{"id":6021552,"date":"2025-10-15T18:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/villa-albertine.org\/va\/?post_type=app_event&p=6021552"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:15:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:15:50","slug":"villa-albertine-san-francisco-at-litquake-2025","status":"publish","type":"app_event","link":"https:\/\/villa-albertine.org\/va\/events\/villa-albertine-san-francisco-at-litquake-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Villa Albertine San Francisco at Litquake 2025 with bestselling author Thomas Schlesser of “Mona’s Eyes”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Villa Albertine SF is pleased to receive the best-selling French author Thomas Schlesser, making his American debut with \u201cThe Eyes of Mona.\u201d Join us for a reading and conversation about themes from his newest book, which <\/em>is an inspiring journey across five centuries of art with 10-year-old Mona and her grandfather Henry. They have only fifty-two weeks to encounter all that is beautiful in the world before Mona loses her sight forever. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona will discover not only the power of art but also the meaning of generosity, doubt, melancholy, loss, and revolt.\u202f\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s no exaggeration to call Mona\u2019s Eyes an international sensation. The novel by Thomas Schlesser is not only a #1 bestseller in his native France, Mona\u2019s Eyes also captivated audiences worldwide, having been translated into 37 languages. Don\u2019t miss this chance to hear him in discussion with critic and essayist Tausif Noor in the visually exquisite setting of the historic Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Thomas Schlesser\u00a0<\/strong>
Thomas Schlesser is an art historian and the director of the Hartung-Bergman Foundation in Antibes, France. He teaches Art History at the \u00c9cole Polytechnique in Paris and is the author of several works of nonfiction about art, artists, and the relationship between art and politics in the 20th century, including Luminous Lives \u2013 a Biography of Anna\u2011Eva Bergman (trans. by Charles\u202fPenwarden, Eris Press). Mona\u2019s Eyes (trans. by Hildegarde Serle, Europa Editions) is Schlesser\u2019s second novel and his American debut. It has been translated into thirty-eight languages, including Braille. Schlesser is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and was awarded 2025\u2019s Author of the Year by Livres Hebdo. He is the grandson of Andr\u00e9 Schlesser, known as Dad\u00e9, a well-known singer and cabaret performer of Roma origins who founded of the Cabaret L\u2019\u00c9clu\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4659219,"menu_order":0,"template":"","app_discipline":[],"app_city_tax":[225],"app_event_type":[237,385,241],"class_list":["post-6021552","app_event","type-app_event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","app_city_tax-sf","app_event_type-festival","app_event_type-readings","app_event_type-talk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVilla Albertine San Francisco at Litquake 2025 with bestselling author Thomas Schlesser of "Mona's Eyes" - Villa Albertine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"illa Albertine SF is pleased to receive the best-selling French author Thomas Schlesser, making his American debut with \u201cThe Eyes of Mona.\u201d Join us for a reading and conversation about themes from his newest book, which is an inspiring journey across five centuries of art with 10-year-old Mona and her grandfather Henry. They have only fifty-two weeks to encounter all that is beautiful in the world before Mona loses her sight forever. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona will discover not only the power of art but also the meaning of generosity, doubt, melancholy, loss, and revolt.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/villa-albertine.org\/va\/events\/villa-albertine-san-francisco-at-litquake-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Villa Albertine San Francisco at Litquake 2025 with bestselling author Thomas Schlesser of "Mona's Eyes" - Villa Albertine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"illa Albertine SF is pleased to receive the best-selling French author Thomas Schlesser, making his American debut with \u201cThe Eyes of Mona.\u201d Join us for a reading and conversation about themes from his newest book, which is an inspiring journey across five centuries of art with 10-year-old Mona and her grandfather Henry. They have only fifty-two weeks to encounter all that is beautiful in the world before Mona loses her sight forever. 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