Activities

The Federation is managed by a Board of 18 members, elected for three years by the general meeting. This board is meeting regularly to decide upon the Federation’s activities, which are based on projects prepared by different committees. These committees are open to all members.

The currently existing committees are :

• "Rencontres des maisons d'écrivain et des patrimoines littéraires. " organizing committee
• Publications committee
• Internet committee
• Educational activities committee
• Audiovisual resources committee
• International relations committee

"Rencontres des maisons d'écrivain et des patrimoines littéraires." organizing committee

The role of this committee is to set up a pilot group to prepare and organize the “Rencontres des maisons d'écrivain et des patrimoines littéraires.” every two years. It also establishes a thematic programme for the coming years. In collaboration with the Publications committee, it designs the proceedings and the promotion documents for the conference. The next "Rencontres" will take place in November 2008 in Bourges. The topic will shortly be disclosed..
Person in charge : Elisabeth Dousset

Publications committee

This committee controls the edition of the newsletter (“Bulletin d’informations”) twice a year and all publications related to the Federation’s works. For the time being, it is working on the proceedings of the "Rencontres" 2004 and 2006. It is also preparing the issue of a map of French writers' houses.
Person in charge : Patrick Maunand

Internet committee

The first aim of this committee is to manage the website of the Federation, which is the information, exchange and promotion tool of literary places and collections, and also of the Federation’s activities. The second one is to organize the networking of members. It is thinking about a cooperation with other European countries, particularly in order to set up a real network for European writers' houses on the web.
Person in charge : Antoine Soriano

Educational activities committee

This committee aims at promoting the relationship between writers’ houses and literary places which develop educational activities with their counterparts in the National Education service. Last year, it published a Guide of educational activities: directions for use, composed of a series of technical slides about the possible supports, the institutional framework and how to prepare an educational project in a writer’s house. This guide will shortly be readable on this website.
Person in charge : Madeleine Rondin

Audiovisual resources committee

This committee is working in three directions:

• to set up an inventory of audiovisual literary resources (sound tracks, documentaries, TV magazines and programmes where writers appear and those which are dedicated to them, and also recording of shows) to inform writers’ houses and literary places,
• to negociate with the companies managing copyrights in order to set up a juridical framework and fix reasonable financial terms for the use of audiovisual documents as records and for public display,
• to think about audiovisual resources as museographical and animation means for writers’ houses and literary places.
  In 2002 the committee made a short film promoting writers’ museum-houses, which was shown for the first time in an evening event organized with Scam (Société Civile de Auteurs Multimédias), and then during the “Rencontres” in Bourges. It prepared the "Rencontres" 2006 about Audiovisual ressources and literary places and will shortly issue a guide about this topic for writers' houses.

Person in charge : Jacques Mény

International relations committee

This committee was born in 2003 and received positive answers from our foreign counterparts for participating at the “Rencontres” 2004. Since then, an active cooperation is going on with Spain and Portugal. Links with Italy are projected in the near future. Other ideas to promote our writers’ houses abroad are under study.
Person in charge : Jean-Paul Dekiss

The Federation’s appointments

In order to reach all its aims and to meet the needs of its members, the Federation fosters cooperation between literary places and organizes study and discovery trips in the writers’ houses along with its general meeting:

• Jules Verne’s House in Amiens, 2000,
• Manosque and Provence (Giono), 2001,
• Malagar in Gironde, Mauriac’s region, 2002,
• Centre Charles Péguy and Maurice Genevoix’s House, in the Orleans area, 2003,
• Villa Mont-Noir, Marguerite Yourcenar’s property in the North of France, 2004,
• Villa Arnaga, Edmond Rostand’s House in the Basque country, 2005,
• Espace Maurice Carême, Bruxelles-Anderlecht in Belgium, 2006.
• Les Charmettes - J.J. Rousseau's House in Savoy and Hector Berlioz' Museum in Isère, 2007.

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