THE mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen, has been in Paris to put his case for Dijon to be awarded the status of ‘City of Art and History’, a status that has been awarded since 1985.
THE bloody history of medieval Carcassone was brought to life in the international best-selling book Labyrinth.
And now its author Kate Mosse takes us back to the south west with her latest book Sepulchre, a tale from the dark woods of the Corbières involving ghosts, murder and tarot cards.
Here I chat with Kate about the mystery of the region and her writing life – also find out how to win a copy of Sepulchre – and so my first question was what frights can people expect from the new book?
WHEN an email landed in my inbox asking if I was interested in finding out more about a book called My French Life, I thought with a title like that how could I resist?
So I quickly arranged an interview with the book’s author Vicki Archer, and asked for a copy so that I could offer it up as a prize for readers of the site.
The Q&A style interview is below and you will find details of how to enter the competition to win a copy of the book at the end of the piece, but first a little about Vicki Archer and her book.
TAKE a stroll beneath the trees of the Bois de Boulogne in the autumn with this photograph from razzmatazz!, which has been added to the This French Life Flickr pool.
There are a number of new additions in the photo album which capture the autumn markets and colours, it really is a great time of year to be strolling around France.
IT is quite a challenge to get around l’hexagone but thanks to the internet you can at least drop in on places and take a virtual tour.
Which is exactly what you can do on the Lyon Photos website, which offers a vast collection of photographs of the streets and buildings of the city.
But what I especially like is the fact that the site also draws together pictures from the past, letting you compare views from yesteryear with those of today.
HUNDREDS of people paid tribute last week to Marcel Marceau at his funeral in Paris, when he was buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery alongside other famous artists such as Oscar Wilde and singer Jim Morrison.
His death, aged 84, on September 22 brought to an end a life that had seen him and his family flee their home during World War II, and a 20-year-old Marcel join the Resistance in 1944.
But soon after the end of the war he created his famous character Bip and went on to revive the art of mime and become one of the most recognised artists across the world.
Here, from the archive of journalist Jeremy Josephs, is an interview with Marcel Marceau which took place in 2001:
TAKE a chance to wind down for the weekend with this photo from the This French Life Flickr album by Fil the bodyguard, titled Fin du Jour.
BURGUNDY is not an art centre but a centre of art until September 16.
Under the auspices of CRANE (Création artistique, reseaux, attitudes poétiques, nouvelles technologies, échanges internationaux) there is something for everyone scattered around the area.
Many of the exhibitions, workshops and concerts are being held in places not usually associated with artistic matters.
The small village of Drée which has 20 houses and 33 inhabitants has voted overwhelmingly to pledge 1000€ toward the festival. As the mayor, Paul Robinat, says how many municipalities would dedicate a tenth of their budget on such a scheme?
THE village of Alise-Sainte-Reine is set on the hillside of Mont Auxois in the Cote d’Or.
It takes its name from a beautiful, young, Christian woman, Reine d’Alise, who, in 252 AD, was beheaded after spurning the advances of the Roman governor, Olibrius and not denying her Christian faith.
The legend surrounding the story asserts that, following the execution, a spring started to gush from the place where the young woman’s head fell.
BURGUNDY stone can be found from as far apart as the north of the Côte d’Or around Chatillion sur Seine and the east of Yonne in the Tonnerois to the south around Beaune, Autun and as far south as Cluny.
The range of hues, from the soft white ‘Anstrude’ to the reddish ‘Renaissance de Jour’ and the shimmering veined ‘Corton’ to ‘Bleu de Vix’, ‘Beauvillion rubane’ and ‘Comblanchien granite’; these are colours sculptors dream of and names they roll around their tongues.
Burgundy stone represents 25% of France’s production of ornamental stone and there are 100 varieties on the market. It is widely used and found on facades, tiling and pavements and is quite often used in the renovation of historical monuments and is particularly chosen when covering or constructing walls.