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New French bookshop Albertine keeps giving us more reasons to love it: This month, the store will put on a six-day festival filled with brilliant minds and extraordinary talent. After opening on September 27th, Albertine—the largest French language bookstore in the country and a dreamy reading room—continues the festivities with Festival Albertine. The events runs October 14–19 and features both French and American luminaries of literature, science, film and more—so if you're looking to take a French staycation in NYC, now's the time! (While you're in Albertine's UES neighborhood, stop by macaron emporium Maison Ladurée to complete your Frenchification.)
Check out the full festival schedule below; all events are free, which is incredible considering the big names, but do RSVP to bookoffice@frenchculture.org.
- Olivier Assayas in the Post-May Period; Tue Oct 14, 7pm
Filmmaker Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Clouds of Sils Maria), screenwriter Larry Gross (48 Hours), Village Voice film critic Stephanie Zacharek, and Greil Marcus discuss the still-unsettled legacy of the spring 1968 student protests and general strike that brought France to a standstill as interpreted in Assayas’s films. - The Wealth of Nations and the Immiseration of Citizens; Wed Oct 15, 7pm
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz (The Price of Inequality) and French economist Gabriel Zucman (The Hidden Wealth of Nations), who received his Ph.D. at the Paris School of Economics under the supervision of Thomas Piketty, will discuss the causes and effects of income inequality. Moderated by James Miller, Professor of Politics at The New School. - French Fashion and Global Style; Thu Oct 16, 7pm
Didier Grumbach and Anne Valérie Hash, trailblazers from radically different quarters of the French fashion world, assess the state of France’s influence on fashion in an increasingly global culture. Moderated by Mary Davis, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. - Women at Work: Mad Men and Engrenages/Spiral; Fri Oct 17, 7pm
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is joined by Alexandra Clert, the co-creator of hit French television series Spiral (Engrenages), for an exploration of how women are portrayed in the workplace in popular culture. Moderated by Greil Marcus. - A Conversation Between Marjane Satrapi and A.O. Scott; Sat Oct 18, 3pm
Graphic novelist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and New York Times chief film critic A.O. Scott share a wide-ranging, free-flowing discussion on creativity and criticism, censorship and audience, the tension between words and images and much more. Moderated by Steve Wasserman, editor-at-large for Yale University Press. - Why Do We Still Read Tocqueville?; Sat, Oct 18, 7pm
Nearly two centuries after the publication of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Sorbonne French literature professor Françoise Mélonio, translator Arthur Goldhammer and journalist and critic Paul Berman debate why the workis still essential for readers seeking to understand the politics and culture of both France and the United States. Moderated by John Rockwell, who has served as the New York Times European cultural correspondent, classic music critic and reporter, chief rock critic, arts columnist and dance critic. - Mathematical Styles & the Process of Discovery; Sun Oct 19, 3pm
French mathematician Cédric Villani, the 2010 Fields Medal winner and the author of Théorème vivant, joins his “mathematical hero,” John F. Nash, Jr., co-winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, for a discussion on mathematics styles and the process of discovery. Moderated by Antonin Baudry. - Extremist Fiction in Ordinary Language; Sun Oct 19, 6pm
Authors Mary Gaitskill (Bad Behavior, Don’t Cry), Emmanuel Carrère (La Moustache, Limonov) and Percival Everett (Erasure, Assumption) discuss their shared commitment to depicting extraordinary situations in ordinary language. Moderated by Greil Marcus.