Events

Janet Skeslien Charles will be reading from Moonlight in Odessa published by Bloomsbury and chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their top ten debut novels this autumn.

Janet is a good friend of Shakespeare and Company and has previously taught creative writing workshops at the bookshop. Her novel is a wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don't acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism. It is about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability.

Odessa, Ukraine, is the humour capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it's Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job number one. Daria evades Harmon's advances by recruiting her neighbour, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria's job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions (TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes ‘socials’ where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it's not exactly what she thought it would be…

In addition to hearing Janet read tonight, you can listen to her book being read on ‘Book at Bedtime’ on Radio 4 – the first reading starts on 15th February.

‘Charles paints a tender, bittersweet portrait of Ukraine and Odessa. Best of all, she doesn’t oversimplify difficult choices and hard decisions or resort to cardboard villains…  A lively, entertaining debut…’ –Kirkus Review

Janet Skeslien Charles nous lira un passage de son livre Moonlight in Odessa, un regard tendre, drôle et empreint d'ironie sur le mariage, les désirs que l'on refuse de reconnaître et les conséquences du communisme. Ce roman traite des choix et des sacrifices que les gens sont prêts à faire dans leur quête d'amour et d'équilibre.

Join us for readings and festivities for the release party of the seventh issue of Her Royal Majesty (www.heroyalmajesty.ca, an independent literary magazine. The theme of this issue is FLESH and will be published online at the beginning of February.

‘To fall in love with Paris is terrifying because it is beautiful and does not need you.’ G. Gilbert

Her Royal Majesty is an online quarterly publication that showcases both the literary and visual arts. Founded by editor Harriet Lye the magazine publishes excellent new artwork from all over the world, reaching an online audience of over 50,000. Though the event is free, attendees are encouraged to make a donation (either in person or online) in order to support the continuation of this free independent publication.

This evening Geoffrey Gilbert will be discussing his queer translations of Baudelaire, and several of this issue's featured writers will read from their work. Jeffrey Greene, a Paris-based American poet/memoirist, will read his poem featured in this issue as well as a selection of poems from his upcoming book, Beautiful Monsters. Bring your friends and stay afterwards for a glass of wine!

This issue features artists including: Alex Kanevsky, Jeffrey Greene, Geoffrey Gilbert, Rosy Lamb, James Gregor, John Gagliano, Michelle Engel, Jennifer Porter, Patricia Kim, Adam O’Reilly, Rebecca Roher, Kirby Best, Ashley Lamb, Julia Grummitt, Bryn McLeod, Isabelle Parker, Cynthia Spring, Tings Chak, and Shawna Lipton.

Venez profiter des lectures et des réjouissances à l'occasion de la sortie du 7ème numéro de Her Royal Majesty, magazine littéraire indépendant. Le thème de ce numéro est la CHAIR (Flesh), et comprend une interprétation homosexuelle de Baudelaire dans sa traduction par Geoffrey Gilbert.

Come to Shakespeare and Company for an exceptional night of music and poetry. Songbirds Kate Stables and Erica Buettner will be singing and performing acoustically. Both are exquisite, lyrical musicians and writers. They will be joined by Colin Mahar who will be reading poetry.

Kate is known for her music in This is the Kit myspace.com/thisisthekit

– she has received regular radio play on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 music, and recorded a live session at Maida Vale Studios.  Her last album, Krulle Bol was produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse) and was released to much acclaim on Microbe Records. She also performs as Whalebone Polly www.myspace.com/whalebonepolly. Kate is based in Paris and tours heavily through Europe & Japan supporting the likes of Herman Dune, Jeffrey Lewis, Jose Gonzales, Soy un Caballo and Martin Carthy.

Erica comes from Connecticut originally and now lives in Paris. Hear Erica’s dreamy music and see her play at myspace.com/ericabuettner and with guitar and banjo at http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2009/05/erica-buettner-oliver-peel-session-6.html

Rejoignez-nous à Shakespeare & Company pour une soirée exceptionnelle consacrée à la musique et la poésie avec Kate Staples et Erica Buettner. Kate est réputée pour sa musique en tant que membre du groupe This is the Kit (son nouvel album, Krulle Bol, est sorti chez Microbe Records en France. Ecoutez la musique de Kate et visionnez ses vidéos sur myspace.com/ericabuettner.