Highlights from the Reading of Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux’s Happening Night of Ideas, 2023

For the 2023 Night of Ideas, Columbia University’s Maison Française and Department of French teamed up with Villa Albertine to host a collective public reading of Happening by Annie Ernaux, French author and winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature. Happening recounts the abortion Ernaux had at age 23, in 1963, at a time when the procedure was still illegal in France. Her story, told with unsparing honesty, resonates strongly in post-Roe America, where the right to a safe and legal abortion has been curtailed in many states. On March 3rd, Happening was read in English in its entirety, with brief passages performed by more than 30 diverse voices-writers, artists, doctors, teachers, students, activists-in a collective expression of appreciation for Annie Ernaux’s bold work and solidarity for reproductive rights.