Now I Live in France (For Four Months)

Yesterday evening I arrived in France to take up a four month writer in residence position attached to the Université de Lorraine. I’m based in a little apartment in the city of Nancy. If you’re not great on French geography, (like me), Nancy is situated in the North-ish East of France pretty close to the borders with Luxembourg and Germany. It’s about 350 km from Paris but there is a super fast train that can cover the distance in less than no time. I’ve only been here for about five minutes, and it’s been either lashing or drizzling for most of this time, but I can confirm that Nancy is a pretty good-looking wee city. I’d say the centre is a similar size to Belfast, though it has a distinct lack of multi-storey car parks and a decidedly higher enormous gold fountain count. I have already located the English book store, the crêperie and two different Irish pubs. I have spoken exclusively in bad Duolingo French and managed to order food. I think I will be grand.

I’m going to be here until early February. As part of my role I’ll be visiting local High Schools, working with students at the university and conducting some readings in book stores and arts venues in the region. You can find out a little bit more about the ARIEL residency and access my schedule if you’d like to attend one of the events or workshops HERE The website is in French but fear not. If you’re not as Duolingo proficient as I am, there is a handy wee translate button. Because I’m based in France I’m afraid I won’t be able to read proofs or take part in any events back in the UK or Ireland until mid-February. After that, feel free to inundate my Agent and lovely PR person Sorcha with requests. You can find their contact details in the contact section of my website. I’ll try to remember to blog on here to keep you all updated on my French adventures.

I’m also going to be spending a huge part of my residency working on a new novel set in a community centre in Belfast. It’s a long time since I wrote about home from a distance so I’m intrigued to see if it will help to lend a little perspective or feel like looking at the subject matter through the wrong end of a telescope. For all of you who enjoy the little videos of things floating gently down the Connswater, I will do my best to find a comparable French backwater and film some crisp bags floating down it.

I think that’s all my news for now. Here are a couple of wee pictures of my new digs and Nancy (similar vibe to East Belfast)