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.
Jean-Louis Étienne
EXPLORER AND DOCTOR
France
Jean-Louis Étienne is both an explorer and a doctor specializing in nutrition and sports biology and has participated in many expeditions. In 1986, he is the first man to reach the North Pole alone. In 2010, he is the first one to successfully cross the Arctic Ocean in a Rozière balloon. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honor and a member of the Academy of Technology, and has notably published Mission Banquise (Seuil / 7ème continent, 2002) and La Traversée du pôle Nord en ballon (Chêne, 2010).