A Conversation with Yamen Manai and Pierre Joris

“In this Voltaire-like fable, a beekeeper defends his bees against a group of particularly aggressive hornets. With humor and a limpid writing style, the author teaches us more about the murderous impulses of religious extremists than most speeches”, declared Paula Jacques, President of the Prix de la Francophonie.

In French. Free and open to the public. No RSVP nececsary.

This event is co-organized with L’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and NYU Center for French Civilization and culture.

Born in Tunis, Yamen Manai lives in Paris. His debut novel, La Marche de l’incertitude (Elyzad poche, 2010), was awarded the Comar d’Or Prize in Tunisia, and The Lycéens Coup de Cœur de Coup de Soleil Prize in France. La Sérénade d’Ibrahim Santos(Elyzad, 2011) was a finalist for the Cinq continents de la Francophonie Award, and won the Biblioblog Prize, and the Alain-Fournier Prize. L’Amas ardent is his third novel.

Born in 1946 in Strasbourg, France, raised in Luxembourg, Pierre Joris has moved between the US, Europe & North Africa for 50 years, publishing close to 50 books of poetry, essays, anthologies, plays and translations. In 1992 he returned to New York, first the state, where he taught poetry & poetics at SUNY-Albany until 2012, but also, since 2008, the city — happily humming Bob Dylan’s “I’m going back to New York City, I believe I’ve had enough…”. When not on the road, he lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn — baptized Sorrentinostan by him — with his wife, painter, singer & multimedia performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte.