This November, news from Paris writers Peter Gumbel, Chantal Bizzini, Tom Parker, Samantha Chang, David Siefkin, David Downie, Kaaren Kitchell, Jane Augustine, Megan Fernandes, Michael Heller, Nina Zivancevic, Roger Goldsmith, Marilyn Kallet, Jeanette Winterson, Marilyne Hacker, Paris Lit Up, Moving Parts, Shakespeare and Company, Berkeley Books, the American Library in Paris, Culture Rapide, Spoken Word, WICE, the Irish Cultural Center, Maison de la Poésie, Dear Conjuctions, and more (update ongoing...)
NEWS:
Shakespeare and Company café opens! With tasty pastries and giant glass windows facing the Notre Dame Cathedral, this is the best new coffee place in Paris! And it's right next to the venerable bookstore - bravo!
For years, I had been hearing wonderful things about David Downie's books on Paris which have consistently earned high praise from readers and critics alike, and Paris Writers News is most grateful to writer Kaaren Kitchell for this wonderful interview with him for our interview series: Authors on Authors.
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Kaaren Kitchell: David, I loved this book. But then, I knew I would, since I share your passion for Paris. It is such a skillful interweaving of the last few centuries of Paris history, Romanticism, great stories about writers and artists, and the places where they lived. I just passed Baudelaire’s 1842-43 residence on the Quai de Bethune, and remembered your stories about him.
Jailed author Stephan Templ: inventoried Jewish property kept by Austrians
I must apologize to PWN readers. The Paris author/event update will be late this month. Fortunately for Paris Writers, Jen Dick's outstanding Fall Literary Event List is available, and listed below are writing workshops on offer this month.
On Kafkaesque charges defying logic, law and decency in equal measure, Austria has imprisoned Our Vienna author Stephan Templ. A change.org petition now exists to demand his freedom. Writers, bloggers: for more information or to see how you can help, please contact me at pariswritersnews AT gmail.com.
LINKS TO WRITING WORKSHOPS IN PARIS
- NEW! Write-in Paris (WIP) with Sion Dayson: Communal scribble sessions in a cozy environment. Each weekly meeting offers 2 hours of dedicated writing time + 30 minutes of discussion. A great way to focus on your work in the company of creative people. Daytime WIP: Mondays, 3-5:30 pm. Evening WIP, Thursdays, 7-9:30 pm. Upcoming sessions: 2-week vacances scolaire special (25 euros) and 6-week session starting early November (90 euros). Tea and water provided. Contact Sion Dayson at [email protected] to sign up!
The Other Writers' Group Drop-in feedback workshop held every Sunday upstairs at Shakespeare & Company (37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005) 6.30pm-8.30pm. We look at the praticalities of how a poem or story works - or doesn't. 6 euros. Bring 10 copies of a poem or of 3-4 pages of prose or just come and listen. More info at http://spokenwordparis.org/the-other-writers-group/
- The Paris Writers Group: Weds; open to all writers and free (please buy a beverage or food from the host cafe) with John Pope and/or Helen Cusack O’Keeffe.
Stephan Templ is the co-author of Unser Wien a book published in 2001 that documented, with exact addresses, the thousands of properties seized from the Jews in Vienna. Don't let the smears fool you. This is payback for what he wrote. And intimidation of historians and claimants alike. If you are a journalist or blogger, this is an important story.
Examples of must-visit landmarks owned until Anschluss by Jews, or notable Austrians living in property seized from Jews and never returned - entrees that explain why Templ became such a target for retribution
The use of a "fraud" charge as a way of destroying a whistleblower for telling the truth is particularly nasty. This is, unfortunately, not the first time this tactic has been used.
See our upcoming interview about Hans Deutsch, a German lawyer who was smeared with forgeries, lost all his assets to seizure, and was locked up in solitary confinement - all for helping Holocaust victims reclaim their stolen assets in courts of law.
Every year, WICE presents a range of writing courses at its rue de Tiphaine offices in the 15th arrondissement. Classes, typically five or six 2-hour sessions, are given in the Fall and Spring. This year the program includes the Language of Fiction, and The Migrant Soul taught by WICE veteran Gretel Furner; the Craft of Memoir-Writing by International Herald Tribune journalist/editor Meg Borton; Shaping the Short Story, by Jamaican-born artist, journalist, and writer Alecia McKenzie, Paris Vignettes II and Paris Travel Blogging by travel writer Gary Lee Kraut (the last class is exceptional in taking place outside the classroom, in selected spots around Paris). The classes are open to all, from the beginner to the already published.
In 2001, Stephan Templ and Tina Walzer published in German a book entitled Our Vienna,which offered, for the first time, an inventory of businesses and landmarks and other property stolen from Viennese Jews after the Anschluss with Germany in 1938. After filing a claim for his mother, Templ was sentenced to jail on charges that have been described as "Kafkaesque", prompting 75 Holocaust scholars to request that the President of Austria intervene. In attacking Templ, Austria appears to be punishing Templ for his book and attempting to intimidate claimants as well as historians. Background:
Paris Writers News this September: Mark Moogalian, Anne Penketh, Christos Tsiolkas, Ash Aw, Kate Stables, Zack Rock, Christine Angot, Andrew Hussy, Maxine Rose Schur, Marianne Faithfull, Max Porter,European Heritage Days, Cecilia Woloch, Eimear McBride, Le Festival des Ecrivains du Monde, A.S. Byatt, Les Murray, Samar Yazbek, Gary Steyngart, Edna O'Brian, Sean B Carroll, Naomi Wood, Sion Dayson, Shannon Cain, John Pope, Helen Cusack O’Keeffe, Peter Gumbel, Meg Bortin, Gary Lee Kraut, and more...(update ongoing)
Mark Moogalian, shot in the Thalys attack, is still in the ICU
SELECTED LITERARY (and other) EVENTS IN PARIS THIS SEPTEMBER
4-6 SEP Livres sur les Quais See the program at www.lelivresurlesquais.ch To sign up for the two workshops, Writing Workshop for Teens, Saturday at 11:00 with Katie Hayoz, and Travel Writing Sunday at 14h30, please contact [email protected]
7 SEP 7 pm Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap @ Shakespeare and Company, free and open to all, but space is limited so arrive early!
9 SEP 7:30 pm Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire @ The American Library in Paris admission free
9 SEP 3 pm Children’s Hour, author Kate Stables will be joined by enchanting writer and illustrator Zack Rock @ Shakespeare and Company. Please email Kate at [email protected] to confirm (1 adult per child, please!)
11 SEP 8pm Christine Angot, author of Un Amour Impossible @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris (in French, 5 euros, please reserve)
21 SEP 7pm Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing @Shakespeare and Company - free and open to all but space is limited!
24 SEP 11-12:30 a discussion on Homeschooling @ The American Library in Paris . Registration required. Email Celeste, the children's and young adults' services manager, to reserve at [email protected] or call the Library at 01 53 59 12 69. Participation is free for library members and 15€ per session for non-members.
With 17 authors participating in events across Paris, the Festival des Ecrivains du Monde features Man Booker Prize winner A.S. Byatt, Australian poet Les Murray, award-winning Syrian exile writer Samar Yazbek, a tribute to David Foster Wallace, or a Translation Slam, and many more outstanding events with internationally renowned authors.
25 SEP 6:30-730 pm A Conversation with A.S. Byatt @ ENS 45 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris (free and open to the public)
25 SEP 7-8 pm The Book of Strange New Things: A Conversation with Michel Faber @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
25 SEP 7-8 pm Conscious and Verbal: A Poetry Reading and Conversation with Australian Poet, Les Murray@ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris
25 SEP 8-9:30 pm The Seven Good Years: A Conversation and Reading with Etgar Keret @ ENS 45 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris (free and open to the public)
25 SEP 8:30 -9:30 pm The Lazarus Project: A Conversation with Aleksandar Hemon @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris
26 SEP 7:30pm - 8:30 pm The Country Girl: Edna O’Brien in Conversation Under the Stars @ The Irish Cultural Center 5 rue des Irlandais 75005 Paris (5 euros, reservations)
26 SEP 1-2 pm Kinder Than Solitude: A Conversation with Yiyun Li @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
26 SEP 2:30-3:30pm The Gates to the Land of Nothingness: A Conversation with Samar Yazbek @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
26 SEP 2:30-3:30 pm Exile and Belonging with Sayed Kashua and Etgar Keret @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)
26 SEP 4-5 pm Rewriting History with Carmen Boullosa @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
26 SEP 4-5 pm The Mother Tongue: A Roundtable with Aleksandar Hemon and Yiyun Li @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)
26 SEP 5:30-6:30 pm A Conversation with Christine Angot @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)
26 SEP 5:30-7pm The Redemptive Power of Literature with Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, Michel Faber, and Javier Cercas @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
27 SEP 2-3:30 pm Citizens of the World with Binyavanga Wainaina, Sayed Kashua, and Gary Shteyngart @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
27 SEP 2-3:30pm The Art of the Short Story with Yiyun Li, Aleksandar Hemon, and Etgar Keret @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris (free and open to the public)
27 SEP 4-5:30 pm TEXTES & VOIX: L’imposteur by Javier Cercas, reading by Alain Libolt, followed by a conversation with the author. Presented by Textes & Voix and Nadine Eghels @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)
27 SEP 5:30-7pm Literature as a Bridge: A Reading with Samar Yazbek, Carmen Boullosa, Michel Faber, Sayed Kashua, Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, and Binyavanga Wainaina @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris
27 SEP 4-5 pm Antigone in Afghanistan @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris
27 SEP 7:30-9pm UR - A Play, Written and Produced by Sulayman Al Bassam Performed by TBC @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006
- NEW! Write-in Paris (WIP) with Sion Dayson: 6-week sessions, each meeting is 2 1/2 hours. (Session One (5 weeks):- Daytime WIP: Mondays, 3-5:30 pm, September 14-October 12;- Evening WIP: Thursdays, 7-9:30 pm, September 17-October 15.Session Two (6 weeks):- Daytime WIP, Mondays, 3-5:30 pm, November 2-December 7;- Evening WIP: Thursdays, 7-9:30 pm, November 5-December 10.The cost of the 6-week session is 90 euros. Tea and water are provided.Limit 8 participants per session.Contact host Sion Dayson at [email protected] to sign up!)
- NEW! The Tuesday Writer's Workshop September 22 to October 27, 2015, 7:30 to 9:30 pm with Shannon Cain (Acceptance by Application. To apply, send a few pages of your writing to [email protected]. We workshop literary prose, in English: fiction, nonfiction, memoir, autofiction, etcetera. The cost of the workshop is 595€. Register early; spots fill quickly. workshop price includes wine and light dinner Space limited to eight participants. We meet in the 3eme arrondissement. Address and other important details will be provided upon acceptance. For more information, visit www.shannoncain.com - Download Flyer.
- Moving Your Passion onto the Page: An Intensive Multi-Genre Workshop for Writers with Cecilia WolochSeptember 28 – Oct. 2, 2015 (Each workshop participant will generate a body of new writing over the course of the workshop and receive guidance toward bringing that work to fruition. The workshop fee includes hand-outs and a half-hour private consultation with Cecilia. For more information or to register, contact: [email protected])
The Other Writers' Group Drop-in feedback workshop held every Sunday upstairs at Shakespeare & Company (37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005) 6.30pm-8.30pm. We look at the praticalities of how a poem or story works - or doesn't. 6 euros. Bring 10 copies of a poem or of 3-4 pages of prose or just come and listen. More info at http://spokenwordparis.org/the-other-writers-group/
- The Paris Writers Group: Weds; open to all writers and free (please buy a beverage or food from the host cafe) with John Pope and/or Helen Cusack O’Keeffe.
Mark Moogalian, author, songwriter, performer and Paris expat English teacher, is also a very brave man. He was shot and seriously wounded on the Thalys high speed train to Paris by suspected Islamic terrorist Ayoub-El Khazzani, who was armed with a Kalashnikov, a pistol, cutters and numerous rounds of ammunition. According to The Telegraph, Moogalian managed to wrestle the Kalashnikov away from El Khazzani who then shot him with his other gun, a pistol. As of this writing, he is still in the ICU of Lille, and seriously ill.
Moogalian, who came to Europe in the 1990s to create music, is originally from Richmond, Virginia.
