French Passions: Posy Simmonds on Flaubert

Posy Simmonds is a British newspaper cartoonist, and writer and illustrator of children's books. She's been associated for a long time with The Guardian, for which she has drawn the cartoons Gemma Bovery (an obvious reference to Madame Bovary, the famous character created by Flaubert) and Tamara Drewe, both later published as books. 'Gemma Bovary' has been adapted to the screen by French director Anne Fontaine.

A francophile, Posy Simmonds read "Madame Bovary" for the first time at 15, and she admits she had to look up most word in the dictionary. She says she admires Flaubert for being a genius at describing things and for being able to create such visual scenes.

Boyd Tonkin chairs the talk.