2004 - 2006 dates:

Thursday 4 – Sunday 7 November 2004: Alan Riding & Leslie Dunton-Downer "Oasis Shakespeare I"
Thursday 17 - Sunday 20 March 2005: Esther Freud (Hideous Kinky, The Sea House)
Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 June 2005: William Dalrymple (From In Xanadu to White Mughals)
Thursday 3 – Sunday 6 November 2005: Alan Riding & Leslie Dunton-Downer "Oasis Shakespeare II"
Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 January 2006: Barbara Trapido (Frankie and Stankie)
Thursday 23 - Sunday 26 March 2006: Anthony Sattin (The Gates of Africa)
Thursday 22 - Sunday 25 June 2006: Aminatta Forna (The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's
 Memoir and, forthcoming, Ancestor Stones)

Literary salons provide an opportunity for people interested in literature to come together in the company of a well-respected author. Nineteenth century salons were chances to interact, both socially and intellectually, and usually took place in comfortable and discrete surroundings. Music, food and wine all featured prominently in the salons, which were intimate affairs including a limited number of participants.

Jnane Tamsna literary salons recreate the idea with a modern note. They will take place four or five times annually over long weekends. Authors will give approximately two readings or presentations of their work. The rest of the weekend will be comprised of visits to the Marrakech region accompanied by the author that will tie in with his or her work.

For the first Salon (Oasis Shakespeare I: Botanising with the Bard), we visited an herb garden in the Ourika Valley to explore Shakespeare's use of herbs for symbollic reference. A 17th century gala banquet open to the public was another highlight of the weekend. The menu was designed by Meryanne Loum Martin, and troubladours entertained throughout. For Oasis Shakespeare II (Potions and Witchcraft), our tour of hidden Marrakech and the souks will include tea on a rooftop terrace and a visit to the traditional pharmacist ... the apothecary, in Shakespearean terms.
 

The salons are designed to support various charity projects in Morocco and internationally, particularly ones focused on literacy and education. The pace of the programme is relaxed: there are many opportunities for the participants and the authors to interact and engage in discussions in an informal way.

Essential Shakespeare Handbook

Offering a user-friendly illustrated guide to every play in the Shakespeare canon, as well as a portrait of the Bard's life and the world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, the 'Essential Shakespeare Handbook' helps unravel the complexities of Shakespeare's plays and poems. This book will help enrich the experience of the Bard's work on the page, stage, and screen.

About the authors

Alan Riding is the Paris-based European arts correspondent of The New York Times. Like many Britons, Alan was raised on Shakespeare. In working on this book, though, he came to understand the full meaning of Ben Jonson's phrase -- that Shakespeare "was not of an age, but for all time!" And to that, he adds: "Shakespeare was not of England, but of the world!"

Leslie Dunton-Downer, co-founded the Cambridge Riverside Players, a community reading group devoted to Shakespeare’s plays and is a former lecturer at Harvard University. She has received numerous awards for her work as a teacher, scholar, and writer for music and theater, including from the Sheldon Fellowship, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.