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Today's Newsletter
  1. Early Webinars: Celebrating Literature & the Arts
  2. Interview With Katherine Brown, Young Leader '18
  3. Headlines
  4. Returning to School: Transatlantic Perspective
Early Webinars: Celebrating Literature & the Arts
We created the French-American Foundation webinar series to engage our wider community in consistent transatlantic dialogue during the COVID-19 crisis. Beginning in March, the initiative has since grown to over 20 webinars with 40 different speakers on topics from public policy and leadership to literature and the arts.

This week, we’re revisiting our webinars dedicated to the power of the arts in times of crisis. We had the pleasure of welcoming a series of writers to present their latest works of fiction, discuss the creative process, and even host a virtual cooking class.

  • Karin Tanabe, author and Young Leader '18, hosted a book reading of her new novel, A Hundred Suns, with moderator Kabir Sehgal, author and Young Leader '19. Watch the recording.

  • Emily Nemens, author and editor at The Paris Review, discussed her new book, The Cactus League, with moderator Karin Tanabe. Watch the recording.

  • Marc Levy, bestselling French novelist, led a conversation about fostering creativity in this moment of international crisis with moderator Karin Tanabe. Watch the recording.

  • Melissa Clark, award-winning food writer and cookbook author, cooked through a recipe from her new book, Dinner in French, with moderator Emeline Foster, Executive Director of the French-American Foundation. Watch the recording.

As we take a momentary pause on digital events to revamp our online programming for the fall, we’re delighted to share these discussions from the last four months. Click HERE to see the full list of available webinars.
Interview With Katherine Brown, Young Leader '18
Dr. Katherine Brown is President & CEO of Global Ties US, the largest and oldest citizen diplomacy network in the United States. Read our latest interview where she discusses her career at the White House and in Kabul, her experience as an author, and the importance of international exchange.

Q. Your book, Your Country, Our War: The Press and Diplomacy in Afghanistan, was published last year and is based on eight years of interviews in Kabul, Washington, DC, and New York. Can you tell us about your background in journalism and the process of writing this book?
  • "I wrote the book in pieces over more than a decade. I first arrived in Kabul in November 2003 as a communications advisor at the US Embassy in Afghanistan. I was already fascinated with the interplay of media and international relations and that exponentially increased when I started to work with American and Afghan journalists, who were reporting Afghanistan for their audiences in two very different ways. (...)"
Headlines
  • "A huge explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 100 people and shattering windows and damaging buildings across a wide swath of the city, according to officials. The blast sent a huge mushroom cloud into the sky, seemingly emanating from a spot close to where a large fire had been burning. (...)"

  • "France's top scientific body on Tuesday said a second wave of the coronavirus was "highly likely" this autumn or winter as the country grapples with a marked increase of new cases of the disease over the past two weeks. (...)"

  • "China's state media reacted furiously to President Donald Trump's comments that the US Treasury should get a cut of any sale of TikTok to an American company. (...)"

  • "Twin emergencies on two coasts this week — Hurricane Isaias and the Apple Fire — offer a preview of life in a warming world and the steady danger of overlapping disasters. (...)"
Beirut
Follow Updates

  • "International aid, emergency workers and medical personnel are heading to the capital from countries such as France, Jordan, Egypt, the Czech Republic and others. Charities such as Save the Children and the Union of Relief and Development Associations are also providing aid in the form of assistance on the ground and donations. (...)"
Returning to School: Transatlantic Perspective
  • "Teachers are afraid. Parents are desperate. Child care workers are frustrated. They all want kids to succeed. POLITICO's Mackenzie Mays breaks down the fight that's escalating as schools prepare to reopen — in-person, online or some combination of the two — during a pandemic.(...)" [13-minute audio]

  • "By late March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded, primary and secondary schools closed in nearly every country, affecting more than 1.5 billion learners, according to UNESCO. In many places, educators quickly shifted to remote teaching with the hope of salvaging the academic year. (...)"

  • "La rentrée scolaire approche pour les 12 millions d'élèves français. Après une année 2019/2020 perturbée par la pandémie de Covid-19, le gouvernement a fait de la reprise de l'école une de ses priorités. 'Nous nous sommes mis en situation d'avoir une rentrée des classes quasi-normale', a déclaré Emmanuel Macron lors de son allocution du 14 juillet. (...)"
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