Annie Ernaux

I was lucky enough to see a one-woman show based on the 2022 Nobel Prize winning author Annie Ernaux's L'Evènement tonight. Françoise Gillard was really captivating in this adaptation. Ernaux was in the audience, a few rows behind us, as it turns out, and came on stage for a short discussion afterwards. This text, about Ernaux's illegal abortion in 1964, is very powerful and in the discussion afterwards it was clear that Ernaux continues to be passionate about ensuring women's rights to access good, reproductive health.

I have to thank my colleague C for letting me know this was on, and to my other colleague, E, a true Ernaux specialist, who joined me tonight in the front row for the show. It was at the Théâtre Antoine, well-known to Zola scholars as the theatre where many adaptations of his work were originally performed. It was my first time there -- see the extra for a photo of the exterior.

I came directly from the BnF where I got some good work done this afternoon. Meanwhile, J rode over 100 km on this beautiful, sunny day.