Things FUSAC likes

Visiting the French National Assembly has gotten easier!

The Palais Bourbon is a government building located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde. It is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government. The Palace was originally built beginning in 1722 by Louise Françoise de Bourbon, the duchess of Bourbon, the legitimized daughter of Louis XIV, as a country house, surrounded by gardens. It was nationalized during the French Revolution, and from 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the meeting place of the Council of Five Hundred, which chose the government leaders. Beginning in 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte added the classical colonnade, to mirror that of Church of the Madeleine, facing it across the Seine and the Place de la Concorde. The Palace complex today includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon; whi…

Festival America, held every other year in Vincennes, to the east of Paris, will be taking place between 22 and 25 September. It brings together over sixty writers not only from the United States, but also from Canada, Quebec, Mexico, Cuba and Haiti, in a bid to acquaint the French public with North American literature and culture. The festival was first organized in 2002 and has since become one of the highlights of the French literary calendar — around 45,000 people are expected to attend this year. This year’s edition will bring together 63 guests, including Jonathan Franzen, Louise Erdrich, Richard Ford, Russell Banks, Joyce Maynard, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Emma Cline, Natasha Trethewey, Julie Otsuka, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jake Lamar (who was at the Book Room to talk about his latest novel, Viper’s Dream, just last spring. You can read an interview with him here ) and many others, around the theme ‘Voix d’Amérique’ (Voices of America): voices of writers who speak about past trauma …

People ask me for directions all the time. Sometimes I feel like it must be written on my forehead or on my bike helmet "Don't know where you are going? Ask me for directions". Happily I usually can point them in the right direction and don't mind doing so. I find it to be a sort of compliment and it underlines to myself that I live in this beautiful city called Paris. This time though the experience was a bit trying - at first. I was riding my bike back to the office along the Seine. There is a section right by the Eiffel Tower that is a bike path and it is just wide enough for one bike. It is not a sidewalk, but there are always tourists on it and it is kind of a pain to get past them. I ding my bell and they usually step off onto the dirt between the the trees and let me pass. That night I was behind two women. One in silver lamé pants, high heels and a short white furry jacket. I later saw a sparkly necklace too. The other in conservative pants, shoes, long …

We may be originally from America but we like to adopt the best traditions from where ever they come. One of those is the British Christmas Cracker. Make your own Christmas crackers from old books at our workshop at the Book Room on 11 December 2021, 16h. The workshop is open to everyone over 11 years old and will be conducted in English, albeit American English, but come on over for some fun. 3€ per person covers supplies. We'll provide everything including a template you can take home. Sign up at Brbookroom@gmail.com Limited by available space to 8 participants. At Christmas you can make personalized crackers with the contents and designs specially chosen for your family and friends or buy them in a store. Either way they are set on the table as part of the festive decor and are opened when everyone sits down. Each person takes the ends of a cracker and pulls. Or with arms crossed everyone holds their own cracker in their right hand and pulls their neighbor’s cracke…