Lecture & Discussion Meet the French author Franck Pavloff of Matin Brun ( Brown Morning ) - 10th April, 2007

• Event Info : A discussion with the author M. Franck Pavloff. Franck Pavloff is a French, of Bulgarian origin. He has quickly become a recognized author of books for young readers and adults alike. His best-known work is Matin brun (Cheyne, 1999), illustrated by the revered Yugoslavianborn and Paris-raised comic novelist, Enki Bilal, and published in the U.S. as Brown Morning (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004). His concerns with totalitarianism and the exploitation of children appear as recurrent themes in his work. Brown Morning recounts the story of two easy-going friends amid the sinister machinations of the regime under which they are living. On the surface everything seems to be fine. People go about their everyday business; they meet in cafes and chat, and sit in the sunshine. Then, gradually, new laws are introduced. Or, rather, old laws are amended. It begins with the pets—the State Scientists have discovered that brown dogs and cats are better suited to the modern urban environment than other animals. The end result is a world in which all is brown. The Military Police wear brown uniforms, the dogs and cats are brown, even the language begins to change as the word 'brown' is tagged on to everyday phrase. A short book by a previously obscure provincial writer, from an obscure publisher, has, by stealth and by word of mouth, become The French literary sensation of the past year. Shooting up the bestseller charts in the wake of Le Pen's 18 per cent share of the vote, and adopted by schools and human rights organizations, Brown Morning till date has hit 300,000 copies in France alone. A miniature Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brown Morning is a story that will stay with you, as it has with thousands of other readers.

• Time : 7:00 pm

• Organized by : Alliance Française de Delhi & the Embassy of France in India

• Place : ML Bhartia Auditorium, Alliance Française, Next to Annex building of India International Centre, Lodhi Road
• Contact : 011-43500200