Events at the festival include Literary lunches and dinners held in private houses in and around the Fort at which invited authors 'sing for their supper.' 'Dinner at No 10' was for 50 in our courtyard. Sudantha - Le Chef de Galle - with a guiding hand from Jo, outdid himself..and we were delighted to have Anthony Beevor and Artemis Cooper - the husband and wife team who coauthored their book, 'Paris'.
"An unsurpassed account of the drama, recrimination and upheaval that overwelmed Paris after 1944"
They spoke about their research and interviews they had conducted with various people from that time including the defense lawyer of Marshal Petain. When asked by Artemis whether time has caused any regrets to surface he responded in disgust that Marshal Petain was a great man. A great French man.
Petain was sentenced to death, commuted to life in prison, and he died in 1951. There were many other gripping stories and Anthony and Artemis were entertaining, amusing, enthralling and we hung on their every word. Luckily it was only questions that later rained down.
It was a 'ticket' event so those trying to 'crash' had to remain on the roof tiles.
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