by Ellen Turner Hall

This year’s Collioure book fair opens on Friday 7 September at 20h30 with a talk by the Irish historian Kevin Barry invited by the association Les Amis de Patrick O’Brian.

Revealing the novelist Patrick O’Brian’s historical sources, Mr. Barry’s presentation will be followed by a screening of the film (in VO with French subtitles) “Master and Commander” starring Russell Crowe as the dashing Captain Jack Aubrey. The film will be followed by a toast to Patrick O’Brian with a glass of traditional Banyuls from the Domaine Piétri Géraud.

On Saturday the 8^th at 11h00 Kevin Barry will be talking with the writer Gildas Girodeau about the role of the historian.

On Sunday the 9^th at 8h00 you are invited to have coffee with Kevin Barry in the Espace Patrick O’Brian on the first floor of the Médiathèque in a prelude to a literary walk in the streets of Collioure with readings from O’Brian, Reiser, Darnaudet and Machado.

Finally at 15h00 Kevin Barry will join in a debate with other invited authors to discuss whether fiction helps us understand history or simply distorts it.

See the full book fair programmeHERE