Ambassador Jan Matthysen and Bernard Geenen awarded this year’s “Grand Prix de la Francophonie” to Dr. James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, and the “Prix Spécial de la Francophonie” to Grammy Award winning Benin singer and songwriter Angélique Kidjo. Mrs Kidjo was unfortunately not present to accept her award but Dr. Billington gave a lovely speech, mostly in French, where he spoke of his time doing research in France (and in Minsk, which he called “l’endroit le plus frigide du monde”). Meanwhile, guests munched on cajun-inspired food prepared by Chef Jan van Haute and provided by The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), drank white wine provided by the Swiss Embassy, red wine provided by the French Embassy and beer provided, of course, by the Belgian Embassy.
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Grammy nominated Cameroonian sister duo Les Nubians in concert at the French Embassy Thursday March 17th at 7:30PM.
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La Grande Fête de la Francophonie at the French Embassy on March 18th (7PM-Midnight) featuring culinary specialties and live music from over 35 countries.
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Acoustic Africa at The George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium (April 7th at 8PM), a musical journey focusing on the African guitar tradition of Mali and Zimbabwe.
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A literary salon where Sarah Pickup-Diligenti, Education Director of the Alliance Francaise de Washington, discusses their work and the matters of today with Tunisian author Hubert Haddad (Friday March 11 at 6PM) and Haitian author Yanick Lahens (Tuesday March 29th at 6:30PM)
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A seminar and reception conducted by food writer Amy Riolo exploring Egypt’s multicultural cuisine (Wednesday April 13th at 7PM at the Ripley Center)
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Discothèque featuring the Toxic Avenger at the National Postal Museum on April 15 (9PM-2AM)
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