One of our most prominent Sciences Po alumni, Simone Veil (SP 48), a key French and European political figure, will be making a lecture at the French Institute in London, South Kensington, on Wednesday 11 March at 7pm. This will be a prime event which, we hope, many of SciencesPo Alumni will attend.
Simone Veil, A Life
‘This is a riveting memoir by an extraordinary woman. With exemplary forthrightness, Simone Veil charts her trajectory from her pre-war childhood in a secular Jewish family in Nice, through the misery of her year in Auschwitz and into the cut and thrust of French and European politics. This document of a life is also a compact history of post-war France.‘
(Lisa Appignanesi)
In December 2007, French airport bookshops sported tall piles of paperbacks from whose severe cover emerged a soft-focus photo of a striking young woman, caught in half profile. Simone Veil had published her long-awaited memoirs. Veil – Auschwitz survivor, Minister for Health (1974–9), author of the 1975 law legalizing abortion in France, first woman President of the European Parliament (1979–82), and Minister of State for Social Affairs (1993–1995) – is one of France’s most popular personalities, and the newest member of the French Academy. Une Vie sold more than a million copies in France, and has now been translated into English (Haus Publishing, 2009, translated by Tamsin Black). For the translation’s official launch, Simone Veil will be in conversation with BBC journalist Madeleine Holt.
Wed 11 March | 7pm | £8, conc. £6 | in English
To book your place: 0207 073 1350
