Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Matthew Fraser, author of Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me

Matthew Fraser

I first heard of Matthew Fraser through his social media posts which provided an excellent selection of French and international political news and analysis. Then I discovered his blog which delves deeply - and amusingly - into France. One thing, though, always intrigued me: the photos of a little white dog taken all over Paris: Oscar.

Oscar is one of the stars of Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me, Matthew's lovely new memoir about returning to France after the sudden death of his wife.

 

"I was now in my mid-forties, carrying the burden of experience, marked by success, setback, and tragedy. I felt like I was returning to a familiar place with unfamiliar emotions, rediscovering everything from a different angle, looking at things with different eyes."

 

Currently a professor at the American University of Paris and a lecturer at the French university Sciences Po where he teaches courses on media and politics, Matthew Fraser has lived in France on and off over the past three decades. His books include Weapons of Mass Distraction: Soft Power and American Empire (St Martin’s) on politics and popular culture; and Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom (Wiley) on the social media explosion. Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me is his most recent - and most personal -  book.

A Paris Writers News Interview

 

Laurel Zuckerman: What brought you to France?

Matthew Fraser: There’s a two-part answer to that question. In fact, it’s the theme of my latest book, Home Again in Paris. As the word “again” suggests, this is the second time I’ve lived in Paris and considered the city as my home. I first came nearly thirty years as a young student. I eventually enrolled at Sciences Po where I took a graduate degree followed by a doctorate. So spent a chapter of my dissolute youth in Paris, which was an extraordinarily exciting place in the 1980s. When I left in the early 1990s, first to England then back home to Canada, I honestly never imaged that I might return to France to live again. In Canada I started working in government and then the media as a newspaper columnist and host of a television show. I was also married, my wife Rebecca was a lawyer and we had a small son David. I ended up being appointed editor-in-chief of a large daily newspaper called the National Post. So I was very busy. Paris seemed like a part of my past. Then my wife suddenly died of cancer. After a dark period of depression, I finally returned to Paris in 2006, this time with our little dog Oscar and another bichon I’d adopted called Leo. That journey is essentially what the book is about.

 

How did you get started writing?

I got started as a journalist. I was very lucky at a very young age because my first job straight out of university was a full-time arts critic on Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. It’s sort like the New York Times, the paper of record. So in my early twenties I was writing reviews of movies, pop music, theatre — everything under the rubric “entertainment”. It was quite a training and I was very fortunate. I remember racing back to the newspaper offices after Roxy Music and Eurhythmics concerts to write up my reviews. I was also doing interviews with huge stars from the theatre and cinema. They must have thought I was a child. I remember one interview with Kim Cattrall who was a very young actress at the time playing in a comedy called “Police Academy”. That was a long time before “Sex and the City”.

Oscar in Paris

What is Poodleland?

Poodleland is my neighborhood in the 7th arrondissement of Paris where my book largely takes place. There are chapters on my time living in Fontainebleau and a holiday in Provence but most of the book takes place in Paris, ask the title suggests. I actually came across the word “Poodleland” in a New York Times article written more than thirty years ago. The article was about James Joyce, who lived just up the road from my place, he lived in rue Edmond-Valentin. The journalist described the neighborhood as “Poodleland”.

Your previous books focus on politics (Weapons of Mass Distraction: Soft Power and American Empire) and social media (Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom). Home Again in Paris is much more personal. What inspired you?

Yes, that’s correct, my previous books have been non-fiction, most of them extensions of my journalistic interests at the time. Most have been about the media and entertainment industries, generally speaking, because as a journalist and columnist I was writing mainly about the media — first as a critic, later as a business columnist, and then eventually hosting a television show called “Inside Media”. Weapons of Mass Distraction is about the political influence of pop culture — everything from Rambo to  McDonald’s and Disneyland. Throwing Sheep in the Board is about the social media explosion. It was published about five years ago just as Facebook and Twitter were taking off globally.  At the time there were hardly any books or serious analysis of the phenomenon, it was one of the first books into that space. I was a Research Fellow at the INSEAD business school at the time and so the book was written from a highly analytical perspective with an emphasis on business and organizations.



Home Again in Paris is, as you say, a very different sort of book. It’s a personal memoir — in other words, it’s a true story. Nothing is invented, except a few names I changed for reasons of personal privacy. It’s a book that, for several years after I arrived in Paris, I felt that I needed to write. My return to Paris in my forties two decades after my first chapter here made me see France differently. That was the initial point of departure, how my “second act” in France was so different. I wanted to tell that story. And then there was the adventure with my two bichons, Oscar and Leo. I don’t want to give away the ending of the book, which makes clear the motivations for telling the story.

 

What are the challenges of writing a personal memoir about Paris? What do you hope your reader will take away from this book? Who, for you, is the ideal reader?

The book was written mainly for a non-French audience — more specifically, for “Anglo-Saxons” as the French call all Anglo-Americans. I would hope that German, Danish, Norwegian - and even French - readers would find the book interesting too. But it’s a book that gives an Anglo-Saxon perspective on French society by someone who, I believes, knows this country intimately after thirty years. The book also is a personal memoir and, as such, it’s a story about a personal journey of rediscovery, in this case of life in France. It’s a book, at the deepest level, about faith, hope and the meaning of home. But it certainly can be read as a book of observations about the French and how French society works — all its vices and virtues. Anglo-Saxons who already live in France will immediately identify with the situations and conundrums I describe. Those who live outside of France might be surprised by my descriptions of life in France, because I try to pierce through the the myths and provide insights into the realities.

Caring for a dog in Paris cannot always be easy. Does it change your perspective on Paris? How? Are Parisians who own dogs different in some way from Parisians who don't own dogs?

It’s a funny thing, the cliché about Paris is that it’s a dog-loving city and that Parisians adore their dogs. Well, like all cliché’s it’s only partly true. Paris is actually an exceedingly inhospitable city for dogs. Dogs are banned in most public squares and parks — you see those little signs everywhere. Look at London’s great parks — dogs always running around freely. Not in Paris. Also, Parisians are very bad about picking up after their pets. There is a section in my book about this. Many Parisians clearly despise dogs. I get hostile looks all the time when I’m walking Oscar through the streets of my neighborhoods. Only the other day a very frail old lady astonished me by stopping and telling me that my dog was “dégueuelasse”.  If you are letting a flat in Paris, as you probably know, it’s best to keep mum about the fact that you have a dog. If you do, you might not get the apartment. To be nice about it, let’s say that Parisians are schizophrenic about domestic animals — some adore them, others loathe them.  

 

Oscar accompanies you everywhere in Paris. What are his favorite places? Are they the same as yours? Is there a whole secret "dog Paris" that only the initiated know about (like a children's Paris)?

I take Oscar either to the Champ de Mars or the Invalides esplanades. Now that the banks of the Seine are pedestrian we can go down and walk along the Seine, which is lovely. I live right on the Seine so it’s very convenient. Sometimes I’ll take Oscar to the Tuileries gardens which he loves, I think that’s his favorite place. Occasionally I’ll take him to the Jardin du Luxembourg. When I had a car I took him to Parc Montsouris, which is a dog-friendly park, and out to the Bois de Boulogne. But I no longer have a car. The reason for that takes up an entire chapter in my book.

You do meet people through dog-walking in Paris, just as parents meet other parents through their children. One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that with Parisians you end up knowing their dog’s name but never their name. It’s considered rude to ask someone their name, at least in Poodleland. I now have long and extraordinarily personal conversations with Parisian neighbors but have no idea what their name is. But I know their dog’s name. Imagine that in America or Britain. Impossible.

Over the thirty years you've known Paris, which changes shocked/impressed you most?

When I arrived in Paris in the 1980s it was, as I was saying, tremendously exciting. The French were still certain of their certitudes and self-important about the prestige of their national culture. That’s gone. The malaise started to set in during the mid-1990s, around the time I left the country. When I returned a decade later, France was sinking into a morose combination of depression and denial. The country is in very bad shape today, largely due to three decades of mismanagement by both the left and right. As I say in my book, France is a nation betrayed by its own elites. The situation is bad at the moment that the best and brightest are leaving the country, especially entrepreneurs. It’s almost as tragic as Louis XIV’s expulsion of the Protestants in 1685, when hundreds of thousands of people left, many of them members of the economic elite. Today the difference is that the exodus is voluntary, they are leaving on their own volition. A lot of foreigners are still infatuated with the food, wine, fashion, and architecture — what I call the “museum” virtues of France. But the deeper social realities are grim.

How is Home Again in Paris being distributed? What are you working on now?

I released Home Again in Paris as an ebook mainly due to timing. When I finished the manuscript in the spring I started making contact with agents and publishers with the usual delays and ambiguous responses — to the point where I realized that this book was not going to get out by the fall as hoped. Then I was chatting with someone I know in publishing who said to me, “It won’t be published till spring 2014 at the earliest, probably the fall”. Oscar is now 13, he’ll be 14 in January. I certainly hope he’ll be around two years form now, but the whole question of timing made me decide to put the book out straight away as an ebook. I wanted the book to exist — for Oscar and Leo. Now it exists. As for a printed book, we’ll see how that goes for 2014. In the meantime, I am posting photos and blog updates on the book on my author website. I’m an optimist about how the book industry is changing. It’s rather like music CDs — we can now offer add-ons, bonuses, and updates via the Web. The story is always moving forward in some way.

 I’m very happy the book is out there now for another reason. It has freed up my time to get on with my next book, which is taking me in a completely new direction. The book I’m writing now is a murder mystery set in Paris

About : Matthew Fraser has lived in France on and off over the past three decades. He first moved to Paris in the 1980s to complete a doctorate – and returned permanently to France in 2006. He is currently a professor at the American University of Paris and a lecturer at the French university Sciences Po where he teaches courses on media and politics. Home Again in Paris: Oscar, Leo and Me is his most recent book.

Social media handles:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/frasermatthew

Goodreads author profile: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50168.Matthew_Fraser

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fraser.matthew

Instagram: http://instagram.com/matthewfraser

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfraser

 

Read an excerpt of Home Again in Paris here.

Decline and Fall of the American University

RECOMMENDED READING I just came across a passionate blog post from a site called "The Homeless Adjunct" that I want to share.  Entitled "How the American University Was Killed, in Five Easy Steps" it looks at deep negative trends threatening higher education in the USA, including:

1. The defunding of public higher education.

2. The deprofessionalization and impoverishment of professors

3.  The takeover of university governance by a managerial/administrative class

4. The influx of corporate culture and corporate money

5.  The destruction of students

After discussing in detail each one of these points, the author asks Now what?

"So now what?

This ruination has taken about a generation. Will we be able to undo this damage? Can we force refunding of our public educational system? Can we professionalize faculty, drive out the administrative glut and corporate hijackers? Can we provide free or low-cost tuition and high-quality education to our students in a way that does NOT focus only on job training, but on high-level personal and intellectual development?..."

These are good questions.

Surely we cannot think that saddling young people with $1 trillion in student debt for a mediocre education is justifiable - or sustainable (it won't be paid back, you know). Or that university administrative costs that rise threefold faster than teaching costs make sense? Or that taxpayers should underwrite the profits of "highered" for profit corporations by financing "student loans" that go straight to the bottom line (while increasing the debt load on students)?

How to reinvent the American University?  Can there be any question that this is necessary?

For the full article by The Homeless Adjunct  click here.

Miranda Crispin, star of The Last Five Years, on American musical theater in France

"The Last Five Years" will be performed June 27, 28 (19h) July 6, 9, 10, 11, 2013 (21h) AT  L'Auguste Theater. 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

Interview with Miranda Crispin by Jacqueline Leahy

The first time I meet Miranda Crispin, she, her Last Five Years co-star Jonathan Wagner and their publicist are in a crowded restaurant. Cordial, energetic, and in demand, I get only a moment of their time before the two are whisked away.

 Miranda Crispin is a world traveler, an actor, director, singer, teacher and language enthusiast. With a Masters degree in Music Theatre/Opera Performance from Arizona State University, and a B.F.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University, she studied French language at the Sorbonne and has served as an American Ambassadorial Scholar to France from the Arizona State University Insitute for the Arts. Currently teaching at the American Conservatory L'Ecole Koenig, Miranda is the star of director Stephane Ly-Cuong’s staging of ‘The Last Five Years’ and vocal director of Ly-Cuong’s production of ‘Edges,’ both set to premiere at Paris’ L’Auguste Theatre. 

 Interviewing Miranda, I get to continue the conversations we started, learning more about The Last Five Years, performing in a multicultural, multilingual environment, and the striking, even baffling, phenomenon of a Broadway play in Paris. A Paris Writers News Interview by Jacqueline Leahy.

____

Jacqueline Leahy:  Is there a large Parisian audience for American musical theater?

Miranda Crispin: The audience seems to be growing. When I first came to Paris in 1999, American musical theatre definitely wasn't big on the scene. I think Hunchback of Notre Dame might have been out and Les 10 Commandements was coming in early 2000, but those were both original French musicals and in French. The past few years, there have been some large, successful productions of American musical theatre by Stage Entertainment (Mamma Mia, Sister Act, and The Lion King), and the newest director at the Theatre du Chatelet has been programming musicals on every recent season, playing American musicals in the original English. AMTLIVE is the first company in town, as far as we know to be programming these more intimate, Off-Broadway genre works. When we started with cabaret concerts last year, we weren't sure what the reception would be, but we've had full houses and supportive audiences at every concert we've done and the same is true for the first two productions of EDGES, which opened this week. Let's hope we can help built and strengthen support for this integrated type of performance here in Paris!

 How did you get involved with/find out about The Last Five Years?

I was following Jason Robert Brown's work. I remember hearing a recording of his (on a discman) - this was when I was in Paris in 1999. I had gone to visit my college roommate who was doing an opera in Rome and she played for me Audra McDonald's first solo album (1998 Way Back to Paradise). That was my first listen to his music, and it totally captured me. I've been listening to everything I can get my hands on, everything he, Adam Guettel, and Michael John LaChiusa wrote ever since. I think the original cast album came out pretty quickly after the show opened, and it spread like wildfire around the musical theatre crowd. Soon after the show became available for licensing, I directed the show and then in 2008, I performed the role of Cathy, both at regional theatres in the USA. 

 Have you found the play very relevant to life/to real experiences and emotions?

Absolutely. Falling in love and breaking up are things we can all relate to. The play shows that moment when we are totally head-over-heels for someone, when we say the thing that will sting the most in a fight; this is what is really captivating about the work.

 What about the play really grasped you?

The music and lyrics are simply stunning. The text is so well placed that, even though these characters are singing nearly the whole show, you don't feel as though you're being sung at, if that makes sense. It's a story that is told so well over music, and so cleverly composed, that you forget you are listening to singing, and you fall into the world of these two characters. In musical theatre, the music is often used at a point in the show when it will heighten emotion, dazzle, restate what has been just said in a scene (but with great music), or in more recent musicals, to further the plot. The entire story of this show is sung, with the exception of only a few minutes. That, and how clever it is to have these characters travel in opposing timelines. I think if the show were written beginning to end (from when these two characters meet to when they break up) it would still be great, but seeing them in different places in different times reminds you of your own relationships, how non-chronological memory can be, and how we can really only be heartbroken by a relationship we truly love. I think it hits the point home that these two characters love each other completely, and just cannot make it work because they are not in the same place. Most of us can relate to that, so it's a really compelling story. Instead of the couple riding off into the sunset or someone dying at the end, this story hits home because how the story unfolds is so true to life as opposed to the embellished, fancy musical theatre relationships we often see. In short, I guess because it's as well written as a play, but with amazing music that is totally integrated.

When we were talking about the play the other day, you used the word ‘bittersweet.’ How do you think the Last Five Years engages with notions of romance?

It just shows something a lot more realistic than we are used to seeing on the musical theatre stage. When we sing about a romantic relationship in musical theatre, there's usually a one-way character arc, instead of depth with the highs and lows that can come with any real life relationship. You're in it or out of it, or going one way or the other. This piece shows both sides, and from both directions. Sondheim writes characters with this depth, too, which I love. Take your pick of songs from Company - they are about adult relationships and characters who say the things onstage we can barely admit to ourselves. 

 What separates The Last Five Years from standard narrative theater?

Like life, the show doesn't resolve per-se: we [the audience and the actors] are left with a choice about what happens next. I've done this show three times with a few years spaced in between each time, and each time what I take away from this show is different, because I am in a different place in my life. I see the characters and their next steps differently now than I did when I first heard the show ten years ago. I think the non-traditional set up of this show allows for this evolving dynamic and probably couldn't happen the same way if, say, the characters traveled on the same timeline and just left at the end.

 I know a movie of the play is scheduled to come out over the course of the next few years. Can you tell me about the advantages of a staged performance, esp. as regards ‘The Last Five Years’? What will audience members at the theatrical premiere experience that people sitting in a cinema might miss?

Gosh, the mediums are so different. There are advantages to both film and theatre with regard to experience, and maybe I'll have to come back to this after I've seen the film - but the advantage to a staged performance is always the energy in the room and the fact that there is a live person in front of you telling a story. We can't replace live music, either. I mean, we've got so many different options for listening to music and watching theatre at home, but people still go to a concert, still go to the theatre. We connect to live performance in a different way, especially in an intimate theatre setting. There's no barrier between you and the character. There is also the communal experience of sharing a story with a group of people - this can happen in a cinema, of course, but theatergoers tend to more participative, in my experience, than moviegoers. This feeds into the performance and can really affect timing in a collaborative way between the live performers and audience, which isn't possible in film.

Jonathan Wagner

 

 What has it been like to work with a bilingual cast and crew? Especially with Jonathan, your French co-star?

This is one of my favorite parts about doing theatre in Paris, and with AMTLIVE. I mean, I already live a bilingual life as an American abroad, but getting to do this work, to talk about the characters, the music, the process, and our perceptions of this work, in two languages really is a gift. We all learn more about ourselves, our respective cultures, and how cultural differences (and similarities) can color how we look at life and, in this case, a relationship. It really makes us listen to a lot more than language, in some ways, and to how the nuances in each culture are expressed physically and verbally. The eye contact, for example, is used in different measure sometimes, and the size and scale of our body movement is really culturally specific sometimes. Being able to talk about motivation for characters and how the public perceives certain words and gestures really helps us both learn about cultural implication and senses of humor. That's one of the most difficult things for me living in France - the tone. Even if you understand every word in French, there is so much cultural baggage that it's easy to miss intentions, to miss what's not being said. For example, (in French) I sometimes have a hard time knowing immediately whether someone is using cynicism or irony to be funny, or just being negative. Getting to work with people who love this world of musical theatre and in another language really helps me learn more about the culture in which I am living every day. It's also so much easier sometimes to just use the word that is more precise or direct, and when everyone is bilingual, we often end up speaking in "franglais" because it's allows for a more nuanced exchange.

 Have you been involved with any bilingual acting programs in the past?

I teach musical theatre at the American Conservatory L'Ecole Koenig to groups of students who are Francophone, Anglophone, bilingual, or trilingual. Each class has a different demographic, so I let them speak to me in whichever language they want, and I respond with a mixture, depending on who I'm speaking with, what point I'm trying to get across, and how the student learns. It's totally fascinating and a consistent challenge. We do songs and scenes from musical theatre works in English, French, and [English and French]. For example, we'll do a bilingual scene leading into a song in English, so that [students] have exposure to both languages.

 

How does the Paris setting compliment the play?

The show is set in NYC. In a city like Paris, there are a lot of Franco-Anglo couples. I imagine every couple has to work on communication, managing expectations, and making the relationship work for both people, but intercultural marriages and couples certainly have an extra hurdle to overcome. [The Last Five Years] is about two people who fall in love and who are from different cultural backgrounds. These two characters come from such different places, with such different assumptions about what's next that they can't make it work. In Paris where there is a lot of discussion about relationships, independence, and couple-hood, this is a piece that has the ability to touch lots of people.

 For people who haven’t heard of The Last Five Years but are somewhat familiar with musicals and Broadway shows, are there any shows that are somehow comparable to The Last Five Years?

Wow - it's really hard to find a comparison for this piece. Maybe I'm too close to it to step back and really globalize here. It's true that in the decade since L5Y came out, there are many new small-cast pieces that use a more contemporary, conversational lyric, and JRB's music; this challenging, roof raising combination of broadway, jazz, funk, rock, and je ne sais quoi has certainly influenced some contemporary composers we hear now coming from Off-Broadway and the cabaret scene. When I talk about the story, many people drop film names like Benjamin Button or Sliding Doors rather than comparisons with musicals, so maybe that speaks to how the audiences receive the convergent timelines. The lyrics and music are so wonderfully wed. I say the same thing about Sondheim, but when I perform Sondheim, I feel like a more clever version of myself, and when I perform JRB, I feel like a more honest, vulnerable version of myself, which can be a lot more interesting to see on stage. I think audiences who enjoy some of the contemporary rock-ish musicals (Tick...Tick...BOOM! or Edges) would enjoy this music. It might also be right up the alley for fans of psychologically bent shows like Next to Normal or Spring Awakening. Yikes, I have no direct comparison - this piece is one-of-a-kind. 

___

"The Last Five Years" will be performed June 27, 28 (19h) July 6, 9, 10, 11, 2013 (21h) AT  L'Auguste Theater. 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

 "Edges" is showing: June 13, 14, 15, 2013 (21h) June 26, 2013 (19h)
 July 3, 2013 (19h) At: L’Auguste Théâtre
 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

Miranda Crispin is a world traveler, an actor, director, singer, teacher and language enthusiast. With a Masters degree in Music Theatre/Opera Performance from Arizona State University, and a B.F.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University, she studied French language at the Sorbonne and has served as an American Ambassadorial Scholar to France from the Arizona State University Insitute for the Arts.

Currently teaching at the American Conservatory L'Ecole Koenig, Miranda is the star of director Stephane Ly-Cuong’s staging of ‘The Last Five Years’ and vocal director of Ly-Cuong’s production of ‘Edges,’ both set to premiere at Paris’ L’Auguste Theatre. 

 

 

 

The American Musical Theatre LIVE! Paris Company is a registered non-profit Association (law 1901) based out of Paris, France. The group’s mission is to introduce and promote musical theatre (notably contemporary works) and to provide a forum for exchange between French and international performers. (For more info on membership or upcoming performances, masterclasses and auditions please contact:  [email protected])

Jacqueline Leahy has been published in Portland Magazine, The Portland Phoenix, Flash Fiction World, and the Smith College Sophian. After working with PWN this summer, she will complete her undergraduate studies in English Language and Literature and Philosophy at Smith College.

 

 

Cynical French politicians blame Europe for rise of far right

Machiavelli - so many lessons!

Not afraid of holding two contradictory ideas in his mind at the same time, the late French President François Mitterrand simultaneously neutered the far left Communists by inviting them into his government AND demonized Jean Marie Le Pen's far right National Front while quietly doing everything he could to help them electorally.

The result of this cynical - and not always successful* gambit - is still playing itself out today.

(*Actually, the elimination of Lionel Jospin in the 2002 presidential race forcing French voters to choose between Chirac and Le Pen may not not have been, from feu Mitterrand's perspective, a loss at all: his relations with Jospin were complex.)

If enough UMP voters are driven to the Front National, UMP will lose. Which means, by default, that socialists will win. Not a pretty win, but a win nonetheless. In a presidential race, for example, second round duel with Le Pen means a surefire victory for Le Pen's opponent - no matter how detested...

This kind of logic casts a new light on the policies of Hollande's justice minister Taubira, policies which have infuriated the traditional right.

What if the fury and disgust of the traditional right were not an accidental byproduct  BUT THE REAL GOAL of Hollande's justice policy?

What if President Hollande - who was socialist party leader for over a decade - is simply applying the great master Mitterrand's strategy? Lift (secretly) the far right in order to destroy the right, thus clearing a path to electoral victory.

Too Machiavellian?- No such thing under Mitterrand.

And under Hollande?

History, especially recent European history, has taught us a thing or two about the miscalculations of those sorcerer's apprentices who, imagining they can control forces far greater than their own, unwittingly release mahem and destruction upon their peoples.

Let us hope that the failures of Hollande's and Taubira's justice policies are just that - and not something worse.

(Recent attempts by French politicians to blame Europe for the rise of the Front National are not reassuring.)

 

 

 

 

New English-language Musical Theater in Paris: "Edges"

Stephane Ly-Cuong’s  Edges : June 13, 14, 15, 2013 (21h); June 26, 2013 (19h)
; July 3, 2013 (19h) At: L’Auguste Théâtre
 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris
  Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

Edges by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; Produced by American Musical Theatre LIVE! Paris, in coordination with Paris Broadway Saigon, L’Auguste Théâtre and Music Theatre International

___

Interview with Miranda Crispin by Jacqueline Leahy

On the third floor of a building on Rue St. Roch, I am treated to the bold opening notes of Edges, a song cycle about uncertainty and insecurity, during one of the final dress rehearsals of Stephane Ly-Cuong’s Paris production. As the six central characters work through nuanced musical passages, their humor and loneliness illuminate the tragicomic spectrums of friendship and indifference, love and self-doubt in technology-addled modernity. Miranda Crispin, vocal director for the song cycle, shares some of what gives Edges its, well, edge.

___

 

Jacqueline Leahy: Edges is a song cycle. Does this provide audience members with more freedom to construct their own narratives?

Miranda Crispin: Yes, the great thing about this kind of structure is that the audience can connect to the characters with their own experience in a way that is really portable. Since there is not a plot-structured through time, we can pop into these lives and see what we are ready to see based on our own lives.

 

JL: What are the musical challenges in the ‘Edges’ score?

MC: One great thing about the music in Edges is that it challenges the performers to stay connected to the text the entire time they sing, which, in some cases, is at the very top of their ranges. It's a cast of young performers and, in some cases, they are negotiating the most vulnerable parts of their voices through really wordy phrases. It's fantastic to see them tackle this challenge, especially since 6 of the 8 performers who do this show are Francophone and not native Anglophones. They are doing the entire show in the original English.

The show was originally written for 4 people, but has been expanded to fit 6 performers. This meant that we had to rewrite some harmonies so that it worked for a different number of voices and voice types. We also had to be really specific about how we assigned solos in the ensemble numbers. Normally, it's just 4 people and 4 stories, but we went through and gave certain sung lines in these ensemble songs to the character who might most relate to it given the solos pieces they sing in the piece, etc.

 

JL: What do you find particularly unique about the music of ‘Edges’?

MC: The music is a great blend of different styles, set to lyrics that are fun, funny, and direct. It really speaks to a young, contemporary audience. I mean, the messages can speak to anyone at any age - it's about making choices, finding your way in life, relationships working and dissolving, and the never ending journey we are on to figure out what is next. But the colloquial language and cultural references are really specific to people who are now in their mid 20's - mid 30's, and the music is more contemporary than standard musical theatre. It's a blend of rock, musical theatre, pop, blues, cabaret - a real fusion. 

 

As the song cycle pulls to a close, each wide-eyed expenditure of sound and gesture, meant to endear, meant to enrapture, settles into an acceptance, an appreciation of common vulnerability. Edges celebrates uniqueness: whatever you’re made of, whoever you are.

__

 

Miranda Crispin is a world traveler, an actor, director, singer, teacher and language enthusiast. With a Masters degree in Music Theatre/Opera Performance from Arizona State University, and a B.F.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University, she studied French language at the Sorbonne and has served as an American Ambassadorial Scholar to France from the Arizona State University Insitute for the Arts. Currently teaching at the American Conservatory L'Ecole Koenig, Miranda is the star of director Stephane Ly-Cuong’s staging of ‘The Last Five Years’ and vocal director of Ly-Cuong’s production of ‘Edges,’ both set to premiere at Paris’ L’Auguste Theatre. 

"Edges" is showing: June 13, 14, 15, 2013 (21h) June 26, 2013 (19h)
 July 3, 2013 (19h) At: L’Auguste Théâtre
 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

"The Last Five Years" will be performed June 27, 28 (19h) July 6, 9, 10, 11, 2013 (21h) AT  L'Auguste Theater. 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

 

Susanne Kamata on inspirations for expatriate writing from Japan

Suzanne Kamata is the author of the novel Losing Kei and editor of the anthologies The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan, and Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs (Beacon Press, May 2008), as well as the literary journal Yomimono.  Her second novel, Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible,  won the Grand Prize at the 2013 Paris Book Festival.  She now lives and writes in Japan.

A Paris Writers News Interview with Susanne Kamata by Jacqueline Leahy.

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Paris Writers News June 2013 Update

 
This month, news from Christine Herzer, Mirsia Bochis, Caballeros Psicodélicos, Perry Argel, Michelle de Kretser, Andrew Nagorski, Yannick Renier, Philippe Calvaio, Carole Pereira, David Lescot, Edward Smallfield, Valerie Coulton, The Tower Theatre, Christelle Rosar, Michèle Cohen-Halimi, Emmanuel Fournier, Martin Richet, Bénédicte Vilgrain, Frank Smith, Pierre Giner, Eavan Boland, Ciaran Carson, Eamon Grennan, Biddy Jenkinson, Medbh McGuckian, Maighréad Medbh, Paula Meehan, John Montague, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Joseph Woods, Timothy Bradford, Fiona Sze-Lorrain, William Jay Smith, Jean-Paul Daoust, Joël Hubaut, Sebastien Lespinasse, Marilyn Kaye, Saul Williams, Mary Duncan, Fred Coleman, Nelcya Delanoë, Jeffrey Greene, David Barnes, Kate Noakes,Cecilia Woloch, Heather Hartley, Chris Boïcos, Caty Lévêque, Seamus Heaney, Jérôme Mauche, Clarisse Herrenschmidt, Emmanuelle Pireyre, Alice Boatwright, Amanda Kantor, Catherine Von Handroff, Corinne Gaston, Melina Charis, Emily McPeek, Sari Rachel Forshner, Jackson Burgess, August Luhrs, Mallika Dhaliwal, Maria Peltekova, Tyler Ann McClure, Ruth Madievsky, Shelby DeWeese, Pinar Selek, Michelle Perrot, Florence Rochefort,  Michel Bozon, Jean O’Sullivan, Declan McCavana, Michael Craig Gradwell, Shakespeare and Co, Virginia Galvan, Chris Garrecht-Williams, Tino Villanueva, and Alejandro Murguía, Sue Chenette, Dylan Harris, Andrew Parkin, Catherine Cusset, Yves Cusset, François Cusset, Stephane Kirkland, Mark Gerchick, Michelle Perrot, Florence Rochefort, Michel Bozon, B.J. Novak, Nâzim Boudjenah, Darren Frey, Jeffrey Yang, Jonathan Regier, Chris Adrian, Meghan O’Rourke, Lily Robert-Foley, Lan Samantha Chang, David Downie, Geneviève Guilpain, Elaine Equi, Daniel Pozner, Harry Clifton, Vona Groarke, Derek Mahon, Théodor Storm, and more!

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Summer enrollment in BILINGUAL ACTING WORKSHOPs in Paris and New York is open! Visit: bilingualacting.com to learn more.

Musical Theater in English:

"Edges" is showing: June 13, 14, 15, 2013 (21h) June 26, 2013 (19h)
 July 3, 2013 (19h) At: L’Auguste Théâtre
 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

"The Last Five Years" will be performed June 27, 28 (19h) July 6, 9, 10, 11, 2013 (21h) AT  L'Auguste Theater. 6, impasse Lamier, 75011 Paris 
Reservations: 01.48.78.06.68

 

ONGOING EVENTS:

MONDAYS: SpokenWord Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Stand up, monologues, stories, beat poetry: all kinds of spoken word welcomed, whether in English or Français; “Chacun a son mot à dire.” Make the words come alive. Acoustic songs also welcome. Sign up from 7.30pm in the bar. Poetics start from 8.30pm underground. Check out the Practical info page for more info. Themes:
June 3rd – Dying
June 10th – Rhymes
June 17th – Anticipation
June 24th – Dreams (Contest – see above) Follow the themes and your work could be published in the literary magazine ‘the Bastille’ which is affiliated with the group.  

THURSDAYS : Paris Lit Up Open Mic every Thursday (in English or any other language) Sign up is continuous all night, but first come first served from 19h30. The fun starts at 20h. Rotating hosts Jason Mc Gimsey, Kate Noakes, Emily Ruck-Keene. AT: Culture Rapide, at 103 Rue Julien Lacroix, 75020.

 

LIMITED TIME:

2 June – 9 June from 11h - 18h daily: See “Je m’existe” art show by Paris-based author and plasticienne Christine Herzer, To learn more about Christine Herzer’s work, see: http://christineherzer.tumblr.com/ and:  http://www.nyqpoets.net/poet/christineherzer and: http://honeymooninthefridge.tumblr.com/ AT: Gallerie Evi Gougenheim/Artplace 14, rue Coetlogon, 75006 Paris Metro: St Sulpice

2 June - 9 June THE TEMPEST by Shakespeare/La Tempête de Shakespeare.  En français.   Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry. Show times: 12h00 Tuesday 4 June (student matinee), 12h00 Wednesday 5 June (student matinee), 19h00 Wednesday 5 June, 12h00 Thursday 6 June (student matinee), 19h00 Thursday 6 June, 15h30 and 19h00 Saturday 8 June, 15h30 Sunday 9 June Tickets: €20 (concessions €15, under 14 years €12) For more information, visit: http://www.theatre-quartiers-ivry.com/en/la-saison/spectacles-a-ivry/p_spectacle-78/

  SELECTED EVENTS

2 June 11h FRENCH ENGLISH POETRY FESTIVAL MOVIE NIGHT: Festival franco-anglais de poésie: projection de films vidéo réalisés autour des poèmes de la Traductière n° 31 « Poèmes que nous sommes/ Domaine roumain », en collaboration avec le Festival international du film expérimental - FIFE 2013, organisé par l’artiste roumain Mircea Bochis et en collaboration avec le Festival international du film expérimental de Baia Mare, en Roumanie - Entrée : 6 € organisé avec le Festival franco-anglais de poésie AT : Cinéma La Pagode (Paris 7e), 57 rue de Babylone 75007 Paris, M° Saint-François-Xavier (13) 

 3 June 7pm Michelle de Kretser on Questions of Travel: Laura travels the world before returning to Sydney, where she works for a publisher of travel guides. Ravi dreams of being a tourist until he is driven from Sri Lanka by devastating events. Michelle de Kretser illuminates travel, work and modern dreams in this brilliant evocation of the way we live now. This event will be chaired by Craig Taylor, author of ‘Londoners’ and editor of the literary magazine, Five Dials. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

 3 June at 7:30pm: Evening with an Author: Andrew Nagorski will present Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power. Nagorski's fascinating book explores a new aspect of this period in European history - through the perspectives of American diplomats, reporters, Olympic athletes and even U.S. citizens living in Germany who saw firsthand the construction of the Reich in real-time.AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

TUESDAY 4 Juin 2013 - 20h HERVE GUIBERT, LETTRES A EUGENE SAVITZKAYA  PAR YANNICK RENIER & PHILIPPE CALVARIO  http://festivalpoesie.wix.com/maisondelapoesie#!22--herv-guibert/ct0d Maison de la Poésie - Passage Molière - 157, rue Saint-Martin - 75003 Paris - Infos et Réservations  tél : 01 44 54 53 00 du mardi au samedi de 14h à 18 

 

4 June 19h30—Ivy Writers Paris SPECIAL event PERFORMANCE AND POETRY NIGHT with a performance by Carole Pereira, directed by Criona Laing based on a play written by poet and dramaturge David Lescot followed by readings by author, translator and Apogee press publishers and authors Edward Smallfield and Valerie Coulton. . AT: DELAVILLE cafe, 34 blvd Bonne Nouvelle, 75010 Paris, M° Bonne Nouvelle More info at : http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.fr/

 

4 June - 9 June. The Tower Theatre returns to the Théâtre de Verdure de Shakespeare au Jardin Pré-Catalan MAP with its production of “The Taming of the Shrew.”  IN ENGLISH.  For tickets see website  and contact   01 45 20 67 30 Jardin Shakespeare, Bois de Boulogne, Paris

UK’s Tower Theatre Company is coming back in June for their 22nd annual season at the Théâtre de Verdure in the Bois de Boulogne, this year performing The Taming of the Shrew, in English with French subtitles. 
The play’s essential questions are revitalized through Questions this production's setting in the “rock'n'roll years of the 1950s.”
PAN has purchased 10 tickets for the June 4^th performance at 7pm, group-rate, at 15€ each. 
To sign up and for further details please contact Tessa Smith at [email protected]. 

4 June à 19h Rencontre avec CHRISTELLE ROSAR pour son témoignage J’ai survécu à la psychiatrie (Max Milo) En présence de Martine Dutoit et Marie-Claude Saint-Pé, auteures de la postface et de Jeannine Chalot de l’association Advocacy. AT : la librairie Violette and Co, 102 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, M° Charonne ou Faidherbe-Chaligny. Bus 46, 56, 76, 86. tél : 01 43 72 16 07  www.violetteandco.com/librairie/

 

WEDNESDAY 5 June, à 19h30  Michèle Cohen-Halimi, Emmanuel Fournier, Martin Richet et Bénédicte Vilgrain.  AT:  la Librairie Corti, 11 rue de Médecis, Paris 6^ème, Entrée libre, http://www.jose-corti.fr/ et http://www.ericpestyediteur.com/

 

5 Juin - 20h GAZA, D'ICI-LA / TALK SAVER: FRANK SMITH & PIERRE GINER Lecture-performance multimedia Pour plus de détails: http://festivalpoesie.wix.com/maisondelapoesie#!23-franck-smith/c1prw

 

THURSDAY 6-9th June (all day and evenings too):  L'Irlande, pays invité du Marché de la Poésie:  Eavan Boland, Ciaran Carson, Eamon Grennan, Biddy Jenkinson, Medbh McGuckian, Maighréad Medbh, Paula Meehan, John Montague, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Joseph Woods. Together with readings and discussions, two new anthologies and two new collections in French translation will be launched. Find the programme for the Marché and its Périphérie at: www.poesie.evous.fr and more info on the Irish Cultural center events at: www.centreculturelirlandais.com

 

FRIDAY 7 June at 7 PM:  UPSTAIRS AT DUROC, readings TIMOTHY BRADFORD, CHRISTINE HERZER and FIONA SZE-LORRAIN.  at: Berkeley Books of Paris, 8 rue Casimir Delavigne, 75006 Paris, Metro Odéon.

 

SATURDAY  8 June from noon to 3pm. SOS Help's "buy a bag of books for 5 euros" sale at St Joe's Church, 50 avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris.

 

8 June. 15,00-16,00: American Library in Paris. William Jay Smith, former Poet Laureate of the United States, is pleased to offer a program of light verse and comic poetry to children and their parents at the American Library in Paris. He has written ten collections of poetry, two of which were nominated for the National Book Award. A part-time Parisian, Smith moves between his homes in Cummington, Massachusetts, and Paris, France. No sign-up necessary! 

Parents Welcome

 

8 June, 11h, 14h30, 16h30 (Events All Day): le collectif poésie is not dead, dans le cadre du Marché de la Poésie de Paris (programme complet en pièce jointe), vous invite à la performance Rimbaudmobile II : Le Retour (http://rimbaudmobile.blogspot.fr/ ). Les poètes Jean-Paul Daoust, Joël Hubaut et Sebastien Lespinasse accompagnés du musicien-improvisateur bricoleur de sons Thomas Fernier et des vidéastes Anne-Sophie Terrillon et Christophe Acker vous convient à passer quelques minutes avec nous : 11h00 : Parvis Beaubourg, fontaine Niki de Saint Phalle et Jean Tinguely : Sebastien Lespinasse et Thomas Fernier 14h30 : Place Colette : Jean-Paul Daoust et Thomas Fernier 16h30 : Place Stalingrad : Joël Hubaut et Thomas Fernier Captation vidéo : Anne-Sophie Terrillon et Christophe Acker Conception : FM

 

8 June. At WH SMITH. Book signing 
Saturday 8th June 2013
4-6pm 

Marilyn Kaye will sign
 her new novel for young adults
 GLOSS.

 

8 June 19h30 Artist Serene Wise will talk about her exhibition Homage to Daniel Buren. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

SUNDAY9 June 6pm Saul Williams: American poet, singer, musician, writer and actor. Crossing boundaries and genres, his work promises to inspire. He won the title of Grand Slam Champion at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1996, and has worked with musicians including Nas and Nine Inch Nails. He says poetry: “…is the window that opens, that allows some air in, some other insight, some other possibility so we can explore all that we feel...” AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

 

9 June at 7.30 pm MOVING PARTS presents an evening of short films in French by various authors (screen) AT: Carr's Pub & Restaurant, 1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris, Metro : Tuileries 

 

(Reminders)

 9 June from 11h - 18h Final day to see: “Je m’existe” art show by Paris-based author and plasticienne Christine Herzer, For more info on “je m'existe” and Christine Herzer’s work, see: http://christineherzer.tumblr.com/ and :  http://www.nyqpoets.net/poet/christineherzer and : http://honeymooninthefridge.tumblr.com/ AT: Gallerie Evi Gougenheim/Artplace 14, rue Coetlogon, 75006 Paris Metro: St Sulpice

 

MONDAY (Reminder)19h30- SpokenWord – open mic/scène ouverte: performance poetry, stand up, monologue, stories, beat poetry, sketches, songs, spoken word. Open to all languages. Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Run by David Barnes & Alberto Rigettini. http://spokenwordparis.org/

 

, JUNE 11, 2013 – 6:30 TO 8 pm AUTHORS MARY DUNCAN & FRED COLEMAN TALK ABOUT NAZI RESISTANCE IN FRANCE - Mary Duncan’s next book deals with the Jewish Resistance in Paris and Fred Coleman’s newly published, “The Marcel Network”, a Book of the Month Club selection last January, tells the story of a young French couple who selflessly saved hundreds of Jewish children from being deported during the German occupation. Free for PAN members, 5€ for non-members. To sign up please contact Mary Ann Rivet at [email protected] 

11 June à 19h Rencontre avec Nelcya Delanoë.  Ethno-historienne, traductrice, écrivain, Nelcya Delanoë est professeur honoraire des Universités. Elle a publié une dizaine de livres et de nombreuses traductions. AT: Librairie Michèle Ignazi 17, rue de Jouy 75004 Paris métro : Saint-Paul ou Pont-Marie

 

 12 June 6:00 p.m. Reading by Jerome Rothenberg AT: the gallery of Éditions Caractères, 7, rue de l’Arbalete, Paris

 

12 June 18h Please join us for a fantastic reading in celebration of the University of Southern California’s The Poet in Paris Program directed by poet and long-time part-time Paris resident Cecilia Woloch. With readings by USC The Poet in Paris faculty and friends Jeffrey Greene, David Barnes, Kate Noakes, and brief readings by Cecilia Woloch and Heather Hartley. Entrance is free, but audience members are expected to purchase at least one drink. AT: La Pierre Du Marais, 96 rue des Archives, 75003, Metro Arts et Metiers or Temple.

 

12 June at 7:30pm: ART TALK: Paris Art Studies lecturer Chris Boïcos returns to the Library to present the works of artist Marc Chagall reflecting themes from the exhibit Marc Chagall: Between War & Peace, now on view at the Musée du Luxembourg through 21 July. Boïcos takes us from Chagall’s Russian period in his hometown of Vitebsk during the First World War to his biblical paintings evoking the rise of the Nazism and onto his post-WWII life as a refugee in the U.S., showing how Chagall’s work embodies the strife of the 20th century. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

12 Juin à 19h Vernissage de l’exposition d’œuvres de CATY LÉVÊQUE “La grande bibliothèque de Pétaouchnock” L’artiste Caty Lévêque et sa complice Fiona Britee ont entrepris de faire connaître Pétaouchnock, un pays avec sa culture, sa langue, sa géographie, son histoire et ses coutumes, comme un vrai pays ! L’exposition présente une série de livres sous cadres accompagnés de leur quatrième de couverture, prêtés par sa Grande Bibliothèque. A noter: les auteures de ces ouvrages ne sont que des femmes ; quoi d’étonnant dans ce pays dont la déesse préférée est Hypathie d’Alexandrie, mathématicienne et philosophe grecque. Pour plus de détails: www.petaouchnock.eu AT : la librairie Violette and Co, 102 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, M° Charonne ou Faidherbe-Chaligny. Bus 46, 56, 76, 86. tél : 01 43 72 16 07  www.violetteandco.com/librairie/

 

 13 June READING with Nobel laureate SEAMUS HEANEY! Seamus Heaney has published a dozen collections including Death of a Naturalist (1966), Door into the Dark (1969), Wintering Out (1972), Electric Light (2001), Human Chain (2011). Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1995 “for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth.” An Irishman himself, Heaney will read in the courtyard of the Centre Culturel Irlandais.  AT: The Centre Culturel Irlandais, 5, rue des Irlandais, 75005 Pars--RESERVATION STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EVENTS: see email on their site at:  For more info : www.centreculturelirlandais.com

 

13 Juin à 19h – entrée libre POÉSIE PLATE-FORME Jérôme Mauche reçoit Clarisse Herrenschmidt, anthropologue, et Emmanuelle Pireyre, écrivain.  AT: FONDATION D'ENTREPRISE RICARD, 12 rue Boissy d'Anglas 75008 Paris, Entrée libre du mardi au samedi de 11h à 19h www.fondation-entreprise-ricard.com

  

13 June 7pm ALICE BOATWRIGHT on Collateral Damage In Collateral Damage three linked novellas explore the lasting effects of the Vietnam War on people living in its shadow – including both those who fought and those who didn’t. These stories from one of American history’s most divisive eras show us that Vietnam may not be as far behind us as we think. A Small Press Distribution summer bestseller in 2012, Collateral Damage received the Bronze Medal for Literary Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in May 2013. It was also a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. For more information: www.collateraldamage.us AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

 

(Reminder) 

13 June 19h30-00h00 PARIS LIT UP Open Mic every Thursday (in English or other languages too – when in Rome, speak French) Sign up is continuous all night, but first come first served from 19h30.  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.

 

 14 June 17h30 to 19h30 Please join us for a fabulous reading in celebration of the University of Southern California’s The Poet in Paris Program directed by poet and long-time part-time Paris resident Cecilia Woloch. Thirteen talented and spirited creative writing students read poems written over their month-long stay in Paris: AMANDA KANTOR, CATHERINE VON HANDORFF, CORINNE GASTON, MELINA CHARIS, EMILY McPEEK, SARI RACHEL FORSHNER, JACKSON BURGESS, AUGUST LUHRS, MALLIKA DHALIWAL, MARIA PELTEKOVA, TYLER ANN McCLURE, RUTH MADIEVSKY and SHELBY DeWEESE. Food and beverages available for purchase. at Le Café Rouge, 32, rue de Picardie, 75003, Metro Arts et Metiers or Temple.

  

14 June 7.30pm Shakespeare and Co Production of Much Ado About Nothing. Taking place right outside the Shakespeare and Co., the play revitalizes Shakespeare's classic comedy. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

 

14 Juin à 19h Rencontre avec PINAR SELEK pour son roman La maison du Bosphore (L. Lévi) A Istanbul, quatre jeunes épris de liberté cherchent leur place dans une société figée depuis le coup d’État de 1980. La condition des femmes et des minorités, les conventions sociales, l’oppression politique : tout leur pèse. Premier roman de P. Selek, sociologue, militante féministe et pacifique turque, exilée en France après avoir été accusée à tort de terrorisme et subi un imbroglio juridique qui l’a condamnée en janvier dernier lors d’un procès inique. AT: la librairie Violette and Co, 102 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, M° Charonne ou Faidherbe-Chaligny. Bus 46, 56, 76, 86. tél : 01 43 72 16 07  www.violetteandco.com/librairie/ 

15 Juin à 19h Rencontre avec MICHELLE PERROT, FLORENCE ROCHEFORT et MICHEL BOZON pour leur ouvrage Au bazar du genre : féminin et masculin en Méditerranée (Textuel) Mercredi AT : la librairie Violette and Co, 102 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, M° Charonne ou Faidherbe-Chaligny. Bus 46, 56, 76, 86. tél : 01 43 72 16 07  www.violetteandco.com/librairie/ 

 

16 June--Littérature  « Bloomsday in Paris » présenté par le Paris Bloomsday Group The Paris Bloomsday Group – JEAN O’SULLIVAN, DECLAN McCAVANA and MICHAEL CRAIG GRADWELL - perform readings and songs from James Joyce's work, striving to make Joyce accessible to all. Their Bloomsday 2013 programme, features guest artist Rosena Horan. Bring a picnic and come in 1900s costume if the fancy strikes you. Lyrics are provided! AT: The Centre Culturel Irlandais, 5, rue des Irlandais, 75005 Pars--RESERVATION STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EVENTS. For more info: www.centreculturelirlandais.com

 

16th June at 6pm Paris Literary Prize ceremony! To celebrate the winning entries of our international novella competition for unpublished writers, the three winners will be reading a selection from their works for the first time in public. Seats are LIMITED and will be allocated via RSVP to [email protected]  (email title: 'RSVP Prize Ceremony - Reservation'). Reservations will be held until 5.45pm, after which they will be reallocated.  Extra seating outside the shop, weather permitting. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

 

16 June à 18h: Virginia Galvan interprètera des textes issus du site. Ceci sera complété par une lecture par l'auteur. Ce travail est issu d'une collaboration artistique entre Virginia Galvan, Frédéric Benhaim et Linda Blanchet (Compagnie Hanna R.).  Au Théâtre le Passage vers les étoiles, 17 cité Joly, M° Père Lachaise. Contribution libre, inscription : [email protected]

17th June 7pm A summer’s evening of verse with three wonderful poets – CHRIS GARRECHT-WILLIAMS, TINO VILLANUEVA, and ALEJANDRO Murguía, the San Francisco Poet Laureate.  AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

 

(Reminder)

17 June 19h30- SpokenWord – open mic/scène ouverte: performance poetry, stand up, monologue, stories, beat poetry, sketches, songs, spoken word. Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Run by David Barnes & Alberto Rigettini. http://spokenwordparis.org/

 

TUESDAY 18 June at 7 p.m. POETS LIVE reading with SUE CHENETTE (Canadian poet), DYLAN HARRIS (British poet and publisher based in Luxemborg) and ANDREW PARKIN. AT: Carr’s Pub,1 rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris, Métro: Tuileries or Concorde.

 

18 Juin prochain À 19H30, dans le cadre des Mille-Feuilles au restaurant Le Trumilou [84 quai de l’Hôtel de Ville – 75004 Paris, métros: Pont-Marie ou Hôtel-de-Ville], nous pourrons rencontrer et entendre: Catherine CUSSET, romancière, essayiste, pour :  Indigo, dixième roman, Gallimard, 2013, Yves CUSSET, philosophe, enseignant, écrivain et comédien, pour: La Vie rêvée des philosophes – Biographies extravagantes, François Bourin, 2012, François CUSSET, historien, enseignant et écrivain, pour: À l’abri du déclin du monde, roman, P.O.L, 2012. Ces trois livres seront disponibles sur place grâce à la Librairie LA BELLE LURETTE, sise 26 rue Saint-Antoine – 75004 Paris. IL EST IMPÉRATIF DE RÉSERVER (au moins 5 JOURS à l'avance) :06 08 43 50 53 ou [email protected]

 

18 June 19h30 Evenings with an Author: architect STEPHANE KIRKLAND talks about the making of a modern city in his book Paris Reborn. About the book: The French capital underwent an epic transformation in the second half of the 19th century, led by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, following the vision of Napoleon III. In his book Paris Reborn: Napoléon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City, author and architect Stephane Kirkland takes us through the evolution of Paris, the politics of its urban design and the controversy surrounding the massive project. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

MERCREDI

19 June at 19h30: Evenings with an Author: aviation expert MARK GERCHICK’s book, Full Upright and Locked Positions: Not-So-Comfortable Truths about Air Travel Today, gives readers an inside view of the changes in air travel since 9/11. He gives a procedural look at how the business works from the inside out, as well as the politics and perspectives on all sides of this issue that affects all air travelers. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

19 Juin à 19h Rencontre avec MICHELLE PERROT, FLORENCE ROCHEFORT et MICHEL BOZON pour leur ouvrage qu’il-elles ont co-coordonné Au bazar du genre: féminin et masculin en Méditerranée Cet ouvrage interroge les multiples façons d’être homme ou femme dans l’espace méditerranéen et redessine les contours d’un ordre des sexes bouleversé : mutations démographiques et maîtrise de la fécondité, revendications des femmes et des minorités sexuelles, rites, normes et nouveaux modèles, représentations culturelles... M. Perrot et F. Rochefort sont historiennes. M. Bozon est sociologue.

20 June 19h30-00h00 Paris Lit Up Open Mic every Thursday (in English or other languages too) AT: the historic home of French Slam poetry, Culture Rapide, at 103 Rue Julien Lacroix, 75020. Featured reader this week is Joe Ross.

 20 June 7pm B.J. NOVAK (of TV’s “The Office”). B.J. Novak is an actor, writer, and comedian, best known for his contributions to Emmy Award-winning comedy ‘The Office’. First discovered as a stand-up comedian, Novak continues to perform live at theatres, clubs, and universities. For this event, he will be workshopping his first book, a work of comedic fiction, scheduled to be published by Knopf in 2014. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

  

20 Juin à 19h30 Lecture par Nâzim Boudjenah de « Ici dans ça » de Mathieu Brosseau. « Nous en savons beaucoup trop, bien trop pour être menacés, bien assez pour mourir à petit feu par le poison, nous n'appartenons pas au monde car le monde ne nous appartient pas, il y a une symétrie dans l'exercice de la propriété, un vol a été perpétré, celui d'une parcelle de l'âme, nous possédons ce qui nous possède dans la fiction de nous-mêmes, nous sommes des vendus et la parole nous tient par la gorge, nulle fuite possible, nous revenons d'un pays où nulle propriété ne fait loi, nous sommes en exil et la pensée nous charrie. » Ici dans ça. Page 45. AT: la médiathèque Marguerite Duras  (Paris, 20e). M° Porte de Bagnolet 

 

21st June 6pm Philosopher in the library, DARREN FREY, for his book Dr. Heidegger or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb: How folk psychology and actual empirical research suggest that technology impacts our ways of thinking. This talk will present the questions concerning technology that Heidegger thought were most important while outlining the general contours of his own thought. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

24 June at 19h30—New Directions editor, poet, translator and reviewer for the NYT Review of books JEFFREY YANG and Paris-based poet JONATHAN REGIER participate in Ivy Writers Paris’ celebration of COLOR TREASURY 002, "Rotation" by Jonathan Regier and Color Treasury 003, Newspaper, a compilation of 25 visual artists and poets, both designed and published by Sarah Lariviere. Readings will include CT003 contributors Jeffrey Yang, Jonathan Regier, Sarah Lariviere, Christine Herzer, Jennifer K Dick and Jacob Bromberg. Bios: JEFFREY YANG is the author of the poetry books Vanishing-Line and An Aquarium, the translator of Liu Xiaobo's June Fourth Elegies and Su Shi's East Slope, and the editor of Time of Grief: Mourning Poems and Birds, Beasts, & Seas: Nature Poems from New Directions. JONATHAN REGIER’s first book of poetry was published by Six Gallery Press (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2008. Recently, his poetry has appeared in journals such as Diagram, Upstairs at Duroc,  or elimae, and his essays and book reviews have appeared in Drunken Boat and the Huffington Post. For more: http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.com Join our FB group on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/101898279922603/?fref=ts AT: DELAVILLE cafe, 34 blvd Bonne Nouvelle, 75010 Paris, M° Bonne Nouvelle

24 June 19h30- SpokenWord – open mic/scène ouverte: Primarily in English but open-minded. 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/

 24 June 7.30pm lectures de Chris Adrian and Meghan O’Rourke (in collaboration with NYU summer program) Meghan O'Rourke is the author of The Long Goodbye (Riverhead), a memoir about grief, and the poetry collections Once and Halflife (W.W. Norton). A former poetry editor for The Paris Review, she is also a culture critic for Slate magazine and a founding editor of the web site Double X. She is the recipient of the 2008 May Sarton Poetry Prize. Her essays and poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Best American Poetry, 32 Poems, and more. Chris Adrian is the author of a short story collection, A Better Angel, and three novels, Gob's Grief, The Children's Hospital, and The Great Night. He was selected as one of The New Yorker's 20 writers under 40. AT: Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie, 75005. M° St Michel or Cluny la Sorbonne. http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/ 

 

25 June 19h: Corrupt Press author’s book release: m by Lily Robert-Foley; published by Corrupt Press (http://corruptpress.net/ ) M is a collaged poetic exploration and echo in the poetry of Lily Robert-Foley of Samuel Beckett’s works published by Faber & Faber and LES EDITIONS DE MINUIT S.A.: The Unnamable / Poèmes - collages à partir de L’Innommable. Get your copy HOT OFF THE PRESS at this event which will take place AT: La Mutinerie, 176 178 rue Saint Martin, 75003 Paris

 

25 June 19h30 Evenings with an Author: Novelist and Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop LAN SAMANTHA CHANG, On Writing As the Director of the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, Lan Samantha Chang will discuss the art of writing at the Library. Chang is also the 2013 Distinguished Writers-in-Residence with WICE, and will be teaching the fiction/novel course for the WICE 2013 Summer Writing Course.  About the Author: Lan Samantha Chang is the author of a collection of short fiction, Hunger, and two novels, Inheritance and All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost. Her work has been translated into nine languages and has been chosen twice for The Best American Short Stories. She has received creative writing fellowships from Stanford University, Princeton University, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

MERCREDI

26 June at 19h30 Evenings with an Author: DAVID DOWNIE will present his book Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James. AT: the AMERICAN LIBRARY in Paris, 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8), Alma-Marceau (line 9), RER: Pont de l'Alma (line C), Bus Routes: 42, 63, 69, 80, 82, 87, 92

 

26 Juin à 19h Rencontre avec GENEVIÈVE GUILPAIN pour la parution de son essai Les célibataires, des femmes singulières (L’Harmattan)Invisibles sur la scène sociale et historique, alors qu’elles se sont souvent exprimés par leurs journaux intimes, leurs fictions ou essais philosophiques et féministes, les femmes célibataires sont d’excellentes observatrices de la scène sociale et du jeu des rapports de sexe.

27 Juin à 19h30 BILINGUAL ENGLISH FRENCH READING WITH Double Change vous invite à une lecture de Elaine EQUI et Daniel POZNER. A l'occasion de la parution de Trois mots. Daniel Pozner en fera une lecture accompagné de Sarah MAHE-CARMONA aux percussions. BIOS : ELAINE EQUI a publié de nombreux livres de poésie dont Voice-Over qui a remporté le prix San Francisco State Poetry Award, Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems, pré-sélectionné pour le L.A. Times Book Award et le Griffin Poetry Prize, et, plus récemment, Click and Clone. Les textes d’Elaine Equi ont paru dans de nombreuses anthologies ainsi que dans des publications comme The Nation, Poetry, The New Yorker, et plusieurs éditions de The Best American Poetry. Elaine Equi enseigne à New York University et dans les programmes de Master of Fine Arts de The New School et du City College of New York. DANIEL POZNER est l’auteur de plusieurs livres de poèmes, notamment Pft ! (Le Quartanier, 2009), Les animaux de Camin (Derrière la salle de bains, 2009), Le géographe est ailleurs (Passage d’encres, 2010). Lecture bilingue. Entrée libre. www.doublechange.org AT: GALERIE JÉRÔME POGGI + OBJET DE PRODUCTION, 115/117, rue La Fayette – 75010 Paris - Tél. : + 33 (0)9 51 02 51 88 M° Gare du Nord ou Poissonnière – Parking Vinci rue des Petits Hôtels http://www.galeriepoggi.com

 

27 June: An evening of POETRY and MUSIC to close off the month of Marche de la Poésie’s around the marché events. The final magical evening of the Festival de la Périphérie in which Ireland was particularly honoured during the Marché de la Poésie will take place at the CCI. Poetry by Harry Clifton, Vona Groarke and Derek Mahon and sweet music will be followed by a buffet under the stars, sheltered by the enfolding wings of the historic old Irish College. AT: The Centre Culturel Irlandais, 5, rue des Irlandais, 75005 Pars--RESERVATION STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EVENTS. For more: www.centreculturelirlandais.com

 

27 June 19h30-00h00 Paris Lit Up Open Mic every Thursday. 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. Featured reader this week is Claire Dyer.

 

28 juin 17h, SALON LITÉRAIRE – THÉODOR STORM, accompagnée d’une diffusion du film. L’auteur de la biographie du poète, Jochen Missfeldt, présentera son livre « Du Graue Stadt Am Meer – Der Dichter Theodor Storm in seinem Jahrhundert ». Le salon sera tenu en langue allemande. Une interprétation simultanée sera assurée. – Goethe Institut, 17 avenue d’Iéna, 75116 Paris, Métro ligne 9, Iéna, entrée libre.

 

28 June (ALL DAY) Intoxication 2013 (at Granville Barker room, 4th floor, University of London Institute in Paris, 9-11 rue de Constantine, 7th arrondissement, Paris (Métro: Invalides). This conference considers the relationship of intoxication to writing produced both in French and in France. Panel Topics include: Intoxication in the Nineteenth-Century, Paris, Capital of Intoxication, Poetic Intoxications, Dipsomaniacal novel(ist)s, Biopolitical Intoxications and Critiques of Intoxication in Theory and Politics. Simone Paterman (Université Paris VIII), will lecture on ‘L’abstinence créatrice. Les errances de Jack Kerouac et d’Henry Miller à Paris’.

Visit: http://intoxicationinparis.wordpress.com

 

29 June—REID READ annual poetry translation seminar closes the season for many locals with an annual event, often in the lovely garden at Reid Hall. This year will feature readings by a number of French and Anglophone authors. Details will be posted soon.

 

See you next month! – Jacqueline Leahy

The Philip K. Dick European Science Fiction Film Festival to Come to France : call for submissions

This fall, French Sci-fi fans are in for a treat: three days of events in honor of Philip K Dick are planned in Lille, France from October 25-27, 2013 at the famous L'Hybride Cinema venue.

Festival organizers are issuing a call for submissions in science fiction and horror features and shorts. Writers and panelists will be invited to participate.

Philip k. Dick was the visionary author of behind such film classics as:

• Blade Runner (1982), based on Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,
• Total Recall (1990), based on the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", 
• Confessions d'un Barjo (1992), titled Barjo in its English-language release, a French film based on Dick's non-science-fiction novel Confessions of a Crap Artist.
• Screamers (1995), based on Dick's short story "Second Variety",
• Minority Report (2002), based on Dick's short story of "The Minority Report", 
• "Impostor" ( adapted twice: first in 1962 for the British anthology television series Out of This World and then in 2002 for the movie Impostor)
• Paycheck (2003), , based on Dick's short story of the same name.
• A Scanner Darkly (2006), based on Dick's novel of the same name. 
• Next (2007),  loosely based on the short story "The Golden Man".

 to name but a few. I

For more information see:  The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival Expands To France by france.broadwayworld.comA three-day event will mark the first of many worldwide gatherings in the beautiful and historic Lille, France from October 25-27, 2013 at the famous L'Hybride Cinema venue.

 

A three-day event will mark the first of many worldwide gatherings in the beautiful and historic Lille, France from October 25-27, 2013 at the famous L'Hybride Cinema venue.

Read more about The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival Expands To France by france.broadwayworld.com

 

French cultural icon Bernard Pivot debates impact of English in French universities w Peter Gumbel, Vincent Berger

 

Will allowing French universities to teach some classes in English endanger the French language?

Debate (in French) on Arte with Elisabeth Quin, Renaud Dély, Nadia Daam, Bernard Pivot, Peter Gumbel, and Vincent Berger.

(sorry, Arte seems to have removed the video today.)

 

Bac 2013 English orals - what grade for French politicians?

In 2013 French high school students must pass an oral exam in English. Many are terrified.  Judging from the performances of the highest ranking French policians, they shouldn't be.

President François Hollande (an HEC - ENA - Sciences Po grad who got a 16 in English on the ENA entrance exam - and who signed a personal letter to Barack Obama "friendly")

 

President Nicolas Sarkozy

 

 

 

 

 Prime Minister Jean- Pierre Raffarin.