The Villa Gillet
Founded in 1987, the Villa Gillet welcomes in Lyon fiction and non-fiction writers, artists and scholars from over the world to ponder issues relevant to our ever shiflting world. The Villa Gillet makes the work of exciting contemporary thinkers accessible to the largest audience possible, by organizing events during the year, and during its festivals : the International Forum on the Novel — happening every year in May since 2007— co-organized with "Le Monde", Walls and Bridges, a ten-day series of events that happened from 2011 to 2013 and Mode d'emploi : un festival des idées — a festival of public debates — initiated in 2012.
Alaa El Aswany
Alaa El Aswani © Marc Melki
NOVELIST
Egypt
Born in 1957, in Egypt, Alaa El Aswany is a journalist and a writer. After his studies in Chicago, he went back to Cairo, where he still lives. He shares his time between his job as a dentist and writing. His first novel, The Yacoubian building was an international success. Under Hosni Moubarak dictatorship, he often wrote for opposition newspapers. He is a founder member of "Kefaya" (Enough !), a democratic movement that campaigns for free presidential elections. In 2011, he got involved in the Egyptian revolution for which he was one of the main representative in the French media.
