Tuesday 24 February 2015
Meeting with Amélie Nothomb
Scuola Normale Superiore | Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, Pisa
Meeting with Amélie Nothomb who returns to bookshops with her 23rd novel entitled Pétronille, published by Voland: it is an entirely feminine story of friendship and champagne. To present it, Tuesday 24 February at 6.30 pm at the Scuola Normale, the author will talk with Alessandro Grilli (University of Pisa). The event is organised by CEST in collaboration with the Forum degli Allievi della Scuola Normale and the publishing house Voland.
Amélie has one desire: to find a drinking partner. No small thing given that there doesn’t seem to be anyone in all of France who knows how to appreciate a good champagne. No one, except Pétronille, a mysterious novice author who turns out to be more than a pen pal.
Pétronille is the story of a friendship and a passion. The friendship is that of two authors, one already acclaimed and idolised by the public, the other brilliant but a novice at the beginning of the story: Amélie Nothomb and Pétronille Fanto. The tale deals with the most bizarre periods of this uncommon bond that takes form and substance amidst books, bookshops, literature and unforgettable drinking sessions. Indeed, as well as writing, the two women are united by their common passion for champagne. It is a book about France, the pleasure of inebriation, and female friendship, that can be experienced above all by being in the midst of people.
In partnership with Forum degli Allievi della Scuola Normale and Publishing house Voland
Guests
Associate Professor of Classical Philology at the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics at the University of Pisa, he is a scholar working on the comparative history of ancient literature. He has translated the novels of Amélie Nothomb Le Sabotage Amoureux (Sabotaggio d’amore, Voland, 2015) and Mercure (Mercurio, Voland, 2002)
Amélie Nothomb, born in 1967 at Kobe, Japan, spent her childhood and youth in various lands of Asia and America, following her diplomat father in his changes of post. Her first book, Hygiène de l’assassin came out in 1992 and immediately won her many readers; since then she has published a book a year. She has been awarded many literary recognitions, among which are the Grand Prix du roman of the Académie Française and the Prix Internet du Livre. Today she lives between Paris and Brussels.