Martin Schneider writes:

There's a very intriguing festival starting today and running through Saturday in New York City for those who can attend. (I expect to attend multiple events myself. If you spot me, by all means say hello!)

It's the Festival of New French Writing at NYU's Hemmerdinger Hall on Washington Square. All events are free of charge, all events will interestingly pair a prominent French intellectual or writer with an American counterpart, and all in attendance will receive a free Renault Wind Gordini. (One of these facts is not true, but I'm not telling which.)

My knowledge of recent French writing is pretty paltry (starts with Houellebecq and ends with Carrère, neither of whom will attend), but if the French luminaries are as prominent as the Americans (all of whose names should be familiar to the typical Emdashes reader), the festival should be wall-to-wall terrific.

I am excited to see the brilliant and bewitching cartoonist David B., and I'm told that the events with Philippe Claudel and Pascal Bruckner should be especially good.

I haven't yet fulfulled the blogger's imperative to stick in some cute French phrase, so .... Zut alors!