KM in Gray 20-22 February 2015
From 20-22 February 2015, the town of Gray, near Dijon in France, hosted a weekend of celebrations, to commemorate the centenary of the visit by Katherine Mansfield to Gray in order to see Francis Carco. The brainchild of this centenary weekend was KMS member Bernard Bosque. Together with the tourist office in Gray, a wonderful weekend of events took place. The NZ Ambassador to France, H.E. James Kember, was present for the whole day on Saturday, where there were various talks, including a marvellous reconstruction of KM¹s exact movements in Gray by Bernard Bosque, as a result of his most incredibly detailed researches even down to the weather. The beautiful and historic theatre in Gray was the venue for most of the activities, where Bernard Bosque and Gilles Freyssinet (the biographer of Francis Carco) has set up a truly fascinating and detailed exhibition with many artefacts and manuscripts. The town of Gray also put on a wonderful play in the theatre, reconstructing the events surrounding the rendezvous between KM and Carco, which was very well received.
KMS members to attend included KMS Chair Dr Gerri Kimber, Prof Claire Davison from the Sorbonne, and Dr Simone Oettli and her husband Max, from Geneva. The guests were treated like royalty from the moment they arrived, with accommodation paid for by the town, as well as various receptions and banquets. Gray is the most beautiful historic town and guests were also treated to a guided tour of its most famous sites.
This detailed Powerpoint on Katherine Mansfield’s trip to Gray was created and generously donated to the KMS website by Bernard Bosque.
Click here to see the gallery of photographs by Max Oettli.
Click here to see a second gallery of photographs by Gerri Kimber.