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.
Martin Hirsch
DIRECTOR OF THE CIVIC SERVICE AGENCY
France
Biography
Martin Hirsch was president of Emmaüs France then high commissioner of Solidarités actives contre la Pauvreté [anti-poverty welfare subsidies] in the Fillon administration. In this capacity he created the Revenu de Solidarité Active (RSA) [subsistence income for the unemployed and underemployed] and the civic service, and has directed the Civic Service Agency since 2010.
He is the author of numerous essays, including Manifeste contre la pauvreté (Oh! Éditions, 2004) and Pour en finir avec les conflits d’intérêts (Stock, 2010). In the very personal La lettre perdue (Stock, 2012), Hirsch recounts, in particular, the roots of his commitment to combating poverty.
