Author Laure Gouraige | Midwest Tour

As part of the 2026 Jules Verne Writing Residency, Gouraige will give three public talks at The Ohio State University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Indiana University – Bloomington, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of her writing—from her early autobiographical texts to her latest novel, Mirapolis.

Rather than discussing her books as finished works, Gouraige will reflect on what writing them has taught her: how personal experience can be transformed into literature, how philosophical questions can shape a fictional world, and how a writer moves from telling her own story to creating worlds of her own. She will also share how working on a long-term project has changed her relationship with writing and time.

About the author : Laure Gouraige is a French novelist based in Paris. She is the author of four novels: La Fille du père (P.O.L, 2020), Les Idées noires (P.O.L, 2022), Le livre que je n’ai pas écrit (P.O.L, 2024), and Grave (Les Intranquilles, 2026). Her work explores questions of identity, memory, family, and the ways fiction transforms lived experience. She is currently completing Mirapolis, a novel inspired by her writing residency in the United States. In 2026, she was awarded the Jules Verne Writing Residency, which has brought her to several universities across the American Midwest.

The Midwest Tour is organized by Professors Benjamin Hoffman, Director of the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy at OSU, Lionel Cuillé, Director of the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy at WU and Oana Panaïté, Director of the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy at IU with the support of Villa Albertine Chicago.