Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Everyone in France lives next to a nuclear reactor because France is small

Unlike previous nuclear disasters, Fukushima is contaminating a high density population center of 127 million (337 inhabitants per km2)

Three Mile Island occurred in the vast United States of America (33 inhabitants per m2). Chernobyl hit the former Soviet Union, a sprawling empire so sparsely populated (13 inhabitants per km2) that the accident site could literally be spun off into independent countries, Ukraine and Byelorussia.

Paris Writers News April 2011 Update! (April 1-15)

This month (April 1-15), news from Jennifer Butler, The Second Sex, Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, Alan Riding, Jamie Cat Callan, Constance Borde, Jeffrey Greene, Paula McLain, Marie de Hennezel, Gabriel Josipovici, Luc Simonnet, Ros and Chloe Schwartz, Wendy Goldman Rohm, Word for Word, Julian Field, the Paris Alumnae Network, Bibliothèque Nationale François Mitterand, Geeta Kothari, Heather Stimmler Hall, and Wordmeadow

JENNIFER BUTLER on content, passion and design

Authors on Authors

« I wrote 1000 postcards to our daughter, Georgina, from 1989 to 1999.

It was a kind of mothering from a distance.» 

This week Paris Writers News talks with Jennifer Butler, author of the extraordinary James, Jennifer Georgina, which tells the story of a family's survival in a battle against alcoholism.

In collaboration with the acclaimed designer Irma Boom, Jennifer has created a searingly personal memoir so remarkable in design and content that it will be exhibited at the MOMA and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Second Sex: a talk with Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany Chevallier

Authors on Authors

This week, Laurel Zuckerman talks with two remarkable women, Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany Chevallier, who recently completed the new and critically accaimed translation of Simone de Beauvoir's landmark work: The Second Sex.

Photo by Alison Harris

Professors, political activists, writers and intellectuals in the best sense of the term, Connie and Sheila have worked together on an astonishing variety of projects, setting a standard for what Americans in Paris can accomplish thanks to hard work, talent and friendship.

David Lebovitz talks about writing, food and living the sweet life in Paris

Authors on Authors

This week, we talk with professional chef, author and Paris food blogger, David Lebovitz.

David Lebovitz worked for 13 years at Alice Water's legendary Chez Panisse restaurant and was named one of the Top Five Pastry Chefs in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle. His writing has been featured in Bon Appétit, Chocolatier, Cooking Light, Food+Wine, Cook’s Illustrated, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The New York Times, People, Saveur, Sunset, and USA Today. 

Peter Conradi on writing The King's Speech with Mark Logue

Authors on Authors

Peter Conradi, journalist for The Sunday Times and veteran non-fiction writer, co-wrote the book The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy with Mark Logue, the grandson of Lionel Logue, speech therapist to King George VI who ascended to the throne after his brother abdicated on the eve of World War II.

Interview by Laurel Zuckerman for Paris Writers News

Barry Kirwan, author of The Eden Paradox, on science fiction and Men with Pens

 Authors on Authors

 

 

 

Laurel Zuckerman talks with Barry Kirwan about Eden, science fiction and the craft of writing.

 

 

 

 

Barry Kirwan’s The Eden Paradox is the first novel in the gripping Eden science fiction trilogy.  When he is not writing, Barry earns his keep as an air traffic safety expert. His nonfiction books include A Guide to Task Analysis (Taylor and Francis), A Practical Guide to Human Reliability Assessment (Taylor and Francis), Changing Regulation (Elsevier), and  Human Factors in Air Traffic Management (Ashgate). 

Interview with Berna Huebner on art, Alzheimer's and generosity of Olivia De Havilland who narrated I Remember Better When I Paint

 

The American Library in Paris will screen the remarkable documentary I Remember Better When I Paint on March 22 at 19h30 in the presence of Olivia De Havilland. In honor of this exceptional event, Paris Writers News is pleased to repost the interview the the film's writer and co-producer, Berna Huebner.

Paris Writers News authors on authors

  

Laurel Zuckerman talks with  Berna Huebner about IREMEMBER BETTER WHEN I PAINT, which documents how art helped her mother in the struggle to live with Alzheimer's.

        

 

LZ : Berna Huebner, millions of families struggle every day to care for loved ones stricken with Alzheimer's. Seeing your beautiful documentary, “I remember better when I paint” I am struck not only by the remarkable effort you made to help your mother by reintroducing art into her life, but by the incredible achievement of turning this personal struggle into a film which Alzheimer’s associations all over the world have embraced.  At what point did you know that you would write and produce a film?  How did this come about?

Paris Writers News March 2011 Update !

This month, news from the Paris Short Story Contest, the Paris Literary Prize, the Salon du Livre, Wendell Steavenson, Cara Black, Stephane Hessel, David Lebovitz, Jennifer Butler, Toby Brothers, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, Gwyneth Hughes, Liz Young, Barry Kirwan, Diane Johnson, Berna Huebner, Stuart Dischell, Heather Hartley, Jeffrey Greene, KATHLEEN SPIVACK, Helen Constantine, Her Royal Majesty Jean LeMore the Paris Alumnae Network, Constance Borde, Sheila Malovany Chevalier, Cathy Altman Nocquet, Elizabeth Bard, Alain Gresh, Heather Stimmler Halls, Janice Barnett, Fred Coleman, Mary Jo Salter, the Bilingual Acting Workshop, HUGUES DE MONTALEMBERT, Chris Newens, Peter Brown, Jess Granatt, Georgina Emerson, Kirsten Forster, Beth Peacock Jervis, Alberto Rigettini, Troy Yorke, and exciting events with visting authors Peter Carey, MAXINE HONG KINGSTON, Tracey Jackson, Princess Kenize Mourad, Jonathan Coe, Peter Conradi, Laura Furman, ROBERT BEROLD & MANDLA LANGA, MARGO BERDESHEVSKY, PAULA BOHINCE, DYLAN HARRIS, SARAH RIGGS and more! 

Elizabeth Bard author of Lunch in Paris on food, love and writing a second book

Authors interview Authors:

 
This week, Laurel Zuckerman talks with Elizabeth Bard, the author of NYT's bestseller Lunch in Paris: a Love Story with Recipes. Elizabeth recently moved from Paris to Provence where she is juggling work on a second book with the delights of young motherhood.