Coordinates: 47°05′04″N 2°23′47″E / 47.0844°N 2.3964°E / 47.0844; 2.3964

Bourges (French pronunciation: [buʁʒ]) is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.

The name of the city is either derived from the Bituriges, the name of the original inhabitants, or from the Germanic Burg (French: Bourg. Spanish: Burgos. English, others: Burgh, Berg, or Borough), for "hill/village". Its Celtic name was Avaricon and its Latin name was Avaricum. In the Gallic Wars, the Gauls practised a scorched-earth policy, but the inhabitants of Avaricum begged not to have their city burned, and it was spared due to its good defences provided by the surrounding marshes and a strong southern wall. Following the siege of Avaricum in the winter of 52 BC, Julius Caesar's forces destroyed the city and killed all but 800 of its inhabitants.

The city was reconstructed as a Roman city, with a monumental gate, aqueducts, thermae and an amphitheatre, reaching a greater size than it would attain during the Middle Ages. The massive walls surrounding the late Roman city, enclosing 40 hectares, were built in part re-using stone from earlier public buildings.

Caroline Fourest (born September 19, 1975 in Aix-en-Provence) is a French feminist writer, journalist, columnist (every Saturday in Le Monde and every Friday on France culture), editor of the magazine "ProChoix" (antiracist and secularist), and author of Frère Tariq (Brother Tariq), a critical look at the works of the Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan.

A graduate in sociology and political science, as a journalist she has written many books on such topics as the conservative right, the pro-life movement (France and USA), and on current fundamentalist trends in Abrahamic religions (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim). She served as President of the Gay and Lesbian Center ("Centre Gay et Lesbien"), beginning in 1999.

In March 2006, she signed MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism, a manifesto against Islamist Totalitarianism that gained wide publicity. The other 11 signatories include Salman Rushdie, Ibn Warraq, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasreen, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

She has received several political awards for her work, including the National award of "Laïcité" in 2005, and the "Award of the political book" in 2006.