

A Conversation with best-selling author and watch geek Gary Shteyngart on "Haute-Horlogerie"

Join us for an evening celebrating the most storied export of Switzerland, its timepieces, when Gary Shteyngart, the best-selling author of Little Failure, Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan shares his knowledge and passion for "perlage, three-quarter plates and micro-rotors" with us.

An evening for connoisseurs and the neophytes alike! Followed by a service of Swiss wine and cheese.

This program is possible thanks to the support of the Swiss Benevolent Society and the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. He is the author of the novels Super Sad True Love Story,which was selected as one of the best books of the year by more than forty news journals and magazines around the world; Absurdistan, which was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review and Time magazine; and The Russian Debutante's Handbook, winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. The novelist and satirist came out as a "watch idiot savant" with the publication of "Confessions of a Watch Geek" in the New Yorker last spring. Gary owns four Swiss watches - two Rolexes, a Patek, and a Tudor - and loves them all.

Rejoignez-nous pour une soirée célébrant l'art suisse le plus magique et le plus renommé, celui de l'horlogerie. L'auteur renommé et récompensé pour Mémoires d'un bon à rien, Super triste histoire d'amour et Absurdistan partagera avec nous sa connaissance et sa passion pour "le perlage, les platines trois-quarts et les micro-rotors".

Une soirée pour les passionnés aussi bien que les curieux, suivie par un verre de vin suisse accompagné de fromage. Ce programme est possible grâce au soutien de la Swiss Benevolent Society et de l'Ambassade de Suisse à Washington, D.C.

Né en 1972 à Leningrad, Gary Shteyngart quitte en 1979 l'URSS pour les Etats-Unis où il réside depuis. Ses écrits oscillent entre fiction et réalité biographique en portant un regard satirique sur le monde, en particulier celui dans lequel il grandit en tant que juif américain d'origine russe. Son oeuvre littéraire a été récompensée de plusieurs prix: Absurdistan (2006) en particulier figure parmis les 10 livres de l'année selon le New York Times et le Time magazine, et est nommé livre de l'année par le Washington Post et le Chicago Tribune. En 2010, son auteur fait partie, selon le New York Times,des 20 jeunes écrivains les plus influents.

Gary s'avoue "idiot savant" de l'horlogerie avec la publication de "Confessions of a Watch Geek" dans le New Yorker voilà un an. Ses quatres montres suisses font partie de ses possessions les plus chères: deux Rolex, une Patek et une Tudor.

Beirut, Marrakesh, Port-au-Prince, Geneva...What do these cities have in common? Le français!

The majority of French speakers live outside of the European continent, and French remains the most commonly learned language in the world after English. The 275 million or so French speakers scattered across the continents bring an enormous cultural diversity to the world. Our French World Festival / Festival de la Francophonie brings a taste of these cultures to Chicago and offers a new insight on la langue de Molière, de Beckett and de Senghor. Celebrate le monde with us in March through food, literature, music, film, and more!

Beyrouth, Marrakesh, Port-au-Prince, Genève...Que ces villes ont-elles en commun? Le français!

La majorité de la population francophone réside hors du continent européen, et le français demeure, après l'anglais, la langue la plus enseignée dans le monde. Avec quelque 275 millions de locuteurs dispersés sur les cinq continents, le français apporte au monde une incroyable diversité culturelle.

Explorez ses cultures ici à Chicago pendant le Festival de la Francophonie / French World Festival. Redécouvrez la langue de Molière, mais aussi de Senghor ou de Beckett. Célébrez le monde entier avec nous en mars -- sa cuisine, sa littérature, sa musique, son cinéma et plus encore!