UPCOMING EVENTS

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• Upstairs at Duroc - Issue 17

  • Start
    09 Jan 2021
  •  
    (UTC+01:00)
  • End
    01 May 2021
  •  
    (UTC+02:00)
  • Location
    Available to Order

  Register

  

   

  Our WICE writing community has been hard at work!  For the first time since 2016, WICE's international literary magazine, Upstairs at Duroc, is now available for purchase. 

   

  Upstairs at Duroc, started in 1999 in the café space near our home office at metro Duroc in central Paris, is an English-language journal that publishes poetry and short prose pieces by new and established writers from the Paris area and around the world.  Hundreds of submissions are reviewed and edited by an editorial team at WICE, so that we may offer this journal to our members and friends.

  Due to public event restrictions in 2020, we are delighted to bring Issue 17 to order now without further delay.

   

  Your price is €12 (which includes shipping within France) or €15 (which includes international shipping).  

   

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• WJ151 Novels in Progress: An Advanced Workshop (Cancelled)

  • Start
    15 Jan 2021
  •  
    (UTC+01:00)
  • End
    17 Jan 2021
  •  
    (UTC+01:00)
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Remote Online Zoom
  • Spaces left
    12

  This workshop is designed for writers who are well into a novel-in-progress, but want to work on problem passages, or develop a better feeling for how to shape and finish the overall project. Over three 2-hour sessions, Tim will use the participants’ own work to explore and discuss such topics as: - Finding and developing your story - Theme versus plot - Turning facts into fiction - Choosing and developing characters - What is voice and how to use it - How much history to tell in historical fiction - Writing dialogue - Settings: how they contribute to stories - Researching a story. A final hour will be spent on practical advice on the business aspects of writing. Hiring a publicist, tricks for using social media effectively, other promotional tools. Participants must submit a 10-page excerpt (double spaced in 12 point Times Roman font in pdf or docx format) which will be shared with the class. Excerpts may be from any part of the novel-in-progress. 

  This course will be held online only due to changes in current governmental guidelines for in person events. Details on joining the course via Zoom will be emailed to you before the start of the class. If you would like to test out your internet connection from a computer device before the start of the class you can click on the computer icon above or here.
  

  About the Instructor: Timothy Jay Smith developed a ceaseless wanderlust that has taken him around the world many times. En route he’s found the characters that people his work. He brings the same energy to his writing that he brought to a distinguished career, and as a result, has won top honors for his works in numerous competitions. Fire on the Island won the Gold Medal in the 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition, and his screenplay adaptation was named Best Indie Script by WriteMovies. The Fourth Courier, published in 2019 by Arcade Publishing, has received glowing reviews. Previously, he won the Paris Prize for Fiction for his novel, A Vision of Angels. Kirkus Reviews called Cooper’s Promise “literary dynamite” and selected it as a Best Book of 2012. In addition, Tim was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and his play, How High the Moon, won the Stanley Drama Award. More information about Tim can be found at www.timothyjaysmith.com. (Timothy will be donating his workshop fee to the National New Play Network, which encourages emerging playwrights to tackle socially relevant issues.)

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• WICE Talks: Pancakes in the City of Light with Author Craig Carlson

  • When
    20 Jan 2021
  •  
    6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (UTC+01:00)
  • Location
    Remote

  Register

  Join us for a free virtual talk with New York Times bestselling author Craig Carlson. 

  Craig first came to France as an exchange student in 1985 and instantly fell in love with the country, its language and especially its fine cuisine. Ironic then that some thirty-five years later Craig would wind up being the owner of two American diners in the City of Light and be nicknamed “Le Pancake Kid” by the French.

  In this lively talk, Craig will recount his adventures of being a small business owner in France, where its mind-numbing bureaucracy and complex labor laws nearly killed him.

  He will discuss his continued passion for French food, including how his mother-in-law (his Belle Maman) spoils him rotten with her delicious culinary creations.

  As for his literary adventures, Craig will delve into the reasons why he wrote Let Them Eat Pancakes, including the unexpected way he found an agent – and publisher – for his first book, Pancakes in Paris.

  Finally, faced with the challenge of all restaurants and cafes in France being ordered to shut down for the second time this year, Craig will share his hopes of overcoming the pandemic, the future of his restaurants and how the culinary industry in France may never be the same again.

  www.craigcarslon.author.com 

  Photo credit: Stephane Cugnier

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• WJ221 Bilingual Books: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (La Taupe)

  • When
    22 Jan 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+01:00)
  • Location
    Remote
  • Spaces left
    0

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  WICE Bilingual Book Group

  22 January 2021

  2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)

  Cost: Free for WICE members and €5 for guests

  Registrations Open December 21 2020

  John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy explores the tensions of the Cold War and the impact of Britain's declining place in the world. It is a masterful work of overlapping timelines, brilliant character portraits mixed in with personal and professional betrayal.   

  ‘No spy novel has captured England—or the human capacity for duplicity—like John le Carré’s hunt for the mole.’ The Atlantic

  ‘Le dictionnaire Oxford a crédité John le Carré de la paternité du mot "taupe" parmi de nombreux autres termes d'espionnage.’ Franceinfo.

  
  

  
  

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• WF121 Bilingual Books: You Will Be Safe Here (Tout Ira Bien) by Damian Barr

  • When
    12 Feb 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+01:00)
  • Location
    REMOTE on-line via Zoom
  • Spaces left
    0

  Join waitlist

  WICE Bilingual Book Group

  12 FEB 2021

  2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)

  Damian Barr received a critics' ovation for his maiden novel, You Will Be Safe Here. Spanning South Africa's history from colonial brutality to post-apartheid turbulence, it is a tale of two mothers a century apart who are fighting for the fate of their sons. Each is unaware that their fates are intertwined -- a reminder of the legacy of crimes committed in the past.

  Damian Barr will be joining Bilingual Book Group by remote to talk about his work and the craft of fiction.
  

  ‘Lean, beautiful prose … It pulls you in, breaks your heart and then ultimately repairs it.’ Jojo Moyes, The Observer.

  ‘Where many novels run out of steam as they approach the end, You Will Be Safe Here grows more engaging with each chapter.’ The Irish Times.

  Registrations Open January 09 2020

  
  

  This course will resume online only, this is due to changes in current governmental guidelines for in person events. Details on joining the course via Zoom will be emailed to you before the start of the class. If you would like to test out your internet connection from a computer device before the start of the class you can click on the computer icon above or here.
  

  Photo Credit:
  Public Domain
  

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• WM121 Bilingual Books: Boquitas Pintadas (Heartbreak Tango / Le Plus Beau Tango Du Monde) by Manuel PUIG

  • When
    12 Mar 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+01:00)
  • Location
    Remote
  • Spaces left
    12

  Bilingual Book Group

  12 MAR 2021

  2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)

  Cost: Free for WICE members and €5 for guests

  
  

  Registrations Open February 13 2020

  WM121 - Boquitas pintadas (Heartbreak Tango / Le plus beau tango du monde) by Manuel Puig  
  

  One of Manuel Puig’s most compelling novels, Boquitas Pintadas (Heartbreak Tango) plunges the reader into a world of intrigue, prejudice, betrayal and sexual jealousy.  Puig sets the tale in a small town on the pampas, providing him with a wonderful backdrop to explore social codes and play on the tensions between reality and appearances.

  Boquitas Pintadas has recently been reissued, giving a new generation the chance to enjoy the narrative skills and descriptive flair of this Argentine novelist and screenwriter. 

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  ‘Puig's early passion for the movies is evident both in his narrative style, which relies heavily on dialogue, and in the lives of his characters, where the glamorous and idealized world of films serves as a counterpoint to their own disappointments.’ Paris Review.

   ‘A brilliant, forceful, melancholic arabesque of a novel, the tone reminiscent of Bertolucci's freer moments.’ Kirkus Reviews

  
  

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• WA091 Bilingual Books: Lolita (Penguin classic) by Vladimir Nabokov

  • When
    09 Apr 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)
  • Location
    WICE, 10 rue Tiphaine, 75015 Paris: metro La Motte Piquet Grenelle
  • Spaces left
    12

  WICE Bilingual Book Group

  09 APR 2021

  2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)

  Vladimir Nabokov's portrayal of love as outrage and obsession was one of the most controversial novels of the 20th century. The story of the ageing Humbert Humbert's all-devouring, doomed passion for 12-year-old Dolores Haze is simultaneously repulsive and compelling. Writers such as Martin Amis and Brian Boyd have positioned Nabokov as one of the greatest writers of the century. Reading Lolita has been described as a dive into some of the finest writing ever committed to a page.

  ‘Lolita is more the shocking because it is both intensely lyrical and wildly funny ... a Medusa's head with trick paper snakes.’ Time

  ‘Lolita est une œuvre à part, qui suscite le malaise autant que la fascination, qui dérange autant qu'il séduit.’ France Inter.

  Registrations Open March 13 2020

  Photo Credit: Public Domain

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• WY141 Bilingual Books: To Be Announced

  • When
    14 May 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)
  • Location
    WICE, 10 rue Tiphaine, 75015 Paris: metro La Motte Piquet Grenelle
  • Spaces left
    12

  WICE Bilingual Book Group

  14 MAY 2021

  2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)

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• WU111 Bilingual Books: To Be Announced

  • When
    11 Jun 2021
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (UTC+02:00)
  • Location
    WICE, 10 rue Tiphaine, 75015 Paris: metro La Motte Piquet Grenelle
  • Spaces left
    12

  Friday, 11 June 2021

  2:00pm - 3:30pm

  Cost: Free for WICE members and €5 for guests

  
  

  Registrations open Saturday 15 May

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