Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

What if your moment came- and you didn't know what to do? The conundrum of François Hollande

François Hollande was elected to the French presidency on the flamby promise to close his eyes and plug his ears and yell ee eee ee eee eee eee eee until the Dragon of  Reality got bored and went away.

Now it's been a year, and the charmingly wishful ee eee ee eee eee eee eee policy is under strain.  Instead of disappearing in a puff, the Dragon of Reality, contrary to expectations, has been devouring everything in sight. This is bad news. For France. For the left. For the President himself. No one is more stunned than Mr Hollande's supporters - who now slam him for his lack of faith. Shout ee eee ee eee eee eee eee louder, you flabby infidel! they cry.

It's like watching a theater full of children clapping frantically to save Tinkerbell, only to see her, not just die, but get hit by a bus, and thrown into a boiling poisonous river, where she is ripped apart by that awful crocodile with the clock ticking inside him.

Imagine the trauma.

This, in short, is the psychological position of the French left today.

What is the Dragon of Reality? (Or the ticking clock) Take your pick:

unemployment, or

unfunded pensions or

massive government overspending, or

a dying industrial base, or

excessive costs to employers, or

endemic corruption, or

disheveled universities, or

inegalitarian schools, or

polluted water, deadly seaweed and lost and dying bees, or repeat violent offenders, or

the unspeakable horrors of foreign languages...

Poor François. Unable to sustain the fiction that he was stupid enough to believe his own promises, he started plummeting in the poles only weeks after entering office, and, like that cool Mad Man suit guy, has only accelerated since (but way less cool).

Splat, the one word on everyone's lips, makes no sense in French, where one talks of deserts to be crossed and waiting for one's moment.

What if one's moment is here and one has not the slightest idea what to do with it?

What if one is not the right man for the job?

What France needs, more than a man of incessant action, is a calm yet steely explainer-in-chief, someone who can put France's troubles in context, carefully showing how France got into them and how France can get back out.

But for that to happen, François Hollande must first acknowledge that Reality is not the enemy - false, wishful and crazy thinking about Reality is.

Consequently, his first arrow must be destined for the hallucinations of his own political base: the people who cast their vote for him in the absurd and touching hope that believing in miracles will make it so.

His second arrow should be aimed at incompetence in his own ranks - Hollande has assembled the least experienced crew of "broken arms" we've seen in 25 years. Hardly anyone has any idea of what goes on in the private sector, how companies function, what is takes to produce, distribute and market goods and services. This lack of basic knowledge of the world is killing. Time to bring in some people who know what they're doing. 

 His third arrow should go straight to the heart of ideology. In nearly every sector - most visibly education - ideology has trumped basic pragmatism. The preference for the theoretical over the real is a traditional French disease, but under Hollande it's grown to devastating proportions.

THE GOOD NEWS is that it should be easier for François Hollande to apply common sense than it was for his predecessor: he has only his own supporters to overcome - and not an insanely irresponsible opposition.

 

 

Literary Events, Readings and New Books in Paris May 2013

This month, news from Peter Gumbel, Barry Kirwan, Nancy Kricorian, Roderick d'Entrac, Cathy Altman Nocquet, Douglas Kennedy, Nathalie Bassand, Edward Rutherfurd, Ann Saul, Rupert Thomson, Elena Nesti, Rosemary Flannery, Elliot Perlman,  Elena Nesti, Ben Fountain, Kate Noakes, Jerome Charyn, Linda Lappin, Roy Lisker, Margaret Aldridge, David Barnes, Alice Boatwright,  the Over 50s contest, the Prada contest, Moving Parts, Paris Lit Up, the Paris Prize, the Novella Contest, and more…  (update in progress)

 

NEW BOOKS from Paris Writers

 

Eden's Revenge by Barry Kirwan, the thrilling third book in The Eden Paradox Series ("“Brilliant plotting, sizzling action, awe-inspiring aliens")

 

Paris to the Pyrenees : a Skeptical Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James by David Downie  ("Motivated not by God, but by nearly everything else, American author David Downie traveled hundreds of miles on foot across France." NPR)

Elite Academie: Enquête sur la France Malade de ses Grandes Ecoles by Peter Gumbel, also available in English as France's Got Talent (May 15); From the bestselling author of They Shoot Schoolchildren, Don't They?

 

Paris to Provence: Childhood Memories of Food & France Ethel Brennan and Sara Remington ("partly a travelogue and part cookbook.. beautifully photographed")

 

Five Days by Douglas Kennedy ("a brilliant meditation on regret, fidelity, family, and second chances")

Paris Night by Roderick d'Entrac ("a highly topical thriller")

 

NEWS: Alice Boatwright's Collateral Damage received the Bronze Medal for Literary Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. The award ceremony will be on 29 May in New York City.

Selected Literary Events in Paris this May

 (for more events - especially poetry, music, bilingual readings  and literary in French - please see the excellent Paris Readings and Events)

Sunday, 5th May 2013 at 7.30 pm MOVING  PARTS presents presents 3 one-act plays SES PLUMES COMME DE LA NEIGE by Nathalie Bassand with YANNICK ROCHER, GEN SHIMAOKA and PABLO DIAZ,  BITE  THE  APPLE by Elena Nesti with KRISTINA DEKENS and CARLINE LEMIRE, and CHANGING TABLES by  Elena Nesti with JOLAINE BEAL at Carr's Pub & Restaurant 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris Metro : Tuileries

 

May 5 and 6:  The May Used Book Sale The Library’s first-weekend-of-the-month book sales are getting bigger and bigger.. Most books at €3, €2, and €1! For details on how to donate books to the Library, see the Book Bags & Book Donations page on our website. American Library in Paris

6 May 7 pm: Rupert Thomson on Secrecy Shakespeare and  Company

 

May 6th – Danger – Spoken word  Open mic/scène ouverte: Performance poetry. Lire vivant. Poésie sonore. Stand up. Monologue. Stories. Beat poetry. Spoken word. English. Français. Your own original texts. Old texts from Rimbaud to Dr Seuss, Beowulf to Gil Scott-Heron. Chacun a son mot à dire. Make the words come alive. Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Sign up from 7.30pm in the bar. Poetics start from 8.30pm underground. Check out the Practical info page for more info.

 

Tuesday 14 May   19h30 Ben Fountain presents Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. American Library in P aris

 

Tuesday 14 May  3-5pm  Rosemary Flannery will speaking about her book, Angels of Paris,  upstairs at La Pierre du Marais, Corner of rue des Archives and rue de Bretagne  75003.   3:00 - 5:00pm. 

May 15th from 3:30-5pm Cathy Altman Nocquet will sign her book Write Outside the Lines AT  L'Emile Booksore in Paris ave Emile Zola in the 15th 


Wednesday 15 May   19h30 Nancy Kricorian reveals the Armenian immigrant experience in Paris in All the Light There Was. American Library in Paris

15 May 7 pm:  Ben Fountain on Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Shakespeare and  Company

 

Friday 17th May 7:00pm Elliot Perlman on The Street Sweeper. Shakespeare and  Company

Tuesday 21 May   19h30 Jerome Charyn tells a tale of Emily Dickinson in The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson. American Library in Paris

Wednesday 22 May   19h30 Ann Saul presents and discusses the work of Danish-French artist Camille Pissarro in Pissarro's Places. American Library in Paris

 26th May MOVING PARTS play reading Roy Lisker's "Commerce and Illusions" Carr's Pub & Restaurant 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris Metro : Tuileries          

Sunday 26th May 6:00pm Carol Ann Duffy, one of the most important and best-loved voices in contemporary British poetry AT Shakespeare and  Company             

27 May SpokenWord!– open mic/scène ouverte: performance poetry, stand up, monologue, stories, beat poetry, sketches, songs, spoken word. Primarily in English but open to all languages. Your own original texts or favourite old texts – from Rimbaud to Dr Seuss, Beowulf to Gil Scott-Heron.  Sign up in the bar from 7.30pm for your 5 minutes of fame. Poetics begin underground from 8.30pm. Make the words come alive. Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Run by David Barnes & Alberto Rigettini. http://spokenwordparis.org/ 

28 May at 7 p.m. POETS LIVE invites you to an evening of poetry and image, with an English poet, a Swedish poet and a Swedish photographer—the reading, as always, will be in English.  Come at 7 p.m. for a drink at the bar, the reading will begin at 7.30 (on the dot), downstairs in “le cave.” AT: Carr’s Pub, 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris, Métro: Tuileries

29th May 6pm Philosophers in the Library at Shakespeare and Co. on the shifting meanings of the concept of law. Join a conversation led by Gregory Bligh, doctoral student in legal philosophy at Paris II and the French child of English parents, for an exploration of law, rights, and fairness in two very different languages. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

30 May  19h30-00h00 Paris Lit Up Open Mic night every Thursday (in English  or other languages.  Sign up all night, but first come first served from 19h30. Starts at 20h with rotating hosts Jason Mc Gimsey, Kate Noakes, Emily Ruck-Keene. AT: the historic home of French Slam poetry, Culture Rapide, at 103 Rue Julien Lacroix, 75020. For more or to see whether there are featured themes and readers: http://parislitup.com/ai1ec_event/paris-lit-up-open-mic/?instance_id=9261

30th May – 1st June International Conference on Vladimir Nabokov The Enchanted Researchers Society, also known as Société Française Vladimir Nabokov, is organizing its first International Conference in Paris.  The conference is free and open to all. Please register if you wish to attend. For further information and registration, please visit their website at: http://www.vladimir-nabokov.org/ Each day’s events are held in different places, so do consult their site AND “register”—many free events require your name on a list.

 

Intriguing Calls for Submissions and Nominations:

 

Calling all fiction writers 50 and older! Huff/Post50 is seeking short-story submissions. 

Prada is  launching a short story contest, with a 5000 euro prize. Details here http://www.prada.com/fr/journal/terms?cc=GB … (rather legalistic submissions rules)

Call for nominations: THE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS BOOK AWARD will be given to the best book of the year in English about France or the French-American encounter. NOMINATIONS:   The deadline for the nominations for the Award is June 1, 2013.

Call for entries for the CAN WRITING International, deadline June 15th. Participants email their response (1000 words max) to any exercise in Cathy Altman Nocquet's book WOTL for a chance to win freeclasses. Contact can.writing@free.fr for more info

 

 

Writing Classes and Workshops

Paris Lit Up Writing Workshop

A drop-in workshop led by Kate Noakes on the first Sunday of every month at 12h30 – 14h30 at Shakespeare and Company. Open to all. Kate provides ideas and writing prompts on a theme each month. It is not a feedback workshop. More information about the instructor blog. The workshop cost is a suggested donation of 10 Euros.

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The Paris Writers’ Group

Open to all writers, regardless of genre: fiction, poetry, theatre, journalism, essay, criticism, dreams, musical lyrics – as well as translators of any and all of the above.  Held occasional Wednesdays at Le Café Apparement, 18 rue des Coutures Saint-Gervaise, near the Picasso Museum. Sign up to the online group for notification and further details here: meetup.com/pariswriters/ The workshop is free, but please be prepared to buy a drink or something more substantial from the cafe. The group is currently hosted by John Pope and/or Helen Cusack O’Keeffe.

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Paris Lit Up Friday Writers

Monthly feedback workshop for poets and prose writers, meets at a private venue on a Friday evening to read, comment and quaff.  Invitation only group. If you have been writing for a while and think you might like to join this group please send a sample of your work and your bio to moc.putilsirap@ofni. We can’t promise there will be a space, but it would be good to know you are interested.

 

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WICE Summer Writing Classes

For information and inscriptions, see http://www.wice-paris.org/pariswritersworkshop

 

Other literary resources at WICE

• Upstairs at Duroc, an international literary and arts journal that publishes established and emerging Paris-based writers.
• Bilingual Book Group, a monthly get together to discuss books (French and English).
• Writers on Writing, informal conversations with accomplished writers to inspire and inform the art and craft of writing.
• Paris Writers’ Workshop, a summer writing workshop offering instruction from some of the best contemporary writers in the world.

 

***

Casting announcement for English-speaking and other actors from Margaret Aldridge

This autumn (September/October) we're shooting a black comedy/horror film set in the Var.  We need male and female actors.  It's low budget, so unpaid ("deferred payment" possibilities)  but all travel and accommodation will be reimbursed. Please send your headshot, bodyshot and cv to Margaret (not to Moving Parts) on :magsaldridge@gmail.com

The main roles are as follows:

Male 40-50 suave sophisticated eccentric charismatic

Male 31-40 feral, scruffy, resemblance to Pan

Male 40-50 average all round

Male 20s    quite good looking, slim

Male 20s    boyish looking, slightly overweight

Male 40-50 Russian looking, Russian accent, overweight, heavy set

Male 20s    Good looking, French accent, wiry. Acrobatics necessary

Female 40-50  American, vague and a bit dizzy. Attractive but not overly

Female 30-40  English, bit brassy and cheap.  Good figure

Female 30s     Russian accent.  Plain but slim.

Female 20/30s Russian accent.  Gorgeous, Fantastic figure

Female 30s      Average, quite attractive, English, good legs

_____________________________________________________________________

“A BLEEDING HORSE” CASTING CALL: Looking for extras for the following settings!

TRANSLIT OFFICE

Dates: Wednesday 1st of May, Saturday 4th of May, Sunday 5th of May, Saturday 25th of May, Sunday 26th of May.

Age range: mid-twenties to early forties…

Costume requirements:  office suit and dress. Look sharp, your characters are all working for a translation agency in Paris!

ART GALLERY EXTRAS

Dates: Tuesday 7th of May, Wednesday  8th of May.

Age range: mid-twenties to mid-forties…

Costume requirements: dress chic. You’re all going to an art exhibit in Paris!

COFFEE SHOP EXTRAS

For Monday 10th of June, Tuesday 11th of June…

Age range: mid-twenties to forties…

Costume requirements: Dress casual! You’re going there for coffee or to work on your laptop!

Of course, you will all be compensated for this.

Ask for Olivia Fuchs once you get on set.

Please email; christian_delavie@ hotmail.com and adrien@onegatif.com (not Moving Parts)

 

Jennie Fields, author of The Age of Desire, talks with Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest

Authors interview Authors

Jennie Fields ( The Age of Desire)  talks with Anne Korkeakivi (An Unexpected Guest) about Paris, women in publishing, and the challenges of making Edith Wharton have sex...

Jennie Fields and Anne Korkeakivi met in the modern way of writers, via Twitter. "We discovered that not only do we both have recent novels set primarily in Paris, but that both hers, The Age of Desire (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking; 2012), and mine, An Unexpected Guest (Little, Brown; 2012), favor the long and elegant Rue de Varenne in the seventh arrondissement. I’d chosen the Rue de Varenne as the nexus for my story because of the official residences and Rodin Museum that line it; for Jennie, the street is home to the former Parisian apartments of Edith Wharton, her novel’s central character. Of course, I wanted to read it."

 

The Age of Desire, Jennie’s fourth novel, takes the reader back one hundred years into the cosmopolitan but increasingly chaotic personal life of Edith Wharton after the mega-success of The House of Mirth. Jennie will appear at W.H. Smith/Paris on April 25^th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, to sign copies then read from the book.

 ***

 

Anne Korkeakivi: How did you come to write about Edith Wharton? Why did you choose this particular period of her life?

Jennie Fields: Edith has been my favorite writer since I was in college.  From the first time I read her, I was entranced. I've always considered her insight unmatched, her command of language awe-inspiring.  In April 2008, I was in Paris on business and walked down the Rue de Varenne -- Edith's street -- by chance and for the first time. When I got back to my hotel, there was an e-mail to call my agent.  Two weeks earlier, I’d had lunch with Lisa and told her, "If you have any idea for my fourth novel, let me know.  I’ve tried lots of things and I’m stuck." When I called, she said, "Why don't you write about your favorite writer, Edith Wharton?"   The timing was eerie as she had no idea I was in Paris or, of course, that I walked down Edith’s street that very day. My heart started to hammer. I knew that minute how I'd be spending the next few years.  

 

I wasn’t familiar with Edith’s life then, except I was aware she'd had a late life love affair.  Once I did my research, I was fascinated by how arid Edith's love life was until she encountered Morton, and I became more and more curious why such a brilliant, accomplished woman would choose a bounder like Morton. Her diaries and love letters -- all of which still exist -- were truly enlightening.

 

AK: Wharton is portrayed as brilliant but not unflawed. Did your feelings towards Wharton change in any way during the course of researching and writing the book?

 

JF: I had always known Edith wasn’t a warm cuddly person.  She was brilliant, and like most brilliant people not always easy.  What surprised me most was how love undid Edith.  She became like a sixteen-year-old girl: giddy, confused, filled with outsized longings. She even abased herself to Morton in the love letters.  She thought herself not worthy of him – a man who was truthfully, nothing special, a bounder, a roué.  Those letters were painful to read. She was wildly enamored and had no past experience to consult.  In one letter she told him not to write her unless he wanted to, then the following letter basically said, “Did you really think I didn’t mean it?”   Her diaries were equally off-balance.  I guess love is the great equalizer.

 

AK: The novel contains excerpts from letters and a journal. Were these based on real documents? The research that went into this book clearly was prodigious; the detail is meticulous. It never occurred to me that Edith Wharton might have munched on brightly colored Ladurée macaroons.

 

JF: All the diary entries and most of the letters in the book are verbatim, though I had to edit a few. Morton’s letters to Edith no longer exist (she burned his letters as she begged him to burn hers) and I had to imagine them. 

 

As for Ladurée, I found two mentions of macaroons in her letters to friends.  In one, she wrote, “I’m sorry you’re tired again, but come and recover the ‘flesh’ here on our macarons!”  In another she mentioned how irresistible she found the macaroons at Ladurée.  I tried to research how Ladurée colored their macaroons back then and what flavors they had available but I couldn’t find any answers, so chose to imagine they were the rainbow they are now.  I adore Ladurée macaroons, so Edith and I have that in common!

 

 

AK: At times in the novel, Wharton expresses frustration with the publishing world, including attitudes towards female writers, being expected to write the same book over after having a success, and selling foreign rights. Were these preoccupations for Wharton? In the course of your research, did you find similarities between the world of book publishing then and now?

 

JF: Most of the attitudes in the novel I gleaned from letters Edith wrote to friends.  Edith wrote approximately six letters a day and people kept them, so thousands still exist, many available for research at the Beinecke Library at Yale. She quite openly expressed both her joys and frustrations. 

 

One of her greatest frustrations happened after the success of The House of Mirth, when Edith penned a very different book – The Fruit of the Tree, a socially conscious novel that took on some weighty issues including euthanasia.  It was not a success, which was painful and frustrating to her.  But she didn’t let it slow her down.  She wrote forty books in her lifetime.

 

You may be surprised to learn that Edith was the #1 bestselling writer of her era. She far outsold her friend, Henry James.  I think the world of publishing was quite different then.  Books were the top personal home entertainment.  She insisted on being deeply involved in the advertising, sales figures, distribution and business side of her books all through her life.  To say she liked to control her world is an understatement!   

 

 

AK; Do you think Wharton’s personal life and writing would have gone in a different direction if she hadn’t spent time in Paris? Did Paris cast any sort of spell on you while working on the book?

 

JF: Paris was extremely dear to Edith.  It was the place she felt she could breathe out and be herself.  She probably wouldn’t have had the courage to pursue her affair with Morton in the tight-knit society in New York where she felt all eyes were on her.  And certainly, her affair with Morton changed the course of her writing.  She could never have written about passion the way she did in The Age of Innocence if she hadn’t experienced it through him.

 

Edith became even more tied to France during World War I and won the French Legion of Honor for her extensive charity efforts in Paris.  After her divorce from Teddy, Edith only returned to the U.S. once, to receive an honorary doctorate from Yale. She lived the rest of her life in peaceful Saint-Brice-Sous-Forêt.  France was her spiritual home.  As for me, I loved coming to Paris to do my research into Edith’s Parisian world.  It was an extended joy to spend so much time writing “The Age of Desire” “in Paris” – if only in my mind.  Paris will always be dear to my heart.

 

AK: How was it making Edith Wharton have sex?

 

JF: I’m sure you will be quite surprised to learn that Edith wrote erotica and some of it still exists.  It is pretty extraordinary stuff.  No act of human sexuality goes un-described!  And to make it even more shocking, it’s about mutually embarked upon incest between a father and his grown daughter.  I took my cues about her attitudes towards sex and physicality from that erotica (sans the incest, of course.)  Morton once told her literary executor, Elsina Tyler, that while people imagined Edith as a tight-laced bluestocking, the truth is she was an exciting and adventurous partner.

 

AK: Before your first novel was published, you worked for many years in advertising. How did you make the switch to fiction? Did you find it easy?

 

JF: I’ve been writing fiction since I was six years old. I wrote a 365-page novel when I was nine.  I got my MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop right after college, and I’d already written a real novel by the time I began to work as a copywriter.  Though writing was my passion, I knew I had to support my family and didn’t think I could count on a literary career to help me to do that so I chose advertising as my day job.

 

AK: What do you read while you are working on a novel? 

JF: While I was working on The Age of Desire, I read Edith Edith Edith!  No writing began without at least twenty minutes of Edith.  I also enjoyed other writers I admire like Ian McEwan, Sue Miller, Anne Tyler, and Barbara Kingsolver.   I have to read a great deal while I’m writing.  I consider it food for the writing gods.  Good writing makes me think deeply, raises the bar.

 

AK: Where do you live and write? Are you often in Paris? 

JF: After twenty-five years in NY, I now live in Nashville, TN, a place I never expected to end up.  And I love it.  It’s peaceful, friendly, inexpensive and full of truly interesting people who read, think, talk, and entertain.  Music is a driving force here.  But literature is too.  And when people say, “Let’s have lunch,” they actually call you the next day to schedule it.  I ended up here because my husband and I, who were college sweethearts, didn’t see each other for twenty-four years, married other people, had families and both had been divorced for years when we got back together.  He’s worked at Vanderbilt University for decades.  We live in a Craftsman-style stone house we love.  My writing room used to be a sleeping porch.  It has windows on three sides.  Twelve windows and a glass door.  That means light pours in.  The single non-glass wall is all books. I write in an easy chair with an ottoman, my laptop on my lap. To me, my writing room is the happiest place in the world. 

Another happy place: The City of Light.  I’ve visited Paris maybe ten or twelve times, both for business and pleasure.  I love having no plans so I can stroll down streets and just let them unfold.  The details on the buildings, in the shop windows are wonderful surprises. I hope I always have the means to come to Paris when the siren calls!

 

AK: What’s next?

 

JF: I’m writing another biographical novel about a woman who was born in 1849 and died in 1918.  And while I won’t reveal my subject’s name quite yet, I will say she was very important to the city of Chicago, spent time in Paris, and made her mark internationally at a time when women rarely were able to do that.  While in Paris, I’m visiting a few of the locations she visited including Mary Cassatt’s apartment.

 

Jennie Fields will present and sign THE AGE OF DESIRE, her novel based on the romantic life of Edith Wharton. AT WH SMITH in Paris SIGNING 6-7PM. BOOK PRESENTATION 7-8PM.  248 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France

How to ensure that young people hate and fear poetry - lessons from a French middle school

It's easy! 

Especially with teenagers, say, around age fifteen or so, who are just opening up to the mysterious powers of language and poetry.

All you have to do is to (teachers please take note):

1) put the kids in a stressful test situation - a bac blanc in a French public school or épreuves groupés in a private Catholic school

2) demand that they write a poem, under time constraints, on a passage from a text they studied

3) then, with a BRIGHT RED MARKER, scribble all over their poem:

TERRIBLE

AWKWARD

BADLY THOUGHT OUT

AWFUL RHYME

SLOPPY

UGLY

VERY POOR

with blood red circles around the offending portions of the child's poem.

Special tip: Correct the copy quickly with the aid of a "correct response grill" to ensure that no irony, humor, or otherwise subversive stray thought distract you.

4) Make sure that  "la moyenne" is less than 10 out of 20 (don't want the little writers to get proud, now, do we!) And, where possible, throw in some nasty oral commentary in front of their classmates as well!

All you writers out there know exactly what this kind of "teaching" moment will do to a person's (and not just a child's) enthusiasm for writing.

If I am furious enough to write this post, it's because an otherwise excellent French teacher at one of France's top middle schools did exactly this. Apparently thinking this was a normal and appropriate way to teach poetry...

Just when I thought it was safe to get back into the French school system.

 

 

 

Terrific literary events in Paris this month! Paris Writers News April 2013 Update

This month, news from Tatiana de Rosnay, Adam Biles, Charles Glass, Jennifer K Dick, Spoken Word, Gary Lee Kraut, Pamela Druckerman, Annik La Farge, Scott Hutchins, Siobhan Wall, Joanne and David Burke, Kathy D'Arcy, Ann Egan, Cliona O'Connell, Jennie Fields, Marilyn Hacker and Habib Tengour, Book Club at the Carmen, Moving Paris, IAN MONK, SARAH RIGGS, CHRISTOPHE LAMIOT ENOS, MARGO BERDESHEVSKY, RUFO QUINTAVALLE, WICE and more and more.... (update ongoing)!

 

 

NEW BOOKS

 Tatiana de rosnay : A L'ENCRE RUSSE Franco-English Tatiana de Rosnay is the author of eleven novels including Sarah's Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah),  Boomerang (2009) et Rose (2011). She is currently the most widely read French author in Europe and the USA.

Pamela Druckerman: Bébé by Day, a primer on the wisdom of French parenting reported on in Bringing Up Bébé. 

 Adam Biles : GREY CATS released in paperback 14th April by @3AMPress, now available for pre-order from @GalleyBeggars! http://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/book-store/3am-press/grey-cats-by-adam-biles/ …  (See interview with Adam Biles here)

 Jennifer Dick: CIRCUITS from Corrupt Press (http://corruptpress.net) inspired by the popular science of George Johnson’s seminal In the Palaces of Memory : "an extraordinary investigation into memory theory and the uncertainties of communication."

 Charles Glass: Deserter: The Last Untold Story of the Second World War  "a breathtaking work of historical reportage, weaving together the lives of forgotten servicemen even as it overturns the assumptions and prejudices of an era." (see interview with Charles Glass on his previous book Americans in Paris here)

 

 

 SELECTED LITERARY EVENTS IN PARIS

(update ongoing...please see sidebars for venues)

2013 Young Authors Fiction Festival - Deadline for submissions APRIL 1

MONDAY NIGHTS : Open mic/scène ouverte every Monday. with David Barnes Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Sign up from 7.30pm in the bar. Poetics start from 8.30pm underground. Check out the Practical info page for more info. Click on the blue stamp on the right to sign up to the mailing list. Themes:  April 1st – Do/say something in the spirit of April Fool’s Day; April 8th – Swedish girls; April 15th – Consequences; April 22nd – Strange; April 29th – Guilty pleasures;  May 6th – Danger

THURSDAY NIGHTS / Paris Lit Up Open Mic, held every Thursday at Culture Rapide, has become a stimulating mix of poets from all over the world, in languages ranging from English to Portuguese to Russian, Japanese and Korean! Swing by and check it out this week with Emily Ruck Keene as MC.

 

Tuesday 02 April 2013, 19:30 Annik La Farge, author of the new book On the High Line: Exploring American’s Most Original Urban ParK AT The American Library in Paris

 April 2, 2013 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Ivy Writers – Marilyn Hacker and Habib Tengour @ Dellaville Cafe. More info here. 34 Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle 75010 Paris

 Weds April 3, 2013 19:30 April Writer's Meetup AT Apparemment Café 18, rue des Coutures St-Gervais 75003

3 APRIL 7pm  SCOTT HUTCHINS ON A WORKING THEORY OF LOVE AT Shakespeare and Company

Saturday 6^th April  17h-19h “Sound, Impro, Text” Atelier de théâtre en anglais” Niveau intermédaire.  35, rue St. Roch 75001. Veuillez confirmer votre présence au wordsaliveo@gmail.com ou par texto au 06 37 66 27 98

Sunday 7th April @ 12h30-14h30 at the bookstore Shakespeare & Co.  (37 rue de la Bucherie 75005  MAP)   Welsh Poet & Performer, Kate Noakes will be giving an open drop-in Creative Writing Workshop.  It is open to everyone, beginner to prize winner, and is designed to get you writing prose and poetry. Kate provides ideas and writing prompts on a theme each month. It is not a feedback workshop. The workshop cost is a suggested donation of 10 Euros. All you need to do is bring is writing equipment and something to lean on. Kate's website  www.boomslangpoetry.blogspot.com

 

Sunday 7^th April 12-4 pm.  SOS Used book sale.  Orrick Law Offices 31 ave Pierre 1er de Serbie 75016 Paris   Experience first-hand an anglophone used book sale. Come browse.  Great way to stock up on books on every subject: paperbacks 1 euro and hard covers are 2 euros.

Sat & Sun 6^th & 7^th April.  Monthly Used Book Sale at The American Library, 10, rue du General Camou 75007.  Great titles and again low rates.  Books go for 1, 2, or 3 euros.

 

 

SUNDAY April 7 at 8pm : Book Club at Le Carmen!  Bring your friends, bring your sweethearts. And as ever, bring a book you love, and swap it for one someone else has loved. Get ready for a moveable feast of live music! DJs ! & the launch of issue 2 of A Tale of Three Cities, featuring Alain de Botton, Emanuele Fontanesi and Phoebe Collings-James. A hand-numbered, limited edition "journal you'll be proud to have on your shelves" (It's Nice That)  No book, no entry. Til then... AT  Le Carmen 34 Rue Duperré, 75009 Paris, France

Sunday, 7th April 2013 at 7.30 pm MOVING  PARTS presents  presents 3 one-act plays by Gwyneth Hughes: LOST IN THOUGHT, CIVICS LESSON, and FOND FAREWELLS with STEPHANIE CAMPION,  DOUGLAS ENGLISH TANYA GALLAGHER,  RACHEL ROUQUET AT Carr's Pub & Restaurant 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris Metro : Tuileries

 

Tuesday 9th April 2013 Signing 6-7pm Presentation 7-8pm   Siobhan Wall, author of QUIET LONDON and QUIET AMSTERDAM will present and sign her new book QUIET PARIS. AT WH Smith 

APRIL 10, 2013, 7pm UPSTAIRS AT DUROC LAUNCHES ISSUE # 14 !! Come join us for an evening of festivities with authors IAN MONK, SARAH RIGGS, CHRISTOPHE LAMIOT ENOS, MARGO BERDESHEVSKY, RUFO QUINTAVALLE At: BERKELEY BOOKS OF PARIS 8 Rue Casimir Delavigne, 75006 Paris, Métro Odéon.

 

Wednesday 10 April 2013, 19:30 Pamela Druckerman, best selling author of Bringing Up Bébé, presents her new book, Bébé Day by Day, a primer on the wisdom of French parenting. AT The American Library in Paris

April 11, 6:30 p.m., Launch of Shades of the Other Shores, a combined artistic effort, that includes series of Ralph Petty's vibrant watercolors and Jeffrey Greene's sequence of prose, prose pieces, and dialogues. This book, number 20 in the prestigious Cahiers Series, is published by Sylph Editions in the UK and distributed in the US by University of Chicago Press. AT  AUP in the Grand Salon, 31 Avenue Bosquet 75007. http://www.sylpheditions.com/sylpheditionscahier.html

Friday 19 April 7:30 pm:  Kathy D'Arcy, Ann Egan, and Cliona O'Connell at the Centre Culturel. Readings will follow a wine reception. Address:  5, rue des Irlandais, 75005.  For further info see www.bradshawbooks.com. 

Tuesday 23 April 2013, 19:30  When African Americans Came to Paris by Joanne and David Burke AT The American Library in Paris

  Wednesday 24 April 2013, 19:30 Charles Glass discusses his new book, Deserter: The Last Untold Story of the Second World War (HarperPress).  AT The American Library in Paris 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris

Thursday 25th April 2013 Signing 6-7pm Presentation 7-8pm  Jennie Fields will present and sign
her novel THE AGE OF DESIRE  based on Edith Wharton's mid-life Parisian love affair.  AT WH Smith

 

 PLAY READINGS AT CARR's

7th April  Gwyneth Hughes "Lost in Thought", "Fond Farewells" and "Civics Lesson" (3 one-act plays)

21st April Yair Packer "Love Her to Death" stage play)

 Contact Stephanie to book a reading of YOUR play

 

 WRITING CLASSES

WICE

WA181 Tips and Strategies for Effective Fiction Writing  18 Apr 2013 2:00 PM • Maison Paroissiale, (Room16), 13 place Etienne Pernet, 75015 Paris; Métro: Félix Faure; Bus: 70 or 88.

WA22 Special Edition Write-In: Guest Author Talia Carner 22 Apr 2013 10:30 AM • WICE 10 rue Tiphaine 75015 Paris; Métro:La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle; Bus: 80.

WY141 Writers in Paris Walks PART 2: The Literary Right Bank1 4 May 2013 10:30 AM • To be announced.

PWU242 The Art of Non-Fiction Writing 24 Jun 2013 9:00 AM • American University of Paris

PWU241 The Art of Novel Writing 24 Jun 2013 9:00 AM • American University of Paris

PWU251 Individual Literary Agent Consultation 25 Jun 2013 12:00 PM • American University in Paris

LA PORTE PEINTE

June 24-28, 2013. Join American author and Huff Post blogger Ann Tashi Slater for a fiction workshop in lovely Noyers sur Serein. Critique, revision, publishing tips. You'll come away with renewed inspiration and freshly honed writing skills. Tuition is 1000 euros. See La Porte Peinte site for details about this and other classes as well as housing options.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

DEADLINE JUNE 1 THE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS BOOK AWARD is given to the best book of the year in English about France or the French-American encounter. The winner of the Award receives a prize of $5,000. He or she is invited to Paris in October, 2013, with air travel and accommodation at the Library’s expense, for an award ceremony and other Library functions, including a public reading and a writing workshop. June 1, 2013 Nominations close. For more information on the eligibility and the nominating process see:

 http://americanlibraryinparis.org/events-programs/american-library-in-paris-book-award.html

 

DEADINE APRIL 7 Gary Lee Kraut is accepting submissions for France Revisited's upcoming "Cranky Resident/Cranky Traveler" issue in which all is not beautiful and tasteful and macaroon-perfect in the City of Light (or elsewhere in France). If you'd like to submit, send a 200-300-word description of your idea or a full text (500-800 words) to francerevisited@aol.com by Sunday April 7. Says Gary: “I'm not interested in accounts of a single bad experience or a specific business you don't care for but in short essays that show what's wrong with the state of architecture or fashion or service or food or whatever you're feeling cranky about. Please share this with fellow cranks who might be interested in submitting. No payment but much glory and a large audience for your crankiness.”

 

Deadline Tuesday April 9 at 11pm Paris time:  France Revisited’s Musical Vignettes Contest.  To Enter Write a 250-400-word a vignette that involves instrumental music in some way and includes the word Paris or France. The Prize Two tickets for Sinfonietta Paris’s April 11 concert will be given for each of the two best vignettes as judged by the editor + publication on France Revisited. What’s a vignette? It’s a short text that focuses on a moment, a scene, a character, an encounter, an idea or a place. It is a snapshot, though perhaps a slightly moving snapshot, a sketch, a brief incident. It can be descriptive, impressionistic, poetic, dreamy…for more info see France Revisited website here

 

and from our friends in Geneva...

 

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS:  visit Poets&Writers  http://www.pw.org/content/literary_magazines  for updated list of over 800 literary journals, and Mslexia  www.mslexia.co.uk for listings updated weekly.

 

The American Library in Paris is pleased to announce the 2013 Book Award, with Julian Barnes, Adam Gopnik and Diane Johnson as judges. This new award honors the most distinguished book of the year in English about France or the French-American encounter. Nominations accepted until June1.  bookaward@americanlibraryinparis.org 

 

New Rivers Press is accepting submissions for American Fiction, Volume 13, twenty previously unpublished stories (up to 10,000 words), deadline June 15, www.newriverspress.com

 

Weave Magazine welcomes submissions of 3-5 poems, fiction and nonfiction (up to 3,000 words), flash fiction (up to 1000 words, drama in one act or monologue (up to 4,000 words).  Closing date May 31.  www.weavemagazine.net

 

The Dublin Review is a quarterly magazine of essays, memoir, fiction, and reportage, and is open to submissions of previously unpublished fiction and nonfiction. www.thedublinreview.com

 

Poetry Review is the Poetry Society’s internationally acclaimed poetry magazine published quarterly. Accepts up to 6 poems at any one time. www.poetrysociety.org.uk

 

The 2013 Sonora Review Essay Contest is currently underway! Dinty W. Moore, editor of Brevity Magazine and author of Between Panic and Desire (winner of the Grub Street Book Prize for Nonfiction), will serve as the judge. http://brevity.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/2013-sonora-review-essay-contest/

 

Bellevue Literary Review’s annual prizes recognize exceptional writing about health, healing, illness, the body and the mind, fiction/poetry/nonfiction, deadline July 1, submit on line, www.blreview.org

 

Call for submissions for the Mamilla Poetry Festival, A Dialogue with Memory, 7-9 September 2013, in Ramalah and Jerusalem, organized by ARCH (Alliance to Restore the Cultural Heritage in the Holy city of Jerusalem) in cooperation with the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation and Museum. For guidelines and submission forms, http://is.gd/mamilla.   For more info:   http://www.archjerusalem.org

 

 

Digital Currency: ten years before Bitcoin, Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon

Sci-fi writers are supposed to be ahead of their time, but this is ridiculous! From Neal Stephenson's 1999 Cryptonomicon

 

"We are going to launch our own currency.” By saying this, Randy is divulging proprietary information to someone not authorized to hear it. But he does it anyway, because opening himself up to Amy in this way, making himself vulnerable to her, gives him a hard-on.

“How do you go about that? Don’t you have to be a government?”

“No. You have to be a bank. Why do you think they’re called banknotes? Randy is fully aware of the insanity of divulging secret business information to a woman solely for purposes of sexual self-titillation but it is in the nature of things, right now, that he doesn’t especially care.

“Okay but still, usually it’s done by government banks, right?”

Only because people tend to respect the government banks. But government banks in Southeast Asia have a huge image problem right now. That image problem translates directly into crashing exchange rates.”

“So how do you do it?”

Ger a big pile of gold. Issue certificates saying ‘this certificate can be redeemed for such-and-such an amount of gold.’ That’s all there is to it.”

“What’s wrong with dollars and yen and stuff?”

“the certificates—the banknotes—are printed on paper?. We’re going to issue electronic banknotes.”

“No paper at all?”

“No paper at all.”

“So you can spend it on the Net.”

“Correct.”

“What if you want to buy a sack of bananas?”

“Find a banana merchant on the Net.”

“Seems like paper money’de be just as good.”

“Paper money is traceable and perishable and has other drawbacks. Electronic banknotes are fast and anonymous.”

“What’s an electronic banknot look like, Randy?”

“Like any other digital thing: a bunch of bits.”

“doesn’t that make it kind of easy to counterfeit?”

“Not if you have good crypto,” Randy says. “Which we do.”

“How did you get it?”

“By hanging out with maniacs.”

“What kind of maniacs?”

“Maniacs who think that having good crypto is of near-apocalyptic importance.”

“By reading about people like Yamamoto who died because they had bad crypto, and then projecting that kind of thing into the future.”

“Do you agree with them?” Amy asks. It might be one of those pivotal-moment-in-the-relationship questions.

“At two in the morning, when I’m lying awake in bed, I do,” Randy say. “In the light of day, it all seems like paranoia.”…

 

- from Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, published in 1999 by Avon books.

 

Below: March 2013 Guardian Report on the developers of Bitcoin, a virtual currency that is not controlled by a central institution.

An Angiogram that costs 2430 USD in the USA costs only 264 USD in France

 

source: International Federation of Health Plans (USA costs a range due to price variability)

 

From "21 graphs that show America’s health-care prices are ludicrous" in Wonkblog by Ezra Klein in the Washington Post

 See also:

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are KillinAmg Us, by Steven Brill in Time

Why an MRI costs 1080 USD in American and only 280 USD in France by Ezra Klein on Wonkblog

Could the French Carte Vitale save America billions?

Jessica McCann, author of All Different Kinds of Free, on the story of Margaret Morgan, a free woman of color kidnapped and sold into slavery

I first met Jessica McCann, the author of All Different Kinds of Free, in Tempe, Arizona at the excellent Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference which brought together talented writers in fiction, non-fiction, mystery, YA, childrens and sci-fi  to name but a few. After a passionate chat about her  (true) story of a freeborn black woman kidnapped into slavery,  I knew I had to interview her.  Winner of the Freedom in Fiction Prize with nearly 100 five star reviews on Amazon,  All Different Kinds of Free is Jessica's debut novel.

A Paris Writers News interview

 

Jessica McCann, author of All Different Kinds of Free

 

Laurel Zuckerman: What inspired you to write All Different Kinds of Free?

Jessica McCann: I was editing a textbook on the U.S. Supreme Court justices and the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842, stood out. It overturned the conviction of a bounty hunter who had kidnapped Margaret Morgan, a free woman of color, and sold her into slavery. The case was a pivotal in the nation's history and was one of the first sparks of contention that led to the Civil War. Yet, the case summary made little mention of Margaret herself or the hardships she suffered. That made me curious to learn more about her and inspired me to tell her story.

How did you research it?

Initially, I intended to write a nonfiction book about Margaret. This was more than 10 years ago, and information was not as readily available on the Internet as it is today. I spent a lot of time at the law library at Arizona State University researching the court case. The online newspaper archives through my local library were an enormous help. I also hired a genealogist in Maryland to dig through the local historical society archives, which were not available digitally, to find information about Margaret and the family who had owned her parents.

What were the biggest challenges you faced?

Sadly, there was very little documented information  about Margaret, either before or after her kidnapping. When I realized I did not have enough to write a nonfiction book, I shelved the project for a couple of years and brooded. One day I decided I couldn't let her story go untold, and I began work to write a fictional account of Margaret's life and the court case that changed the nation.

How close did you stay to historical sources?

For the court case, I stuck as close to the historical record as possible, even quoting the transcript from the oral arguments, which is now available online. To fill in the blanks of Margaret's life, as well as to add color and depth to the many fictional supporting characters throughout the book, I turned to an enormous pile of nonfiction books including testimonials, letters and diaries from other slaves during that time. I also read books about the everyday life of people in the north and the south, and books about popular culture, slang and occupations of the 18th century.

What was the most surprising thing you learned?

While I was researching Washington, D.C., I learned that slave auctions were regularly held there. I knew, of course, that slavery and auctions were common practice throughout the South. But I was truly shocked to learn that such activity took place in my nation's capital, even at that time.

What are your hopes for the book?

First and foremost, I wanted to tell a compelling, entertaining and enlightening story. So I hope I achieved that. My hope is also that people will read it, that they'll be touched in a positive way by Margaret's story and courage in the face of adversity, and that they'll feel compelled to share her story with others.

When did you first start writing?

I've been writing professionally since my senior year of high school. My experience is pretty diverse, from magazine writing and editing, to corporate and nonprofit communications, to copywriting and copyediting. I began dabbling with fiction writing about 10 years ago.

How did you hone your craft?

Practice, practice, practice. I've worked with a number of talented editors throughout my career who have helped me improve my writing and broaden my skill set. I've worked as a fulltime freelance writer for nearly 15 years now, and that can be brutal profession. You have to have thick skin and be able to take all critiques of your writing with an open mind. That's a skill set in and of itself. And developing that helped prepare me for the challenges that come with a fiction writing career.

What is the writers' community like in Arizona?

We have a vibrant writing community here. It includes many genre-specific and general writing groups and chapters of  national organizations, as well as large annual events like the Desert Nights, Rising Stars writers conference hosted by Arizona State University and the Tucson Festival of Books held at the University of Arizona in the southern part of the state. There really are a lot of organized opportunities throughout the year to meet with other writers, talk about the writing life, compare notes and compare war stories. You can be as social or a solitary as you'd like, depending upon where you are in your own writing journey.

Who is your favorite writer?

I get asked that a lot, and I can never come up with just one name. John Steinbeck and Mark Twain are iconic American writers for whom I have enormous respect. I also enjoy novels by Sandra Dallas, a contemporary who writes historical fiction based in the American West. A few recent debut novelists have also impressed me. Australian author M.L. Steadman blew me away with her debut, The Light Between Oceans, as did Alaskan author Eowyn Ivey with her debut, The Snow Child.

How do you use social media?

Unlike many authors, I don't blog very often. I do update my website each month to keep it fresh, including information about books I've enjoyed, links to recent articles I've written, and that sort of thing. I do enjoy Twitter and check in there nearly every day. It has been a fun way to meet fellow writers and readers, share ideas, and learn about great new books. Goodreads has been another social media site that I enjoy and, again, I've met some interesting folks with shared reading interests there.

What are you working on now?

In addition to my freelance work, I'm deep in a draft of my second historical novel. This book is set in the 1930s, in the Dust Bowl of the midwestern United States. I am fascinated by the "black blizzards" of that era, monstrous dust storms that would black out the sun and could last for days. Even more, I'm fascinated by the people who lived there during that time and how they summoned up the fortitude to tough it out. I spent a couple of years researching and developing character profiles. Now I'm writing and waiting  to see  how the story unfolds.

  ***

Bio:  Jessica McCann, a professional freelance writer and novelist, lives with her family in Phoenix, Arizona. Her debut historical novel, All Different Kinds of Free, was awarded the Freedom in Fiction Prize and is available in trade paperback, ebook and audio. Jessica loves chatting about books at her website (http://www.jessicamccann.com) and on Twitter (@JMcCannWriter).

 

 Additional links:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVzltSIgwio

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUhDpJGQhu0

 

Happy to be back in Paris!

Snow Monkeys - credit WSJ

Sure, snowbirds prance around in shorts and sunglasses in my native Arizona, but truly can anything compare to the humid, yet fashionable, snow monkeys of Paris?*

Paris may be cold and gray, but I'm already looking forward to a full agenda of terrific literary events easily reachable by clean, fast and efficient mass transit  -  not to mention our Sunday market where the chicken is so fresh I have to send my husband to buy it because head and feet have yet to be removed by cleaver power.

What has changed in the past month in France? Why, nothing at all!

Elsewhere, there is a new Pope, which is nice.

In discussing this with my own private professor I learned of the legend of the only female Pope, whose name was said to be "Jeanne". For Vatican traditionalists this is even worse than a South American poverty-seeker named "Francis".  Whatever the outcome, there's definitely a movie in here somewhere.

What news from sunny Arizona?

Sheriff Joe continues his Orson Wells impersonation from Touch of Evil while waiting to be called home.

Meanwhile, in an about-turn of breathtaking suddenness, the extremely conservative GOP governor Jan Brewer has embarked on the radical project of expanding medical coverage to an additional 400,000 Arizonans. Once Obama's rudest critic, Brewer has now thrown her full political weight into convincing the not-especially-progressive Arizona legislature that Federally-financed Medicaid is not an evil commie plot.

A hard row to hoe, but angels are singing somewhere.

Having watched friends and family too young for Medicare be BANKRUPTED  and LOSE HOMES in Arizona because of insane medical bills, I can only applaud this initiative. The winds of change, are they finally a-blowing? (See Time magazine's Steven Brill's excellent article detailing the perverse - and criminal - pricing of medical care in the USA -  à la tête du client as we would say in France.)

As one personally grateful for the life-saving excellence of the French health care care system (thank you neurological ICU at Pitié Salpetrière!), I can only urge expats to share their stories of the Carte Vitale with their fellow Americans.

France could show America how to organize delivery of medical care to people under 65. In exchange, America could, perhaps, teach France about the usefulness of paying supermarket employees to cheerfully bag groceries. (And to distinguish cows from horses.)

 

 

* Japan actually. See WSJ article on Japanese hot springs for this splendid photo

Paris Literary Events, Readings and Workshops March 2013

This month, news from Marilyn Hacker, Douglas Kennedy, Harriet Rochefort, Cécile David-Weill, Alfred Corn, Jennifer K. Dick, Will Inrig, Kate Noakes, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Dot Devota, Brandon Shimoda, Zachary Schomburg,  Jenny Colgan , Roger Hoeberichts, Roderick Ford,  Angela Bartie, Eleanor Bell, John Calder, Jim Haynes, Kate Stables, Lauren Elkin, Joanna Walsh,John Baxter, Victoria Zackheim, Thomas Gatus, Stephen Dau, Anne Marsella, Rosa Rankin-Gee, Gerald Fleming, Jeffrey Green, Harriet Lye, William Powers, and the Young Authors Fiction Festival. (update in progress, more to follow)

 

 

New interviews with Paris Writers

 

Stuart Nimmo on Perilous Moon, Occupied France 1944 The End Game

Berna Huebner, editor of I Remember Better When I Paint, on improving care for people with Alzheimer's

Peter Silverman, author of Leonardo's Lost Princess, on discovering a masterpiece

Barbara Navarro, author of Amazon Rainforest Magic, on the Yanomami, indigenous peoples and art

 

New Books

Hemingway's France: Images of the Lost Generation by Winston Conrad

The Suitors by Cécile David-Weill

The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France by John Baxter

 

 

Selected Literary Events in Paris

(for more events see the links on the right sidebar!)

 March 1,  7 pm : an exceptional evening of poetry and discussion with Marilyn Hacker and Alfred Corn, two major American poets and translators.  The event will be moderated by another highly accomplished poet and professor, Jennifer K. Dick.  Will Inrig will be welcoming the Paris community.  Refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase.  This event will be held at the American University of Paris: 7 p.m. in the Grand Salon, 31 avenue Bosquet, 75007.

March 3 Sunday: 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm  Open Reading @ La Générale

A new reading series, the first Sunday of every month, in Sévres (Métro 9, Pont de Sévres) at the famous artists collective La Generale (directly on the other side of the bridge, next to the Musée de Ceramique) beginning at 6:30-7 p.m.

March 3 Sunday: 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm  Paris Lit Up Writing Workshop @ Shakespeare and Company  Into the Light – join Kate Noakes for a themed writing workshop looking forward to lengthening days and banishing the dark.

March 4, 7 pm: John Baxter on The Perfect Meal @ Shakespeare and Company, Paris

March 7 Paris Lit Up Open Mic @ Culture Rapide Thursday: 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm

March 10 7:30 pm: Thomas Gatus : "The Timely Death of Rudolph Bloc" (screenplay in English) @  Carr's Pub & Restaurant, 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris (métro Tuileries) Time : all readings start promptly at 7.30 pm

March 11, 7 pm: An evening of Oulipo with Lauren Elkin and Joanna Walsh @ Shakespeare and Company, Paris

 Wednesday 13 March 2013 19:30    Evenings with an Author: William Powers, Hamlet's Blackberry @The American Library in Paris

Saturday 16 March 2013 11:00 - 13:00    Writing Workshop with Victoria Zackheim @The American Library in Paris

March 18, 7pm: International Writer's Conference Revisited: Edinburgh, 1962 editors Angela Bartie and Eleanor Bell talk with the original Conference organisers - pioneering publisher John Calder and seminal arts figure Jim Haynes - about their memories of the ground-breaking 1962 International Writers' Conference. @ Shakespeare and Company, Paris

March 18 7pm. THE BIG PARIS LAUNCH for Lisa Pasold and Jennifer K Dick and visit with local Montmartre artist Nassim Al-Amin in the lovely home-gallery space "Chez Grace".  Lisa Pasold"s most recent book is ANY BRIGHT HORSE. Her first book of poetry WEAVE, was hailed as a masterpiece by Geist.  Her second book of poetry, A BAD YEAR FOR JOURNALISTS, was nominated for an Alberta Book Award. The Globe and Mail called this new poetry collection "critical, darkly funny and painstakingly lyrical."  Her debut novel,RATS OF LAS VEGAS, was described as "enticing as the lit-up Las Vegas strip and as satisfying as a winning hand at poker" by The Winnipeg Free Press. As a journalist, Lisa has published articles in newspapers and magazines such as The Globe and Mail, The Chicago Tribune, The National Post, Billboard Magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle. She has also written for guidebooks such as Fodor's, Time Out, and Michelin.  Jennifer K Dick's books include "Fluorescence" (University of Georgia Press, 2004), "Circuits" (Corrupt Press, 2013) and the eBook "Enclosures" (BlazeVox eBooks, 2007) as well as 3 chapbooks (Betwixt from Corrupt Press, 2012, Tracery from Dusie Press, 2012 and Retina/Rétine from Esteppa editions, 2005) and inclusion in 6 anthologies--most recently 12x12: Conversations in Contemporary Poetry and Poetics (Univ of IA Press). She is also the co-editor with Stephanie Schwerter of "Transmissibility and Cultural Transfer: Dimensions of Translation in the Humanities" (Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart, 2012) and a poetry editor for the Amsterdam-based lit mag VERSAL. For more, see Jennifer's blog  ARTIST Bio forthcoming--There will be an expo by Nassim Al-Amin for the event and on March 16-17--check out the Chez Grace Meetup space for info on that.  AT: chez Grace, 46 rue des Abesses, 75018, 3rd floor, FB event announcement at: https://www.facebook.com/events/382664958508080/

March 19 7:30 pm Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Dot Devota, Brandon Shimoda and Zachary Schomburg with translations into French of their works by Virginie Poitrasson, Jacques Rebotier, Paul and Martin Richet (tbc). The reading will take place at DELAVILLE cafe, 34 blvd Bonne Nouvelle, 75010 Paris, M° Bonne Nouvelle at 19h30 IVY WRITERS

March 19 Signing from 6-7pm, Reading from 7-8pm Jenny Colgan will present and sign her book THE LOVELIEST CHOCOLATE SHOP IN PARIS @ WH Smith (To RSVP, please send an email with your complete contact information to books(at)whsmith.fr with 'RSVP - Jenny Colgan Event' as the message's subject. You will NOT receive a confirmation, but your name will be added to our guest list.)

Wednesday 20 March 2013 19:30    Evenings with an Author: John Baxter, The Perfect Meal @The American Library in Paris

March 20, 3 pm: Children's Hour with Kate Stables. Music, rhythm and stories for kids: Bring your children (2-6 year-olds, siblings welcome too) to the library at Shakespeare and Company for an hour of music, songs and stories in English (for all nationalities, even those who don't speak English). Led by the magic Kate Stables, mum and singer/songwriter from This is the Kit, this lovely event is fast becoming an institution. There will be instruments to play and a lot of noise to make! Four euros donation appreciated. @ Shakespeare and Company, Paris

Friday 22 March 2013 19:00 - 21:00  Songwriting with Roger Hoeberichts @The American Library in Paris

March 22 7:30 pm Arts in Paris presents reading with authors Stephen Dau, Anne Marsella, Rosa Rankin-Gee; poets Gerald Fleming, Jeffrey Greene and editor/writer Harriet Lye. @ Martha’s Place, 26 rue du Chalet 75010 Porte Bronze

Saturday 23 March 2013 17:00 - 18:00 Teen Writing Group @The American Library in Paris

March 24  7:30pm : Roderick Ford : "Tenebrae" (stage play in English) @ Carr's Pub & Restaurant, 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris (métro Tuileries) Time : all readings start promptly at 7.30 pm

Tuesday 26 March 2013 19:30    Trends Shaping Education 2013 @The American Library in Paris

Thursday 28th March - 6-8pm Douglas Kennedy presents his new novel book Five Days on its publication date at WH Smith! Signing: 6-7pm. Presentation: 7-8pm. From 'the absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists' (The Times), FIVE DAYS is a compelling novel about how life can change with one brief encounter. Kindly RSVP on WH Smith's Facebook page or by emailing books(at)whsmith.fr. 

MARCH 29, 2013 AT 6:30 PM  Harriet Welty Rochefort, author of three books about the French, will speak to us about her latest work, JOIE DE VIVRE : Secrets of Wining, Dining, and Romancing like the French. PAN Book Talk Paris 7Free for PAN members, 5€ for non-members To sign up please contact Mary Ann Rivet at marivet@noos.fr .

 

Call for submissions

Fiction Open. First place: $2,500 and publication in Glimmer Train. Deadline: March 31.Open to all writers. Any story that has not appeared, nor is scheduled to appear, in a print publication is welcome. Winners and finalists will be announced in the June 1 bulletin, and contacted directly one week earlier. Complete writing guidelines.

Monday 01 April 2013 - 2013 Young Authors Fiction Festival - Deadline for submissions