Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Cigarettes: French Women's Secret Weapon for Staying Slim?

 

A while back I wrote a humorous account of  French women's tricks for staying slim. Savvy commentators pointed out an important - and deadly - omission: cigarettes.

French women smoke.

And not just a little.  

What better way to keep the kilos off?

Relentlessly targeted by tobacco companies, who understand only too well their desire to seduce by staying thin, women in France - in particular adolescent girls - smoke. 

In middle school, ONE IN THREE French girls smoke (bravo Philip Morris!) That's more than the boys.

Between the ages of 18 and 34 HALF  of all young French people smoke (boys and girls).

Pregnant women in France smoke at higher rates than pregnant women elsewhere - despite overwhelming evidence on the dangers for the fetus.

French girls are pressured to stay slim - or lose weight - from the earliest age. French diet guru make-a-lot-of-money Dukan actually proposed awarding extra points on the bac for slimness!

What is the link between cigarettes and women?  In the old days, during the Women's Liberation Movement, cigarette companies linked their products to "independence' and "freedom".

Now, in the Age of Obesity, cigarettes are popular as legal and socially acceptable appetite suppressants - like the deadly Mediator.

So: French women don't get fat? 

True. Unfortunately, this is partly because food isn't the only thing they put in their mouths.

 

 

Lest Ye Be Judged… Serving on the Editorial Board of Best Paris Stories by Mary Ellen Gallagher

To select the short stories for Best Paris Stories, the Paris Short Story Contest assembled a Dream Team of Judges and Editorial Committee members from Paris writing community. Their mission: pick what you love.  As simple as this sounds, for a serious writer, the exercise can be fraught. What do I love? What is good? Is it the same thing? Does it matter? The process of selection was so interesting and useful to writers that I asked several members of Best Paris Stories Editorial Committee to share their thoughts with us.

In this essay, Mary Ellen Gallagher -  novelist, journalist, editor and, for writers who have had the pleasure of working with her, a most excellent reader - shares her approach to evaluating submissions with us.

 

 

Lest Ye Be Judged…

Serving on the Editorial Board of Best Paris Stories by Mary Ellen Gallagher

Like most writers, I relish a fresh ream of paper – 500 pristine sheets awaiting a vivid character who will sail across the white page, leaving a wake of snappy dialogue. Choosing the best from the many submittals to Best Paris Stories was a different story – it was about someone else’s story. I was determined to keep “me” out of it, disproving what Jack McClelland, editor and mentor to many of Canada’s great writers, once wrote to the Canadian Governor.

I would not employ an author to referee a Ping-Pong match. By their very nature they are biased and bloody-minded. Better put a fox in a henhouse than to ask an author to judge his peers.    

            Jack McClelland, Imagining Canadian Literature: the Selected Letters.

I started my review of the submittals with a clean desk, a full pot of coffee and a chocolate bar of good will. I didn’t try to be “objective” because editing is a subjective business, but I wanted to approach each story with an open mind.

During the first read-through, I divvied the submissions into three stacks, “Good” “Maybe” and “Ouch!” During the second read, I paid closest attention to the last pile, knowing this might be their last chance. The “Good” and “Maybe” candidates were each read at least twice more, during which I jotted a “grade” on each cover page. Usually, the few stories I liked the most and the few I cared for the least were easy to spot, but I left them in their respective stacks until I’d re-read everything once again.

 

“You want to remember that while you’re judging the book, the book is also judging you.”

              Stephen King, Night Shift

 

If the submittal was a plot-based story, which most seemed to be, I looked for an engaging series of logical events without a “deus ex-machina” dropping out of the sky to fix everything. I liked stories where the seeds of the resolution were planted early and with discretion, and I wanted to enjoy worrying alongside the protagonist until, Voila! All was revealed. While I was reading, I asked myself, “Why now? Why is this character facing this situation at this particular point in time? What change has put the main character at risk?”

 

He had three whole dollars, a worn out car.

A wife who was leaving for good.
Life’s made of trouble - worry, pain and struggle.

She wrote 'good bye' in the dust on the hood.

I want to know the same thing

Everyone wants to know…

How's it going to end?

Tom Waits, “How’s It Going to End?”

I also looked for stories that “only this author could tell.” It might have been a setting that was new to me, or a credible character unlike anyone I’ve ever met or read about before. It was a good sign if I “fell into the story” and forgot to be objective. When I started rationing the pages to the end, I knew I’d found a winner. 

I didn’t care if the story was driven by plot or by character, as long as the voice was strong and steady. If the author had a confident and unique way of describing reality, I could have enjoyed a hundred plot-less pages – but the voice had to be extraordinary.

Use of language was an important part of voice. I thought of Chekhov’s admonition, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Nor, did I want to see a figure of speech in every line. I preferred a single striking description with space around it to let it breathe.

One “voice test” I used relates to the “Page 67 Rule,” which asks if I open a book to page 67, am I pulled into the story? The same theory worked for the submittals: if I looked at the last paragraph at the bottom of page six in each story, was I captivated? Did I get a clear sense of the author’s voice? Did I want to keep reading? 

This “Bottom of Page 6” test saved some stories with clumsy openings. Writers know that the first few lines are critical, that if a story doesn’t engage the reader within a few paragraphs, all is lost. However, some submittals with weak openings were redeemed if they captured me on the bottom of page six.

If an author’s voice was strong, I overlooked technical errors and formatting problems – until I was tossed out of a piece once too often. Like many readers, I want fiction to take me from the real world into the imaginary land on the page. If the author failed to use the standard road signs that guide my escape – paragraphing, correct spelling, good grammar – I was likely to downgrade the submission.

“Beauty is in the eye of the gazer.” 

                 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre 

After giving each story a grade, I left them alone for a week. I tried to note which plots I remembered and persistent images that came to mind. Just because I recalled a particular aspect of a piece didn’t mean I changed the story’s rank, but it did help me prepare for the final read. The last time I read through the manuscripts, I reconsidered a few stories and reassigned their group, but most stories retained the order I’d given them after the second or third read.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.

                        Louis Armstrong

As a member of the editorial board for Best Paris Stories, I was privileged to read delicious stories about the most beautiful city on earth. Even if I didn’t meet every contestant personally after the awards were announced, I had the opportunity to help a few of the writers improve their craft. Jotting comments in the manuscripts’ margins helped me during the sorting process and enhanced my own writing discipline.

As Emerson said, “No man can help another without helping himself.” I saw my own issues in some of the contestants’ pieces, and sometimes – Eureka! – I found a solution. I certainly sharpened my “personal ruthlessness,” which helps me edit my own work. Once or twice, I slipped one of my problem stories into the middle of the stack I was reviewing. With the additional detachment, I spotted shortcomings in my work that had eluded me until then.

I admire the optimism and discipline of those who sent stories into Best Paris Stories, especially those who submitted work for the first time. We all benefitted from the endeavor and now, readers everywhere will relish this new literary legacy from and about The City of Light.

___

 Mary Ellen Gallagher’s fiction has won literary awards in the USA, France and Australia, and her articles about American culture are frequently published in the French journal New Standpoints. A native of Wisconsin, Mary Ellen holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge MA.  She is currently finishing her first novel Airstream, the story of a young mother trapped between her secret past and the flood waters of the Mississippi River. She served as a member of the Editorial Committee for the Paris Short Story Contest in 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paris Writers News Update June 1 to 7

This month news from Odile Hellier, Cara Black, Sheila Kohler, Patricia Wells, Peter Conradi, Thirza Vallois, Stephen Clarke UPSTAIRS AT DUROC, MICHELLE NAKA PIERCE,   CHRIS PUSATERI, ALEXANDER DICKOW. Marilyn Hacker, Pam Leavy Ellen Hinsey, Jeffrey Green, Heather Hartley, Margo Berdeshevsky David Barnes. Paris Writers Workshop, International Photography Competition, Novella Contest. and more (update ongoing)

 

 

NEWS

Cathy Altman Nocquet's new book, Write Outside the Lines: a Creativity Catapult, has just been released! "Over 300 offbeat, original writing exercises that develop creative thinking, valuable insights into the writing process and a close encounter with Nardo, the "snake within", out to discourage everyone's productivity."

Patricia Wells author of  THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO PARIS now has an IPHONE APP!  Patricia is a former New York Times food writer, the food critic for the IHT for more than 25 years and the author of 15 books. You can download the app for iPhone at www.foodloversparis.com or directly from iTunes  (see article from The Provence Post)

  Peter Conradi, author of The King's Speech and Hitler's Piano Player, has a new book: The Great Survivors: How Monarchy Made it into the 21st Century  (In it you can learn the incredible story how Queen Elizabeth, now celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, met her husband.)

 

Sadly, the Village Voice Bookstore will close this month. Party in honor of  Odile Hellier on June 16th.  

 

INTERVIEWS

Thirza Vallois on the impact of personal experience and history in reading short stories.

Laurel Zuckerman on the story behind Best Paris Stories

coming soon: Stephen Clarke on ebooks, annoying the French and his debt to DSK;  and Mary Ellen Gallagher on the terrors of judging other writers in "Lest Ye Be Judged"

 

LITERARY EVENTS IN PARIS

KIDS Fri 01 June | 19h00  When Paintbrush Meets Page With Heather Hartley (ages 12+) AT The American Library in Paris

 

 2 JUNE:  THE COLLECTIVE AT Shakespeare and Co

 

Sat-Sun  02-03  June | 10h00  Monthly Used Book Sale Weekend  AT The American Library in Paris1

 

KIDS 2 June 12h00 Meet Your Mind, The Fertile Factory (ages 9-12):  AT The American Library in Paris

KIDS Sat 02 June | 15h00  Saturday series (ages 6+): Greeks Bearing Gifts  AT The American Library in Paris

 Monday June 4, 7 pm Poetry reading at AUP.  Marilyn Hacker, Pam Leavy Ellen Hinsey, Jeffrey Green, Heather Hartley, Margo Berdeshevsky and David Barnes. The reading begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception and book-signing. AT American University in Paris

 

Monday, June 4th from 1:30 to 4pm in Paris  Novelist and O'Henry Prize winner Sheila Kohler will teach a master class for adults (University students and older).   30 euros per participant and 20 for students. Enrollment limited to 12 (4 places already reserved).  RSVP [email protected] 

 

Tuesday June 5, 2012, 7 PM   UPSTAIRS AT DUROC, the Paris literary journal invites you to a special reading featuring new work by three poets  MICHELLE NAKA PIERCE,   CHRIS PUSATERI and ALEXANDER DICKOW   At Berkeley Books of Paris 8 rue Casimir Delavigne, 75006 Paris, Metro Odeon

6 JUNE: ROBERT COOVER, BEN MARCUS, NICK FLYNN (&NOW) AT Shakespeare and Co

 

Wed 06 June | 19h30   Evenings with an Author: Cara Black  AT The American Library in Paris

7 JUNE: JENNIFER EGAN, A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD AT Shakespeare and Co

 

10th.June : Charles Borkhuis : "Drawing Blood" (stage play in English) AT Carr's Pub and Restaurant

 

 13 JUNE: DEBRA SPARK, LECTURE ON WRITING AT Shakespeare and Co

14 JUNE: BILINGUAL READINGS OF 'EROTIQUES' E.E. CUMMINGS AT Shakespeare and Co

14th June 2012 at 7pm James Barrl presents A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East,  AT WH Smith

 16 June 8 pm Party for Odile Helier at the Village Voice Bookshop. Please contact [email protected]

 June 14-17 Le Marché de la Poésie at Place Saint Sulpice.

15 JUNE: PHILOSOPHERS IN THE LIBRARY, DANIEL LEVIN BECKER AT Shakespeare and Co

 24th.June : Timothy Jay Smith : "Red Bandana" (screenplay in English) AT Carr's Pub and Restaurant

 

 June 24-27, 2012  Paris Writers Workshop (PWW)   This year’s writers-in-residence faculty are: Samantha Chang (Novel), Kate McMullan (Writing for Children/Young Adults), Mimi Schwartz (Creative Nonfiction), Kathleen Spivack (Poetry), Christopher Tilghman (Short Story).  ( Click here for more information on faculty and presenters.)  The workshop will be held  at the American University of Paris. Find out more at www.pariswritersworkshop.org or email [email protected]. The special discounted early bird rate is available until March 31. Workshops traditionally fill up quickly. 

28th June 2012 at 7pm Terry Cudbird  presents Walking the Hexagon. AT WH Smith

 

AUGUST- SEPT 

 August 1-14-12-  Nahid Rachlin's Fiction Workshop (open to memoir), in Assisi, Italy,  at Art Workshop Interational. Write, Revise, Polish, in Assisi, Italy, August 1-14, open for credit and non-credit. For more details about Nahid's course click here. For general info about Art Workshop Internationalclick here.  COST:  2 weeks: EARLY BIRD—$4,560 ($351 per day); after April 18, 2012—$4,785 ($368 per day) the price includes lodging, shared double room with bath in an air-conditioned four-star hotel, breakfast, four-course dinner, tuition, instruction and studio, lectures, and all gratuities, pick up from airport.

September 20-23,  2012 Festival America : every two years in Vincennes

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Paris Literary Prize - Deadline September 1, 2012

 International Fine Art Photography Award : Deadline August 1, 2012Incredible opportunity for fine photographers. Check out their website for details.

Do you know about all the new apps coming out for Paris? Paris Writers News would like to publish regular updates on these innovative new apps. Please contact us at [email protected]

 BONUS:

See Janet Skeslien Charles talking about Les Fiancées d'Odessa (in French) on France 2 ! http://programmes.france2.fr/dans-quelle-etagere/?page=accueil&id_article=3551

See slideshow from the BEST PARIS STORIES book event at the American Library in Paris https://picasaweb.google.com/115325042575010559840/BestParisStorisAmericanLibraryInParisMay292012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJzXlKKQguPibA&feat=directlink#slideshow/5748308204954229426

 

Notes from a Short Story Contest by Thirza Vallois, author of Around and About Paris

The Paris Short Story Contest attracted hundreds of submissions from all over the world, dealing with many different themes and styles.  It was the Editorial Committee's task to establish a shortlist of the best stories, from which the Judges selected the twelve finalists to be published in Best Paris Stories. 

 Most of the Editorial Committee members were themselves published writers with extensive experience in submitting manuscripts for books and articles. But now, the tables were turned, and they found themselves on the other end of the submissions process.

What did they learn from the process? 

I asked several Editorial Committee Members to share their thoughts with us.

First up:  Thirza Vallois,  a noted expert on Paris and the author of the acclaimed Around and About Paris series. In a wonderfully far-ranging reflection, she reveals how she connected with the stories through personal experience and a love of history.

Note: Not all stories mentioned here were included in Best Paris Stories as we received many too excellent submissions to publish all.

 

Thirza Vallois : Notes from a Short Story Contest

I have always been a fan of short stories.

I love their conciseness, the impeccable architecture of their structure, the fast pace of the plot, the energy that drives it towards the resolution and final twist. Short stories are to novels what drawings are to paintings. They go to the point economically, creating a self-contained world and an atomosphere without wasting words on frills. It takes a tremendous talent to humbly strive to emulate the likes of a Guy de Maupassant, Somerset Maugham, O'Henry, not to mention the superb Flannery O'connor.  Understandably,

I was skeptical about a short story contest with Paris for its theme or backdrop.

So many people come to Paris as aspiring writers. Would the stories I would read manage to avoid the clichéd twee depictions we read time and again in well-meaning blogs and internet forums? When I was asked to be on the editorial committee, I felt I ought to help out, although I can't say I was that keen to do so. I was actually overwhelmed when the pile of stories was handed me and wondered what I had let myself in for.

To my pleasant surprise, the first story on top of the pile was set against the unlikely backdrop of a France-Wales in the Six Nations rugby international

 (How uncanny that my own first contribution to the Financial Times, years ago, also started with the then Five Nations rugby international, France-England  in my case). Don't get me wrong. I am not at all into rugby, but I liked the fact that right from the start, the reader was placed in  ordinary, unglamorous Paris,  the Stade de France and Guy Moquet metro station on the route of line 13.

For the record, Stade de France is situated in one of the banlieues (suburbs) north of Paris where trouble erupted in 2005. (The stadium wasn't there yet in the early 1970s, when I was appointed to that same suburb as a young teacher. The France-England I had attended years earlier was still held in Colombes); line 13 is the city's most crowded, a notorious nightmare for commuters; Guy Moquet is situated in the working class part of the 17th arrondissement and is named after a 17-year-old resistant shot by the Nazis.

In short, it was a scene drawn from ordinary life in contemporary Paris, not unlike those depicted by painters and writers in the latter part of the 19th century.

Centred around a pick-pocketing incident on the crammed metro, it was all too familiar to me, having myself travelled many a time on public transportation on match days and, likewise, having been the victim of pickpockets a good number of times, including on the metro.

 I even managed the feat of having my wallet removed from my handbag during my own book signing at Brentano's, the American Bookshop of Paris!

This very ordinary and unfortunate mishap, to which so many of us fall victims, is already recorded in medieval verse and engravings, and by René Clair's, in 1930, in his delightful movie Sous les toîts de Paris. To me, from the standpoint of the longtime Parisian resident and reader, it was a pleasure to  identify with the protagonist.

To me, from the standpoint of the longtime observer of Paris, it was exciting to see affirmed that some traditions die hard and persist through the ages, including such petty felony as pickpocketing.  

As I moved on to the next story and beyond,  it became altogether heartwarming to see this applied to literary  traditions as well. For hundreds years, the city's writers made a point of exploring its different worlds and thus contribute to its mosaic of diversity.

Literary testimonies are no less important for the understanding of Paris than historical documents.

I have always turned to them as part of my research. History gives us the bird's eye view and the facts; writers give us the nooks and crannies and the pulse. In their imaginative variety of topics, the authors of the contest I was given to read sustained that tradition to my delight, even in the few cases when the story fell flat.

I liked the stories that explored the dark side of Paris.

One in particular, set in a down-at-heel neighbourhood, inevitably took place during the night, when danger lurks invisible.  

Victor Hugo, Balzac, Restif de la Bretonne, André Breton, Aristide Bruant...  all left memorable pages of the literature of the night.  Henry Miller did much the same,  as did subsequent directors of films noirs, a genre the French excel in. And now, some authors of the contest were doing the same. For the time of a story, I could experience vicariously a slice of Paris I know a lot about but  avoid, certainly so in the middle of the night.  Weaving bits of information about the city into the plot, as it unwound, the author shed light onto dark recesses most of us prefer to ignore, as we go about our daily lives, except on dramatic or tragic occasions, when the media throw them in our faces.  

I liked the subtle way the bobos were brought into the story, these bourgeois bohemians of contemporary Paris who often live alongside the migrant and the shiftless; though only up to a point, when it comes down to it. When I was young one spoke of communistes de salon, a generation later of gauche caviar. The bohemians of the 19th century also lived in seedy neighbourhoods, notably by the Louvre, an enclave long erased and replaced by the Carrousel esplanade, of which Balzac left a striking depiction.

Forget about Paris — I surprised myself enjoying reading some of the stories for their own sake!

Independently of Paris!  

At the time the selection was very difficult, but now with hindsight, and the beneficial distance afforded by time, one story sticks out. it was superbly written.

I savoured  it the way one would a truly fine dish. The author was a born writer and had writing in her blood. The phrases just flowed with the story energetically and fluidly, from one to the next. It was so engaging and came across as so effortless, which of course, for me is the hand of an artist. Occasionally, she managed to pack an entire, huge emotion into one crisp, sketchy phrase. I say "she" because it must have been written by a woman (Incidentally, it was interesting to notice that although I didn't know the identity of the authors, I believe I could always detect their gender — no offence meant!). In this instance, the feminine touch was expressed in the style, in the subtle observation of a facial expression or of a mood, it was all beautifully wrought and beautifully streamlined from the very beginning to the end. It was also full of fun and a had fun ending.  I, the reader, was just invited to sit back, glide along and enjoy.

At the end of the day, the experience has been very positive.

It was heartwarming see a lot of talent and keenness around, a lot of good writing too. But it was also a confirmation that there is a long way between talent and great talent, alas, which is not a reason to throw up the sponge. I think that everyone who has that drive in him or her should give it a try, but with eyes wide open and realistically. We are not all going to become a Colette, a Virginia Woolf or a Proust, but it doesn't matter. And if I can make one critical comment, to me the few weakest stories were those written by authors too wrapped up in their own world. They came across as too self-indulgent to the detriment of the actual plot. It doesn't work for the short story genre.

Thank you for allowing me to be part of this venture.

 

Thirza Vallois is an expert on all things Parisian and lectures worldwide on Paris and France. She has lived in Paris  most of her life and holds several post-graduate degrees from the Sorbonne, including the most prestigious agrégation. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed Around and About Paris series, Romantic Paris Aveyron, and A Bridge to French Arcadia, as well as the Paris entry of the  Encarta Encyclopaedia. Thirza Vallois has appeared on PBS, BBC, the Travel Channel, the French Cultural Channel, Discovery and CNN, has spoken on radio in the UK, the US and France, and has worked as a consultant for the BBC. She contributes stories regularly to the international press.  Her award-winning "Three Perfect Days in Paris "story was published in United Airlines' Hemispheres and aired on their international flights. 

Discover Best Paris Stories free today on Kindle & ipad w kindle app

Download Best Paris Stories anthology for free May 26,  Kindle USA, Kindle France, Kindle UK , Italy, Germany, & Spain. Readers in Japan, China, India, Australia, and elsewhere, please go to Amazon.com.

Julia Mary Lichtblau, author of "Désolée, Monsieur", talks with Mary Duncan, author of Henry Miller is Under My Bed

Mary Duncan talks with Julia Mary Lichtblau,

a Paris Writers News interview

 

In this far ranging dialogue, writers Mary Duncan and Julia Mary Lichtblau talk about the French Holocaust, the role of family history and research, the move from reporting to fiction, and the importance of community for writers. Julia Mary Lichtblau's short story, "Désolée, Monsieur", won the Best Paris Stories  Editorial Committee Prize.

Mary Duncan: Many people are not aware of the Vel d'Hiver and this part of World War II history. How did you learn about the French Holocaust and what prompted you to make it a focus of your short story?

Julia Mary Lichtblau:  My interest in the French role in the Holocaust and the fate of French Jews under Vichy stems from  family lore, as well as my own interest in French history. The Lichtblau family (my father’s) was Jewish from Vienna, one of those bourgeois, assimilated families you read about. They managed to get out in 1938, eventually making their way to New York. My father came through London. My uncle came through France, staying with the Paris branch of the family, who lived on the Boulevard Flandrin. I grew up hearing all sorts of alluring, fragmentary stories about my uncle’s passage through France and la famille Lichtblau. The head of the family Lucien had been a WWI veteran, who lost his leg at Verdun. A son, Michel, was either insane or mentally disabled and in an asylum.  His daughter supposedly married a Comte de Peraldi. The last contacts between the branches of the family were in the 1960s, however.

When I was living in Paris in the 1990s, I got a call from a genealogist from a cabinet généalogique seeking the heirs of someone named Régina Lichtblau, a name I’d never heard. I ended up having a number of conversations with this man and telling him what I knew about the family. Eventually, he revealed that the défunt was not Régina, but Michel, and the inheritance in question was a number of apartments on the quai Henri IV and elsewhere. I then understood that he represented other branches of the extended family making sure that there was no one of comparable consanguinity to challenge their claim. My father and uncle decided not to get embroiled in a court case, but this incident gave me a real pang, a sense of heritage lost. Not that I personally felt entitled to these apartments, but it gave a concreteness to the losses –of property, status, place, belonging, and of course, people--that my family had experienced in Vienna before I was born.  

 

In your story, you stated that France had sealed all records regarding confiscation or loss of property during World War II for 100 years. Have those who lost property had much recourse?

I have not researched the jurisprudence on restitution in detail, but I know there have been many challenges in French courts over la spoliation des Juifs, that this subject has come up at high levels of government in recent years, and that it remains a controversial subject. These cases become more difficult to resolve as the people most directly concerned die.

Paul Groenberg is a conflicted character who seems to lack direction. In some ways he's not very sympathetic. When you were developing this protagonist, what were you trying to convey or illustrate?

Paul is caught between two countries, two cultures. He’s American, but he has inherited a love of France, the French language, and a nostalgia for a deeply alluring way of life lost in the war. He is suffering for his father, his father’s lost prestige, and unfulfilled musical career, as well. He also feels that he never measured up to his father or to the beau idéal of the Groenberg family’s pre-war life. He thinks getting the apartment back will avenge his father, help him resolve his identity issues, and assuage his unrequited love for France. His marriage to a very unsentimental Frenchwoman, far from soothing his pain, adds to his inner conflict about his identity.   

Twice you quoted Joachim du Bellay's poem, "Happy is he who, like Ulysses, makes a great journey..." How did this poem come to be a part of your short story?

I went to French schools in Abidjan, where my father was serving as an American foreign service officer, in the 1960s. This was one of the poems I had to memorize. Like Maurice—and probably everyone who goes through the French system—I never forgot it (well, the first stanza, anyway). The notion of wandering and coming home seemed to fit the story.

How is the digital age and the rapid changes in the publishing industry affecting your writing? Have you made any changes in how you approach selling or marketing your work?

I, of course, research publications, contest opportunities, to submit online, communicate by email etc. The Internet, not to mention, social media, test discipline ferociously. We’re all changed in countless ways, whether we like it or not. I’m trying to build a publication  record the old-fashioned way—writing short stories, working on a novel, trying to get shorter fiction and non-fiction pieces published along the way.

 As a journalist, I lived through the transition to the Internet and saw how readily (foolishly) the news business gave away its products for free. The digital age has exposed the difficulty of putting a value/price on creative work. Once the means of production and distribution became frictionless (or semi-frictionless), no one wanted to pay for creative work. I’m hoping by the time my novel gets published, book publishers will have figured out a more viable economic model, one that enables them to stay in business and writers to make something off their work.   

For fifteen years, you were a journalist for Dow Jones and Business Week in New York and Paris. Do you still write for other publications in addition to your fiction writing? How do you bridge writing between different genres?

I have written some short essays. Other than that, I periodically do financial writing, but I have not gone back to financial journalism since leaving BusinessWeek in 2003 to focus on my kids. The news business used to be an incredibly fun way to make a reasonable living. There was a wide-eyed kid side to it. I don’t get the feeling that’s the case any more. I have ideas for reported stories all the time, but I know what it’s like to be a freelance journalist. An enormous amount of (unpaid) work goes into preliminary research for a pitch. I’d rather put that energy into my fiction at this point.        

 

You have won other prizes for your short stories. Why have you chosen the short story form instead of writing novels?

I’m also working on a novel, actually. But like most fiction writers, I’ve started out writing short stories. They are so difficult to get right, especially if the background is complex. The present in a short story has to be, well--present. It's a humbling challenge. But not every good story wants to be a novel.   

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I can’t say I had an epiphany. I came to NY in 1982 to do my MFA in dance at NYU. I took a class in dance criticism with Deborah Jowitt, the Village Voice dance critic. From the first class, she encouraged my writing. I ended up leaving dance at the end of that year and became a journalist, which I loved and did for 15 years. But the part of me that loves language and voice and character was always frustrated by the pressures of daily or weekly news.

Where do you live and write? What is essential for you to be productive?

I live in Brooklyn, NY, one of the most vibrant writing communities in the U.S. and maybe anywhere. I need a place out of my house to work and a friend or friends I can share work with.

Are you involved with the writing community and other writers?

I have several writing nuclei. Bennington College, of course, where I got my MFA. I have a writing group made up of classmates in New York. I met Alice Mattison,a Bennington professor, who ultimately encouraged me to go there, at the Paris Writers Workshop. I also took wonderful workshops at Humber College in Toronto and have remained in touch with Joseph Kertes, a distinguished writer, and dean of Creative Arts there. And of course, I have writing friends in Brooklyn.        

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

It’s a non-linear process, which is hard on us linear types. Find a writing friend whose forte is complementary to yours.  

 

---

Julia Mary Lichtblau's short story "Désolée, Monsieur" was awarded the Editorial Committee Prize in the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest. "Désolée, Monsieur" will be published in the Best Paris Storiesanthology this month, and as a Kindle singles on Amazon.   

A former journalist for Dow Jones and BusinessWeek in New York and Paris Julia's writing has appeared in numerous literary reviews including  Ploughshares blog,  Narrative,  The Common Online,  Pindelbox, and  Tertulia. She has an MFA in fiction from Bennington College and  is currently working on a short-story collection, Foreign Service, and a novel, Sweet Melissa. 

 

 

Mary Duncan, university professor, is the author of Henry Miller is Under My Bed.  She owns an archive of original Henry Miller materials and is on the Advisory Board of the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. An early patron of the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival in Paris and the founder of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Moscow, she created the Paris Writers Group in 2008.  She is currently writing a book about a street in Paris where several French literary figures lived and worked. Her research uncovered two Jewish boys who lived on the same street and were swept up in the Vel d'Hiv.  One survived and one perished. 

 

 

Sexual harassement not a crime in France

 

 

France's highest court struck down its anti-sexual harassement law at the request of Gérard Ducray, former high government offical (Sécretaire d'Etat) and convicted sexual harasser.

It did this because, unlike all other French laws, the sexual harassment law was deemed "trop flou", that is "too fuzzy", not clear enough.

May 4, 2012 the Conseil Constitutional withdrew article 222-33 from  the French penal code.  One of the members of this august council, Jacques Barrot, recused himself since he had presided over Mr. Ducray's trial for sexual harassment (in which, by the way, Ducray was found guilty).

As a result, in the year of DSK, victims of sexual harassment in France find themselves with no legal recourse whatsoever.

see: http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2012/05/09/01016-20120509ARTFIG00700-harcelement-une-plaignante-deboutee-craque-au-tribunal.php 

 

 

Harriet Alida Lye, editor of Her Royal Majesty, on launching a literary magazine in seven cities, simultaneously

 

Harriet Alida Lye, editor of Her Royal Majesty

Her Royal Majesty will launch Issue 12, the Exotic, in Paris on May 11.  We talk with founder and editor, Harriet Alida Lye, an energetic and innovative force for literature in France - and beyond.

 Issue 12 can be purchased online or, in Paris, at either Shakespeare & Company or Galerie Yvon Lambert. A full list of international locations is on HRM website.

Laurel Zuckerman: How did Her Royal Majesty start?

Harriet Alida Lye: The first issue was anonymous and was distributed for free in bookshops and libraries, coffee shops and universities. My roommates and friends and I folded and stapled the pages – all 500 copies – ourselves because it was cheaper. The magazine quickly grew from a for-and by-locals publication to something larger,more encompassing. We started publishing online and accepting submissions from all over the world. This (2009, issue 6) is when I moved back to Paris.

 

Issue 12 is very special for several reasons. Can you tell us about it?

 For the launch of Her Royal Majesty on May 11, you’ve got your choice between seven parties  held simultaneously in Paris, London, Berlin, New York, Montréal, Halifax and Toronto. (The Paris party will be at 59 rue de Rivoli from 6-11 pm.) Also, we’re publishing the first story ever written by Alice Munro, as well as a collection of excellent literature and visual art curated around the theme of “The Exotic.”

 

Alice Munro! How did you get the rights?

I love Alice Munro and got in touch with her agents and publishers. We communicated back and forth for months – I had lawyers and literary editors help me draw up contracts – but, finally, they just said no.

A while later, after having more or less given up, I was talking to a friend about it and he suggested I try contacting the University of Western Ontario directly. Since the story was published there first, he informed me that they hold the rights to it – not Alice Munro, not her agent, not her publisher. The University staff gave me the permission required to publish the story and I wrote Alice Munro a letter asking for her blessing.

 

Launch parties in seven different cities - that can’t be easy. What’s the biggest challenge to orchestrating this international mega-launch?

 Time!

And connections. It’s necessary to know lots of people and trust them to take the reins.

I rallied friends, acquaintances, and long-time readers of the magazine (some of whom I have never met) to help me with the global launch party. Ideally, once each person is committed to organizing the party, they handle everything. I’m amazed, really, at how well it’s going so far.

 

Why so many parties?

It’s an international magazine, and parties help spread the word. They bring people together and make events more of a “happening” than the publication of a journal.

Also, people are more willing to spend money on drinks and entertainment than on books and magazines—and once they’ve had a drink and been enjoying themselves, they’ll buy a copy of the magazine.

 

What’s your publication process?

Four editorial advisors read through all the submissions and make notes and vote on the final selection; a poetry editor reaches out to more established poets to solicit new work; and I solicit fiction and art from writers and artists I know or admire. Once the submissions have been refined to what we collectively like (I tally the votes), the Paris team makes the final selection, according to how the works relate to the theme and each other. Then I work with the designer to put things into an order that works, considering rhythm and flow of the overall publication.

 What are your goals for Her Royal Majesty?

I would like to get to the point where sponsorships and sales give us the means to pay the team and contributors. I’d like us to start representing the artists whose work we publish and sell their art through the website. We want to continue to organize global events for each issue and develop the theme of publishing the earliest work by now-established artists. I think it’s important to create community and encourage young, talented writers and artists.

 

You're only 25.  How did you manage to get so much experience in so many different professions -- photography, modeling, health, children's charities, publishing... -- so fast?

One of the wonderful things about being in a creative community is that you meet lots of people doing wonderful things. The creative life is not a straightforward one, and being freelance means you have to say "yes" to all opportunities that are presented. As you get more experience, you can start to refine and curate a schedule in a more selective way. Despite all that, I love to be able to do lots of things at once - I get restless, and doing lots also feels like you're never really "working" in the way one imagines, going to one place all day every day. 

 

What kind of skills are involved in publishing a literary magazine these days?   Is the future of publishing the domain of the young? 

The main skill required is just the desire to make something and get it done. It's not a skill so much, I guess, but without it, nothing will happen. That need to connect is incredibly important too, and in this sense, many young people do excel in - and understand - that domain. With a 2.0* existence, "work" is less straightforward and you need to be connecting all the time. I think that the world of publishing is not dissimilar to all other worlds: it is there for the young, the hungry, the curious. And we're all still learning. 

Is Her Royal Majesty accepting submissions? Or interns?

We are not yet accepting submissions for our next issue but submissions will be open in a few weeks. I have four interns lined up for the summer but we will be accepting new people in the fall. 

 

Harriet Alida Lye is a Canadian writer and editor living in Paris. 

Paris launch of Her Royal Majesty: May 11 from 6 -11 pm at 59 rue Rivoli with Le Son du Metro.

 ---

* 2.0 refers to using web techologies for collaboration and sharing (see article). Young people appear to know what this means.

Literary events, new books, workshops in Paris in May

This month news from Her Royal Majesty, Lauren Elkin, Alice Kaplan, Alan Cowell, Lisa Burkitt, Thirza Vallois, Deborah Levy, Jane M. Handel, Anne Korkeakivi, Judith Rock, Ashley Perez, Corneliu  Mitrache, David Herlihy, Harriet Lye, Cydette de Groot, Best Paris Stories, and the Paris Writers Workshop...and so much more that this update will be gradual and on-going...

 

Sad news just in: Village Voice to close. See American Library Blog for details. Wake June 16.  

 The Red Wheelbarrow, owned by Penelope Fletcher, is also for sale.

Paris is losing two excellent English language bookshops that have played a central role in literary life for decades.  

 

New Books

  The Memory of Scent: Art and Murder in 19th Century Paris by Lisa Burkitt. We are especially delighted to announce Lisa's new book as her story "A Pinch of Tarragon" was selected for inclusion in Best Paris Stories! Congratulations Lisa! (see interview with Lisa here)

 

 

 

 

 Best Paris Stories,  anthology of the winning stories from the Paris Short Story Contest, featuring authors Jeannine Alter, Bob Levy, Lisa Burkitt, Nafkote Tamirat, Marie Houzelle, Jo Nguyen, Julia Mary Lichtblau, Mary Byrne, Marie Houzelle, Jane M. Handel, and Jim Archibald. 

By turns humorous, bittersweet, historical or surreal, each of these carefully selected stories invites us to explore a different facet of Paris.

Paris Writers News, which initiated the Contest, will be featuring articles and interviews with select authors, Editorial Committee Members and Judges.

Several stories, extremely different in tone and style, will be issued as Amazon Kindle Singles! 

Book launch with author discussion at The American Library in Paris, May 29th!

NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE

 

Une Année à Venise debut novel (in French) by Lauren Elkin. Lauren's  essays on books and culture have appeared in The Guardian,  Bookforum, BOMB, The White Review, n+1 (forthcoming, Issue 14), Five Dials, The Quarterly Conversation, The Millions, and The Daily Beast. 

 

Her Royal Majesty, The Exotic, Issue 12 (VERY COOL LAUNCH MAY 11 SEE BELOW!)

 

"The Way You Looked at Me" by Jane M. Handel, a Kindle short story from Best Paris Stories.

Ebook technologies give us the possibility to download and read short stories individually in a process pioneered by The Atlantic Monthly (with acclaimed author and Best Paris Stories judge Anne Korkeakivi).

Jane's amusing story, about an attractive woman beset by amorous Frenchmen in Paris, is the first in a series of four Kindle singles to be released, all competely different.

Congratulations, Jane! (see interview here)

 

 NEWS

Clydette De Groot was named Woman of the Year for her work with the FAWCO and Tabitha Foundations on behalf of the American Women's Group of Paris for building 120 safe water wells in Cambodia which allows over 350 families to create sustainable livelihoods! Most of us know Clydette for her literary work. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Bravo!

Cornelui Mitrache's play, En attendant Godex, to be staged at the Festival d'Avignon at Theatre d'Esperluette, a centrally located theater near Place des Carmes!  Before Avignon, this humorous and well-reviewed play will be playing at Theatre de Belleville: June 23rd at 3 pm, June 24, 25 and 26 at 9 pm. 

Janet Skeslien Charles, of Moonlight in Odessa fame, is running a series of interviews, entitled Spotlight on Best Paris Stories (with Lisa Burkitt, Bob Levy  and Jane M. Handel )

 

EVENTS:

(for more information see links on right)

Wed 02 May 2012 19h30 Senior correspondent for The New York Times, Alan Cowell presents his novel The Paris Correspondent. AT The American Library in Paris

Tue 03 April 2012 - Sun 13 May 2012 Art on View: You are "how" you read AT The American Library in Paris 

 

Thursday, May 3^rd at 7pm 

Franco La Cecla: Against Architecture AT Village Voice

 

Fri 04 May 2012 19h00 - 21h00 A writing workshop with author Ashley Perez (ages 12+) Registration is required for this activity as space is limited. To reserve a spot, email the youth librarian: [email protected] or call the Library at    01 53 59 12 60 . Participation is free for library members and 10€ per session for non-members.  AT The American Library in Paris

 

 

 

 Monday, May 7, 7pm Deborah Levy who will read from her acclaimed novel Swimming Home, in which a group of beautiful, flawed tourists in the French Riviera come loose at the seams AT Shakespeare and Co

  

Monday, 7 May 2012, 10:00 The Adventures of Arabic Abroad: Literary Texts in European Translation
 There has been growing interest in recent years in Arabic literature in English and French translation, as well as the ways in which classical and modern works of Arabic literature have crossed linguistic and cultural boundaries. The Department of Comparative Literature and English and the Masters in Cultural Translation present a breakfast seminar with translator Richard Jacquemond for a discussion of these issues at 10:00 in G31 on Monday, 7 May. Richard Jacquemond is professor of Modern Arabic Language and Literature at the Université d’Aix-Marseille, where he is chair of the Department of Oriental Studies. He has translated many works of modern Arabic literature into French and is the author of works on Arabic literature and translation in English, French and Arabic. AT  AUP Room G31, 147 rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris.  For more information email [email protected]  

 

Wed 09 May 2012 19h30 Judith Rock presents The Charles du Luc Historical Mystery series. AT The American Library in Paris

Weds, May 9, 4:00 pm Outside under the tree (or upstairs in the library if it’s raining), listen to student presentations on the metaphysical poets led by their professor Katy Masuga. AT Shakespeare and Co

 

Thursday, May 10^th at 7pm  Corinne Alexandre-Garner, Georges Hoffman, Marc Parent and Frédéric Jacques Temple will discuss the life and work of Lawrence Durrell AT Village Voice

Thursday 10th May at 7pm Mary McAuliffe will present and sign her book'Clash of Crowns: William the Conqueror, Richard Lionheart, and Eleanor of Aquitaine - A Story of Bloodshed, Betrayal, and Revenge ' AT WH Smith

 Thursday May 10 at 7 pm Upstairs at Duroc reading with poets STEVE DALACHINSKY, YUKO OTOMO and ALICIA KHOO  At BERKELEY BOOKS OF PARIS, 8 Rue Casimir Delavigne,

75006 Paris, Metro Odéon

 

May 11, 2012 6:00 pm - May 11, 2012 11:00 pm  Her Royal Majesty Launch Party   -  Her Royal Majesty, international literary and arts journal, is launching its 12th issue on May 11, 2012. Each issue is curated around a particular theme and this one is "The Exotic." Appearing in no. 12 is the first short story ever written byAlice Munro - "the best fiction writer now working in North America" (Jonathan Franzen). It was published in her university journal in 1950 and is otherwise inaccessible.  AT PARIS: 59 Rivoli with Le Son du Metro  Pre-order your hand-numbered copy of issue 12 at www.heroyalmajesty.ca 

 

May 13 7:30 pm : Ghyslain Martin, Moving Parts play reading "Cloaca Maxima" (pièce en français) at CARRS 

 

Monday, May 14, 7 pm  Marathon reading of poets from Brooklyn-based indie  Ugly Duckling Presse, 'a publishing collective specializing in experimental poetry and new editions of forgotten textual artists, produces lovely, cheeky books by authors you’ve probably never heard of but your grandchildren will likely read in college.' – New York Times. Afterwards stay for music with punk, electronic Paris-based Ava's Verden http://www.myspace.com/avasverden. AT Shakespeare and Co

 

Wed 16 May 2012 19h30 - Alice Kaplan discusses her book, Dreaming in French, tracing the stories of three women studying abroad in Paris: Jacqueline Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis. She follows how each of these women found their way to the city, what they encountered there, and how their year-abroad experiences influenced the rest of their lives. AT American Library in Paris

 Tue 22 May 2012 19h30 - : David Herlihy, author of The Lost Cyclist and Bicycle: The History,  explores the invention of the bicycle, its evolution through history, and how it has shaped our world. AT The American Library in Paris

 

Sunday May 27  7:30 pm: Alvin Eng, Moving Parts play reading "Three Trees" (stage play in English) at CARRS

 

Tue 29 May 2012 19h30  Best Paris Stories book launch at the American Library in Paris. Meet talented authors including Lisa Burkitt, Nafikote Tamirat, Marie Houzelle, Jim Archibald, Jane Verwijs, Bob Levy, Jo Nguyen, and Editorial Committee Prize winner Julia Lichtblau. AT The American Library in Paris

 

29 May 19h30: Ivy Writers Paris breaks in a new venue (Café DELAVILLE) with a bilingual reading by ANNE KAWALA, ESTHER SALMONA and HEATHER HARTLEY. AT: CAFE DELAVILLE, 34, bd Bonne Nouvelle, Paris, 75010 http://www.delavillecafe.com/index.php Metro Bonne Nouvelle (ou,10 min à pied, Strasbourg St Denis) Pour plus d'infos, voir: http://ivywritersparis.blogspot.fr  for our FACEBOOK group, join us at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/101898279922603/ and for the FB event invite for this evening, respond YES at: http://www.facebook.com/events/335211653211012/

 

Thursday 31st May at 7pm Anne Korkeakivi will present and sign her novel 'An Unexpected Guest.' AT WH Smith (see our interview with Anne here)

 Clare Moorhouse, the American wife of a high-ranking diplomat in Paris, is arranging an official dinner crucial to her husband's career. As she shops for fresh stalks of asparagus and works out the menu and seating arrangements, her day is complicated by the unexpected arrival of her son and a random encounter with a Turkish man, whom she discovers is a suspected terrorist. More unnerving is a recurring face in the crowd, one that belonged to another, darker era of her life. One she never expected to see again. But it can't be him--he's been dead for 20 years.... Critical acclaim, selection by major publications - Anne Korkeakivi returns to Paris for this exceptional event at WH Smith. RSVP please at: http://www.whsmith.fr/evenementsE.htm

 

 

 Workshops

 May 3-6 Write your own version of "A Moveable Feast" while staying at a Loire Valley chateau. Join U.S. book critic and travel writer Margo Hammond for a travel memoir workshop May 3-6 that includes writing sessions and publishing tips. Cost of 950 euros covers three nights at the chateau, two group lunches, a group dinner and morning classes held in the chateau's orangerie. Details:historicrentals.com/seminars.

 

 June 24-27, 2012  Paris Writers Workshop (PWW)   This year’s writers-in-residence faculty are: Samantha Chang (Novel), Kate McMullan (Writing for Children/Young Adults), Mimi Schwartz (Creative Nonfiction), Kathleen Spivack (Poetry), Christopher Tilghman (Short Story).  ( Click here for more information on faculty and presenters.)  The workshop will be held  at the American University of Paris. Find out more at www.pariswritersworkshop.org or email [email protected]. The special discounted early bird rate is available until March 31. Workshops traditionally fill up quickly. 

 

 August 1-14-12-  Nahid Rachlin's Fiction Workshop (open to memoir), in Assisi, Italy,  at Art Workshop Interational. Write, Revise, Polish, in Assisi, Italy, August 1-14, open for credit and non-credit. For more details about Nahid's course click here. For general info about Art Workshop Internationalclick here.  COST:  2 weeks: EARLY BIRD—$4,560 ($351 per day); after April 18, 2012—$4,785 ($368 per day) the price includes lodging, shared double room with bath in an air-conditioned four-star hotel, breakfast, four-course dinner, tuition, instruction and studio, lectures, and all gratuities, pick up from airport.

September 20-23,  2012 Festival America : every two years in Vincennes

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

 

Paris Literary Prize - Deadline September 1, 2012

 

International Fine Art Photography Award : Deadline August 1, 2012 Incredible opportunity for fine photographers. Check out their website for details.

 

Thumbnail Magazine: Deadline June 1, 2012 for more info, see website 

 

Shocked to learn that Nutella is not health food

 

On a recent visit to the USA, I frantically stuffed my suitcase with French delicacies in the hope of consoling Paris-raised offspring struggling to adapt to the horrors of American cuisine. 

Confit de canard, foie gras, green lentils of Puy, French wine, fresh macaroons, fancy boxed chocolate, real Dijon mustard and, as a wink at the fleeting joys childhood, that ultimate delight : Nutella.

But, oh, while the rest of my offerings were greeted with the kind of enthusiasm Moses must have reserved for bread and water after a harsh forty days--my Nutella was scoffed at! 

Turns out it's not considered exotic at all in the USA! You can buy it at your local supermarket!

Not only that but it's so American that it just got sued!

Why would anyone sue the makers of Nutella?

Because, as a stunned American mother discovered, it's not really a health food.

Athena Hohenberg, the mother of a preschooler in San Diego, California, launched the class action lawsuit early last year, saying that the sweet spread kids adore had been pitched as something "healthier than it actually is."

She was "shocked to learn that Nutella was in fact, not 'healthy, nutritious' food, but instead was the next best thing to a candy bar, and that Nutella contains dangerous level of saturated fat," her lawsuit said.

As a result, the makers of Nutella are setting aside $3 million to settle claims from injured families, not to exceed $20 per claimant.

In a country where industrial food lobbies managed to get pizza declared a vegetable and pink slime included in school lunches, this defeat comes as a terrible shock. What's next? Soda? Energy drinks? Fried butter? (see How Washington Went Soft on Childhood Obesity)  In your dreams!

No, Nutella is, after all, foreign, and clearly under-staffed in the lobby muscle department.

Still, I thought, if French women have a reputation for not getting fat, what about their kids? French kids eat Nutella with a delight bordering on frenzy. How are they doing?

And then I learned the awful truth.

Nutella is not French!

It's Italian! Ferrero created it!

Italian, as in pasta, pizza (a vegetable) and XXL opera singers!

And this, for me, was the biggest shock of all...