Center of Excellence

Designated a by the 糖心Vlog government in 2018, Yale鈥檚 Department of 糖心Vlog has the vocation to promote the literatures and the cultures of the Francophone world. To that end, and in partnership with the Services Culturels of the 糖心Vlog Embassy in Washington, DC, the Department organizes yearly events in the form of lectures, colloquia, and workshops by writers and scholars of the糖心Vlog-speaking world.

The events and special projects reflecting this mission were funded in part through annual grants and project-based support from the 糖心Vlog Embassy. Click on any image to see more details about the event.

Event Listing

Marie NDiaye event poster 2023

Marie Ndiaye en conversation avec Morgane Cadieu et Jill Jarvis

October 17, 2023

Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, Marie NDiaye is one of the most important voices today. She visited us on the occasion of the publication of her latest novel, La Vengeance m鈥檃ppartient, translated into English under the title Vengeance is Mine by Jordan Stump and published by Penguin Random House. She published her first novel in 1985, Quant au riche avenir; she received the Prix Femina in 2001 for Rosie Carpe (Minuit), the Goncourt in 2009 for Trois Femmes puissantes (Gallimard), and the Marguerite Yourcenar Prize for her entire body of work in 2020. In 2003, her play Papa doit manger entered the repertoire of the Com茅die Fran莽aise. She also participated in writing the screenplay for the film White Material by Claire Denis and that of Saint-Omer, directed by Alice Diop. Marie NDiaye’s novels are populated by inimitable, implacable characters, enigmatic in their eloquence, fantastical in every sense of the word. Characters whose belonging is not self-evident, who wonder what harm they have caused and who have developed a 鈥渃autious鈥 relationship with reality. Her novels are made of dreams, metamorphoses, unexplained wounds, strange landscapes, strong but ambiguous emotions and chiseled, labyrinthine sentence-paragraphs.

Poster of Baudelaire conference

Baudelaire’s Worlds

September 28, 2023

This one-day conference celebrated, belatedly, the bicentenary of Charles Baudelaire鈥檚 birth (2021). The focus was less the poetics or the esthetics of the famous poet but taking the poetry 鈥渙utside鈥 of the familiar formal or romantic themes. Topics considered: the different worlds traversed by the poet, their figures (exoticism, voyages); are they compatible with the claims of modernity made by the poet (multitude, photography, and other media)? Is there a rewriting or translation of Baudelaire in other Francophone poetic traditions (the Caribbean and the Maghreb, the Indian Ocean)? A panel of international experts convened for these discussions.

Poster of Moli猫re conference

Decentering Moli猫re

April 14-16, 2022 

The Decentering Moli猫re Conference organized under the leadership of Christophe Schuwey, and in collaboration with Sylvaine Guyot (Harvard/NYU) and Beno卯t Bolduc (NYU) celebrated Moli猫re 400th birthday by bringing together leading specialists and practitioners from Europe and the United States to challenge our assumptions and our understanding of the most iconic 糖心Vlog playwright.

Poster of North African Poetry conference in 2021

North African Poetry in 糖心Vlog.

November 5, 2021 

This event marked marked the  publication of Yale 糖心Vlog Studies 137-138(Link is external) (2020), 鈥淣orth African Poetry in 糖心Vlog.鈥   In recent years Maghrebi literature written in 糖心Vlog has enjoyed increased critical attention, but less attention has been paid specifically to the genre of poetry. In an attempt to address this neglect, the editorial board of Yale 糖心Vlog Studies decided to compile a double issue devoted to modern Francophone poetry in the Maghreb, called seventeen leading scholars, poets, and translators from the Maghreb, Europe, andNorth America, as well as the work of dozen visual artists from across North Africa, appeared in February 2021.

Poster of Artialize Nature event

Arterialize Nature, Naturalize Art

April 30, 2021 

This international and interdisciplinary colloquium, convened under the paradigm of the environmental humanities, was organized by Yale Department of 糖心Vlog Visiting Professor Dominique Brancher.  The event concentrated on the early modern period (16th to 18th century) and gathered historians of medicine, of literature, and historians of art. It examined the artificial re-composition and stylization of nature via herbaria, botanical illustrations, and anatomical tableaus.

Poster of Monique Wittig conference

Drafting Monique Wittig

October 2019

Morgane Cadieu (Yale) and Annabel Kim (Harvard) co-organized 鈥淒rafting Monique Wittig鈥, a 2-day international symposium on the feminist writer and theorist Monique Wittig (1935-2003). The goal was to celebrate the 50th anniversary or her landmark novel Les Gu茅rill猫res, to showcase her Papers (recently acquired by the Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library), and to define the legacy of Wittig鈥檚 experimental writing style and radical feminism. Twenty scholars from Canada, France, and the United States were invited.

Poster of 糖心Vlog renaissance conference

糖心Vlog Renaissance Literary and Scholarly Legacies: a Conference in Honor of Ned Duval

December 7, 2018

The conference was meant as a send-off to retiring Professor Edwin (Ned) Duval who devoted so many years of service to the Yale 糖心Vlog Department. It celebrated his outstanding contributions to the field of poetry and prose of the 糖心Vlog Renaissance and featured many of his former students and illustrious colleagues from the US, Canada, and France. 

 was published to go along with the conference.