Author Laure Gouraige | Midwest Tour
Talk
Columbus, St Louis, Bloomington
Sept 3-15, 2026
What does it mean to become a novelist? This fall, French writer Laure Gouraige invites audiences across the Midwest to explore the journey from lived experience to fiction.
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.
Thu, September 3, 2026 | The Ohio State University – Columbus (OH)
More info Learning to Live Inside a Novel with Laure Gouraige
Wed, September 9, 2026 | Washington University – Saint Louis (MO)
More info Learning to Live Inside a Novel: A Conversation with Writer-in-Residence Laure Gouraige
Tues, September 15, 2026 | Indiana University – Bloomington (IN)
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.
In partnership with
Center of Excellence – The Ohio State University
In December 2020, the Department of French and Italian at Ohio State University was selected by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States to join its prestigious network of Centers of Excellence. Housed at 22 major research universities in the US, Centers of Excellence receive yearly financial support and project-based support. The Center for Excellence at Ohio State aims to promote French and Francophone Literature and Culture in the Midwest. The Center’s main focus is the Jules Verne Writing Residency. The Residency provides a space of creation and reflection to a Francophone writer who works on a literary project during their time at OSU.
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university in Greater St. Louis. Founded in 1853 and named after George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all 50 U.S. states and more than 120 countries. Washington University is composed of seven graduate and undergraduate schools that encompass a broad range of academic fields. As of 2020, 25 Nobel laureates in economics, physiology and medicine, chemistry, and physics have been affiliated with Washington University, ten having done the major part of their pioneering research at the university.
Department of French and Italian and the Center of Excellence of the French Embassy at Indiana University Bloomington
Learning French or Italian can open doors to the global community. Our internationally recognized department offers all levels of language instruction, courses that inspire curiosity, exciting research opportunities, and study abroad experiences to broaden your horizons.