Best Paris Stories

Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest, to speak at The American Library in Paris Oct 10

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 06:49:00 +0000

“Serious geopolitics mixes with parenthood and the finer points of entertaining... Like her protagonist, Korkeakivi’s writing is cool, calm and composed." - The New York Times

Wed 10 October 2012
19h30

Evenings with an Author: Anne Korkeakivi

The American Library in Paris

10, rue du Général Camou
75007 Paris, France

On a lovely spring day in Paris – post-9/11 and several months after the London Underground bombings — Clare Moorhouse, the Irish-American wife of a high-ranking British diplomat, 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 abrupt arrival of her son from boarding school in England and a random encounter with a man on the street, who may be a suspected terrorist. More unnerving still is a recurring face in the crowd, one that belonged to another, darker era of her life. But it can’t be him…

Like Virginia Woolf did in Mrs. Dalloway, Anne Korkeakivi brilliantly weaves the complexities of an age into an act as deceptively simple as hosting a dinner party.

About the author

Anne Korkeakivi is the author of An Unexpected Guest (Little, Brown; April 2012). Her short fiction has been published by the Atlantic, the YaleReview, the Bellevue Literary Review, the Brooklyn Review, and other magazines, and in 2011 she was made a Hawthornden Fellow. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times (U.K.), the Village Voice, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Ms., and many other periodicals in the U.S. and the U.K. She was raised in New York City and western Massachusetts, and currently lives in Switzerland with her husband, who is a human rights lawyer at the U.N. in Geneva, and two daughters. Other places she's lived include France and Finland.

Read the Kirkus review of An Unexpected Guest and see more on Anne's website.

WICE to offer class in writing about Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:04:00 +0000

Thursdays October 4, 11, 18, 25

Course Description: For so many, Paris is less a place than a dream, an icon of romance and beauty infused with all manner of improbable hopes and impossible desires. For those of us who live here, however, Paris is a very real and sometimes gritty city, the backdrop for the evolving dramas of our daily lives. How to write about Paris – and our lives here – especially when our reality does not conform to the fervent expectations of others? In this four part series, mixing classwork with writing exercises, we will learn from the masters and explore avenues for writing about Paris in ways that are both fresh and personal.

Instructor: Laurel Zuckerman is the director of Best Paris Stories and the editor of Paris Writers News. Her books include Sorbonne Confidential (Fayard) and Les Rêves Barbares du Professeur Collie (Fay

WO041 Parisian Lives

Start
04 Oct 2012
3:00 PM
End
25 Oct 2012
5:00 PM
Location
WICE 10 rue Tiphaine 75015 Paris; Métro:La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle; Bus: 80.

Registration

Full Course WO041 - €115.00 (EUR)

Best Paris Stories authors to read at PAN Art Show in Montmartre

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 03:38:00 +0000

September 11 at 6:30 pm: Marie Houzelle and Jane M Handel will read from the witty "Hortense on a Tuesday Night" and "The Way You Looked at Me" in a special event to celebrate the PAN art show.

The art show is organized by the Paris Alumnae Netwok and is open to the public. It is held in a wonderful cosy gallery in Montmartre in "annex 2" across from the famous Paris café "Au Bon Coin" - Annex 2, 29 rue Montcalm, 75018 Paris.

For more information about the Paris Alumnae Network Art Show:

In a friendly, cosy gallery in Montmartre from September 7 through September 15, 2012 - 11 am to 7 pm every day.

Join the Artists for the opening or closing parties:
Vernissage: Friday, September 7, 2012 - 7 - 10 pm
Finissage: Saturday, September 15, 2012 - 4 - 8 pm

Reading from Best Paris Stories with Marie Houzelle and Jane M Handel: September 11 6:30-7:30pm

Au Bon Coin - Annex 2, 29 rue Montcalm, 75018 Paris.

For full details and party sign-up contact person: Sophie Le Cam sophielecam AT yahoo.com (by email only).

Best Paris Stories is honored to be featured in the August 2012 FUSAC, France USA Contacts

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:14:00 +0000

France USA Contacts started out nearly 25 years ago as an eight page free classified ad publication which offered jobs and services for the English speaking public in Paris, as well as fun (and useful) language games. It now boasts 60,000 regular readers and the best distribution network in Paris.

Best Paris Stories is immensely pleased and honored to be featured in FUSAC's summer issue (page 34).

Paper copies of FUSAC can be picked up free all over Paris in restaurants, bookstores, hotels - and even the American Consulate. And one can also read FUSAC online or download the PDF from their website.

In this month's edition, you can read excerpts from four stories: "A Pinch of Tarragon" by Lisa Burkitt; "The Baker of Vaugirard" by Jim Archibald; "Our Pharmacy" by Nafkote Tamirat; and "Frank Stands His Ground, in Belleville" by Mary Byrne

Thank you FUSAC for helping readers to discover Best Paris Stories!

Review "a deeply French yet idiosyncratic sensibility" Hortense on Tuesday Night

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 06:48:00 +0000

How to cope with the sexual revolution in Paris? A time when women in heterosexual couples are a "sorry, forgotten minority". - Witty and original, Hortense on Tuesday Night introduces a remarkable new voice.

Named a "top five story" by Narrative Magazine!

“Hortense on Tuesday Nights”- had a sparse, mysterious quality which engaged me. The point of view was culturally ambiguous - and distinctly un-American - which I found refreshing. – judge Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, With Recipes

Houzelle's voice is surely unique: a deeply French yet idiosyncratic sensibility filtered through an English that's fluid, penetrating and all her own. "Hortense" takes the reader into a vividly rendered moment in feminist conscious-raising, and even more vividly into the personal perspective of a young woman exploring the new horizons and unexpected pitfalls of relationships among women. Acute, funny and unblinking. - (FIVE STARS) Amazon reviewer

An Amazon Kindle Short Story from Best Paris Stories: Free today on Amazon Kindle Ebook

About Marie Houzelle
Born in the south of France, Marie Houzelle writes in English. Her stories have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Pharos, Orbis, Serre-Feuilles, Van Gogh's Ear, and in the chapbook No Sex Last Noon. She's just finished a novel, Tita, about a seven-year-old girl who reads Stendhal and Proust as well as Sophie's Misfortunes and Marjorie Morningstar.

Short Story: "Our Pharmacy" by Naftkote Tamirat

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:49:00 +0000

How to survive in Paris?

"...The pharmacy was Alga’s idea. She had been taking advantage of her free healthcare and a doctor with sympathy to spare by going in for various medical exams almost every week.."

Two African women invent a desperate business plan for survival: "medicine for cheap with people who understand; we don’t need papers and we don’t give them out either.”

"Our Pharmacy" - a short story by Nafkote Tamirat, on Amazon Kindle : France USA UK, a Best Paris Stories selection

Best Paris Stories paperback at The Red Wheelbarrow in Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:50:00 +0000

If you are looking for the paperback of Best Paris Stories, you can now find it at The Red Wheelbarrow bookshop in Paris! 22, rue St Paul 75001 Many other terrific books also available!

BEST PARIS STORIES by Jeannine Alter, Jim Archibald, Lisa Burkitt, Mary Byrne, Jane M. Handel, Marie Houzelle, Bob Levy, Julia Mary Lichtblau, Jo Nguyen, Nafkote Tamirat

ISBN: 9780982369852 210 pages Trim size: 5.06 x 7.81 in or 198 x 129 mm

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

Exciting new voices from the winners of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest - Paris Writers News

SELECTED BY DISTINGUISHED JUDGES

I chose "The Way You Looked at Me" for its graceful writing and general subject - our differing points of view - and for its powers of observation, and astute cross-cultural detail. (JUDGE DIANE JOHNSON, author of Le Divorce)

“Hortense on Tuesday Nights” had a sparse, mysterious quality which engaged me. The point of view was culturally ambiguous - and distinctly Un-American - which I found refreshing. (JUDGE ELIZABETH BARD, author of Lunch in Paris: a Love Story with Recipes)

I liked the story for its realism, its knowing voice, its discreet sense of humor, its successful reliance on dialogue, and its confidence in its own originality. (JUDGE CHARLES TRUEHEART, on “Our Pharmacy” by Nafkote Tamirat)

I chose “My Sunday with God” because, in addition to being well written and having a strong voice, it felt very fresh to me. (JUDGE ANNE KORKEAKIVI, author of An Unexpected Guest)

When reading this story, I was struck by the narrator's voice, which took me to other times and other places. I admired how the author shed light on the plight of immigrants who come to France and the harsh realities they encounter on the way. (JUDGE JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, author of Moonlight in Odessa, on “Brazzaville – Belleville Express” by Jo Nguyen

This is a story whose characters emotionally hooked us and we wanted to keep reading. Set in an earlier era added intrigue and grounding while capturing the French primal relationship with food. (JUDGES CHARLES AND CLYDETTE DEGROOT, on “A Pinch of Tarragon” by Lisa Burkitt)

For more on the Authors, Editorial Committee and Judges, click here.

FLASH Cara Black to speak at the American Library in Paris June 6

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:17:00 +0000

Best Paris Stories Distinguished Judge Cara Black will talk about Murder at the Lanterne Rouge, her latest mystery from the bestselling Aimée Leduc series. Publisher's Weekly starred review: "Outstanding".

AT The American Library in Paris, 7:30 pm

Scenes from the book launch at the American Library in Paris May 29 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Many, many thanks to all the wonderful people who made this possible!

Best Paris Story Judge Anne Korkeakivi At WH SMITH Bookstore in Paris Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Thu, 31 May 2012 06:40:00 +0000

May 31, 2012 : Anne Korkeakivi will present her novel An Unexpected Guest at WH SMITH.

Praise for An Unexpected Guest:

“A beautifully modulated first novel… Korkeakivi produces a knowing comedy of manners, a politically charged thriller and a genuinely moving study of the human heart.”

- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“…Moving between the starched-napkin ambience of high-level diplomacy and urgent questions of revolutionary activity, this engaging debut novel gently probes both without forcing insurmountable choices on its characters.”

- Barbara Hoffert, in Library Journal

“Surprising…depth and magnitude… Korkeakivi fluidly fuses the past and the present…powerfully exploring whether redemption from past regrets is possible and the lengths one must go to attain it.”

- Publisher’s Weekly, pick of the week

The challenge of writing about Paris is to keep it fresh. - interview

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:26:00 +0000

Best Paris Stories is honored to present the anthology at the American Library in Paris on May 29th 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France.

In this interview, published on the blog of the American Library in Paris, the editor Laurel Zuckerman explains how the collection of Paris short stories was conceived, what the stories are about, who the authors are, and how changes in publishing are offering new opportunities to writers of short stories and novellas.
You can read the full interview on the American Library Blog here.

Extracts:

On the idea behind Best Paris Stories

"The challenge of writing about Paris is to keep it fresh. Writers have been writing about this remarkable city and its people for centuries. What’s changed? What’s eternal? What’s the reality below the surface? How to go beyond the beautiful tourist destination many of us know as expats? That was the starting point for Best Paris Stories."

On the diversity of short stories including in the Paris antholoty

There are funny stories and moving stories. “That Summer With My Dad in Paris” by Jeannine Alter explores a daughter’s journey back towards her father after loss, while in “The Baker of Vaugirard”, Jim Archibald follows a life lived quietly over decades in one small Parisian neighborhood. In “May”, Marie Houzelle plunges us into French academia, while “A Pinch of Tarragon” by Lisa Burkitt takes us back to a time where food meant life. Immigrant Paris offers the setting for Mary Byrne’s “Frank Stands His Ground In Belleville” and “Brazzaville-Belleville Express” by Jo Nguyen....
The stories, like the inhabitants of Paris, are extremely diverse and appeal to different sensibilities.

On how stories were selected

"Judging was something we gave a lot of thought to. It’s really interesting to observe how different readers respond to the same story. Some might love a piece, while others hate it or simply shrug with indifference. If you forget for a moment what you are supposed to like and ask yourself instead what you really enjoy, the result can be surprising—and fun. It’s incredibly personal, a reader’s reaction to a story. Brilliant language, characters who are alive, wit, a distinctive voice, emotional resonance and clever plotting can’t hurt, of course. But they alone cannot explain what make readers connect with a story. So, for us, the challenge was to select stories that met certain generally accepted standards while recognizing – and encouraging – a highly personal response."...

For the complete interview with Laurel Zuckerman, please see the American Library in Paris Blog

Against the homogenization of literature - Jeanette Winterson

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:38:00 +0000

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Jeanette Winterson decried the growing homogenization of literature due to the proliferation of writer training programs.

"The crazy part of it is that we are breeding professional, competent, homogenized writers who will go on to teach writing that is professional, competent and homogenized."

Competence is good. But uniformity is not. This expresses perfectly our concern - and explains why we set up such an unusual selection process for Best Paris Stories.

The Way You Looked At Me, a short story by Jane M. Handel from BEST PARIS STORIES

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:14:00 +0000

EXCERPT
“I knew that you liked me,” he said, “it was the way that you looked at me.”
How often was she hearing that these days? It was infuriating. What were her eyes getting up to since she came to France? Had they become promiscuous without informing her? If I wanted to give someone ‘the eye’ it would never have been him, she thought after their date, as she remembered his floppy, lifeless, caramel-colored hair and matching caramel-colored framed glasses.

"The Way You Looked At Me", a short story by Jane M Handel,

now on KINDLE USA, FRANCE, UK

from BEST PARIS STORIES

Best Paris Stories SPECIAL FOR SUMMER BOOK CLUBS

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:39:00 +0000

TWELVE STORIES ABOUT PARIS

Best Paris Stories

ISBN-13: 978-0982369852

available now on Kindle USA, Kindle France, Kindle UK and IN PAPERBACK.

Bookclubs please contact parisshortstory@gmail.com for group orders

For some, Paris is home, for others, merely a dream. For Gaston, it is a bench, the anchor of his life. For Sue, a romantic city filled with scandalous, dark-eyed men, for Frank an all-consuming fire, for Mme Santinelli a ghost she'd hoped to forget. By turns humorous, bittersweet, historical or surreal, each of these carefully selected stories invites us to explore a different facet of Paris.

"Exciting new voices from the winners of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest" - Paris Writers News

Paris speaks to her each of her lovers with a different voice meant just for them.. Now in this rich compendium of stories, we get touching glimpses of those voices, one by one, reminding us that Paris remains true to herself. -Frances Gendlin, author of Paris, Moi and the Gang

"Funny or wrenching, get ready to be moved by this literary feast" - Lizzie Harwood, Paris writer and editor

available now on Kindle USA, Kindle France, Kindle UK and elsewhere.

Best Paris Stories: meet the authors May 29 at the American Library in Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:00:00 +0000

May 29, 2012 19:30 - Come meet the prize-winning authors of BEST PARIS STORIES at the American Library in Paris 10, rue du Général Camou
75007 Paris, France

ISBN-13: 978-0982369852

BEST PARIS STORIES brings together the winning short stories of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest with works by 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.

"Delightful anthology for francophiles!" Hannah Duke, My French Life

"Exciting new voices from the winners of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest" - Paris Writers News

"Paris speaks to her each of her lovers with a different voice meant just for them..Paris remains true to herself in this rich compendium of stories" - Frances Gendlin, author of Paris, Moi and the Gang

"Funny or wrenching, get ready to be moved by this literary feast" - Lizzie Harwood, Paris writer and editor

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Jeannine Alter

Jeannine Alter is a freelance writer and education consultant. A doctor of English Education, she has taught English language, literature, and writing in the United States, Japan, Spain, and, most recently, France. She wrote the short story “That Summer, with My Dad, in Paris” while living in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Jo Nguyen

Jo Nguyen has worked as a rock concert promoter, bartender, events planner, nightclub and pub operator. She graduated from Trinity College (Hartford, CT) a very long time ago and currently spends half the year in France and the other half in Thailand.

Lisa Burkitt

Lisa Burkitt lives in Co. Donegal,

Ireland

and has worked as a weekly columnist and print journalist before moving into broadcast journalism and presenting. She has written scripts, short stories and her debut novel; The Memory of Scent is being published in May, 2012. (see interview with Janet Skeslien Charles on Spotlight on Best Paris Stories)

Marie Houzelle

Marie Houzelle grew up in the south of France and lives in Ivry, just outside Paris, with her bicycle. She is now working on two novels. Her stories have appeared in Serre-Feuilles, Pharos, Orbis, Van Gogh's Ear,and Narrative Magazine. "Hortense on Tuesday Night" was chosen by Narrative Magazine as one of the top five stories from 2010-2011 and is part of their annual Winter 2012 issue (Narrative Library).

Jim Archibald

Jim is a 59 year old Scot now fulfilling two life-long ambitions. He lives with his wife Jackie in a converted Blacksmith's in The Creuse, in South Central France, and he writes Poetry and Short Stories full-time. After twenty three years in the Royal Navy he is already an inveterate story-teller

Jane M. Handel

Jane Handel grew up in Birmingham and the Isle of Wight. She qualifed as a solicitor in 1993 but has spent the last twenty years near Paris where she lives with her husband. She has two children, now grown up. She teaches yoga and is currently working on a novel. (see interview with Janet Skeslien Charles in her series Spotlight on Best Paris Stories)

Mary Byrne
Was born in Ireland, currently a French-English translator, living in France. Short fiction (and some poetry) published and forthcoming in Europe, North America, Australia, and included in anthologies such as Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories (2008) and Queens Noir (2008). Winner Fiction International short fiction contest 2011

Julia Lichtblau

Julia Lichtblau’s writing is forthcoming in The Florida Review and Temenos and has been published in Ploughshares blog, Narrative,The Common Online, Pindelbox, and Tertulia. She won 2nd Prize in The Flordia Review’s Jeanne Leiby Chapbook Contest, and has been a finalist for other literary awards, including the 2011 Gold Line Press Chapbook Contest. She has an MFA in fiction from Bennington College. For 15 years, she was a journalist for Dow Jones and BusinessWeek in New York and Paris. She’s working on a short-story collection, Foreign Service, and a novel, Sweet Melissa.

Bob Levy,

A native New Yorker, Bob Levy currently divides his time between Paris and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been writing short fiction and literary memoirs for some twenty years. His work has been featured in many Literary Journals, as well as the Chicago Tribune and San Francisco Bay Guardian. He is a Nelson Algren Award Winner, a Langston Hughes Award Winner, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Fiction. (see interview with Janet Skeslien Charles in her series Spotlight on Best Paris Stories)

Nafkote Tamirat,

Originally from Boston, Nafkote Tamirat will be a graduate of the Columbia University MFA Program. She is currently working on her first novel. Her work has been published in Rose & Thorn Journal and Anemone Sidecar.

BEST PARIS STORIES JUDGES BIOGRAPHIES

Nicola Keegan's debut novel, Swimming, was named one of 2009's top ten novels by Time. Nicola divides her time between

Ireland

and

France

with her husband and three children.

Penelope Fletcher is from an island off the west coast of

Canada

. She opened her first bookshop at 19 on the island and worked in bookshops in Vancouver and Montreal, before moving to Paris in 1990. She runs The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in the Marais district in Paris.

Anne Korkeakivi is the author of the novel An Unexpected Guest (Little, Brown; April 2012), set largely in Paris. Her short fiction and her nonfiction have been published by The Atlantic, The Yale Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times (UK), the Village Voice, Ms., Gourmet, and Travel & Leisure, and other periodicals in North America and Europe. In 2011, she was named a Hawthornden Fellow. She lived in

France

for ten years.

Diane Johnson's recent books include Lulu in Marrakech (2008), L'Affaire (2004), Le Mariage (2000), and Le Divorce (1997) for which she was a National Book Award finalist and the winner of the California Book Awards gold medal for fiction. She has been a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books since the mid 1970s. With filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Johnson co-authored the screenplay to The Shining (1980) based on the horror novel of the same name written by Stephen King. In 2003, a movie version of her comedy of manners novel Le Divorce was released, directed by James Ivory and starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts. Johnson currently divides her time between homes in Paris and San Francisco.

Elizabeth Bard is an American journalist and author based in Paris. Her first book, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes has been a New York Times and international bestseller, and was selected as a Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" pick for Spring 2010. Bard's writing on food, art, travel and digital culture has appeared in The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Wired, Haper's Bazaar and The Huffington Post. You can follow Elizabeth's continuing culinary adventures on her blog,facebook and twitter pages: www.elizabethbard.com, www.facebook.com/LunchinParis, www.twitter.com/ElizabethBard

Janet Skeslien Charles' debut novel Moonlight in Odessa (Bloomsbury) was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their top ten debut novels of Fall 2009 and received for the Melissa Nathan Award. It was chosen as Book of the Month by National Geographic Traveler. BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime featured Moonlight in Odessa. Language rights have been sold in 12 countries. Janet has led writing workshops at the American Library in Paris, WICE, and Shakespeare & Co and is currently working on her second novel.

Heather Stimmler-Hall is an American-born travel writer, tour guide and editor living in Paris since 1995. She created the monthly Secrets of Paris Newsletter in 1999, and is a freelance contributor for many guidebooks, magazines and websites including Fodor's Guides,

France

Magazine, easyJet inflight magazine, and Michelin Green Guides. She is the author of the award-winning guide Naughty Paris: A Lady's Guide to the Sexy City and editor for the upcoming guide in the series, Naughty New York.

Robert Stewart is the Editor of the literary journal New Letters. Robert teaches creative and professional writing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is the author of Outside Language: Essays (Helicon Nine Editions, 2003) and the poetry collection Plumbers (BkMk Press, 1988), among other publications. His poetry, feature articles and travel essays have appeared in journals such as Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, and Notre Dame Review, as well as numerous anthologies. He has been editor-in-chief of New Letters since 2002.

Charles Trueheart has been director of the American Library in Paris since 2007. He is a former cultural affairs writer and Paris correspondent of the Washington Post, and a former associate director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. His articles have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and the American Scholar, among other publications. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College.

Clydette de Groot holds a doctorate in psychology and has done post doctoral work in organizational development. She spent much of her career as director of behavioral sciences in family medicine residency training programs affiliated with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In addition to serving on a number of non-profit boards, she had an international corporate consulting business. Charles and Clydette currently co-chair of The de Groot Foundation. They divide their time among

France

Switzerland

and the

and are active in the Paris literary community.

Cara Black is a bestselling American mystery writer, best known for her Aimée Léduc mystery novels featuring a female Paris-based private investigator. Black is included in the Great Women Mystery Writers by Elizabeth Lindsay 2nd edition. Her first novel, Murder in the Marais, was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award for best first novel, and her third novel in the series, Murder in the Sentier, was nominated for an Anthony Award as Best Novel. Murder in the Rue de Paradis was a Washington Post 2009 Fiction Pick and Murder in the Latin Quarter was shortlisted for Best Novel by the Northern California Booksellers Association. Her twelfth in the series, Murder at the Lanterne Rouge received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. She'll receive the Medaille de la Ville de Paris from the Hotel de Ville in Paris in May 2012.

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHIES

Beth Arnold : Award winning writer and journalist for Rolling Stone, GQ, InStyle, Self, American Way, Premiere, and online at The Huffington Post, Salon.com and Vogue.com, Editor of Letter from Paris

http://www.betharnold.com/

Janice Abbott: author of Meet the Press, translator and English teacher and program director.

Jennifer K. Dick : Author of Fluorescence and Patina, co-founder of Ivy writers series and professor of American Literature in Mulhouse University.

Mary Duncan: author of Henry Miller is Under My Bed, Professor. Founder/coordinator Paris Writers Group. Patron of the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival, founder of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Moscow.

Kristin Espinasse : Author of Words in a French Life and the cult blog, French Word A Day.

Karen Fawcett : Publisher and editor of the widely-read e-magazine Bonjour Paris, and veteran journalist.

Mary Ellen Gallagher: Fiction and non-fiction writer, currently completing a novel. MFA from Lesley University, Cambridge MA; short story awards from the

France

Australia

Nancy Gerbault: Literary agent and President Abroad Writers Conferences

http://www.abroad-crwf.com/combourgfrance.html

Hilary Kaiser : Author of WWII Voices: American GI's and the French Women Who Married Them, and French War Brides, former associate professor at the University of Paris

Dimitri Keramitas : Short story writer, reviewer, teacher, translator, film reviews for Bonjourparis.com

http://www.templetrad.com/

Barry Kirwan: author of The Eden Paradox and Eden’s Trial, short story writer and essayist.

Marcia Lebre : Director of the Paris Writers Workshop since 1998, MFA Bennington College

Kai Maristed: Author of the short story collection Belong to Me and the novels Out After Dark, Fall, and Broken Ground, her fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, The American Voice, StoryQuarterly, The American Scholar, Zoetrope, and The Anchor Essay Annual. Kai has taught at Emerson College and the Harvard Extension School and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program, has judged the University of Michigan Hopwood Awards and reviews frequently for The Los Angeles Times.

Thirza Vallois : Author of Around and About Paris series, Romantic Paris, Aveyron, A Bridge to French Arcadia, as well as the Paris entry to the Encarta Encyclopaedia, Thirza holds several degrees from the Sorbonne, (including the most prestigious agrégation) and is an acclaimed lecturer on

France

. She has appeared on BBC, PBS, the Travel Channel, CNN, Discovery, the French Cultural Channel, has been aired on scores of radio stations in the

Britain

and others, and has contributed articles to The Financial Times, United Airlines' Hemispheres, Condé Nast Traveller, among other publications.

Christopher Vanier : Author of the memoir Caribbean Chemistry. short story writer, winner of the Paris Writers Workshop Prize and the Kingston University Life Writing Competition.

http://www.amazon.com/Caribbean-Chemistry-Tales-St-Kitts/dp/1899999450/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283701928&sr=1-1

Eve Zuckerman : Former editor in chief of L'Inébranlable, contributor to Sunday Telegraph,

Ireland

's Independent, Bonjourparis.com and Canalstreet.fr.

Best Paris Stories to be released in paperback on May 31, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:47:00 +0000

For immediate release:

Best Paris Stories to be released on May 31, 2012

ISBN: 978-0982369852

Free library loan to members of Amazon Prime

Available now for pre-order
Cover design by Lydia D'moch.

BEST PARIS STORIES

For some, Paris is home, for others, merely a dream. For Gaston, it is a bench, the anchor of his life. For Sue, a romantic city filled with scandalous, dark-eyed men, for Frank an all-consuming fire, for Mme Santinelli a ghost she'd hoped to forget. By turns humorous, bittersweet, historical or surreal, each of these carefully selected stories invites us to explore a different facet of Paris.

BEST PARIS STORIES brings together the winning short stories of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest with works by 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.

The BEST PARIS STORIES were selected by distinguished judges Elizabeth Bard, Cara Black, Janet Skeslien Charles, Charles and Clydette De Groot, Penelope Fletcher, Nicola Keegan, Anne Korkeakivi, Diane Johnson, Robert Stewart, Heather Stimmler-Hall, and Charles Trueheart in collaboration with Paris Writers News and the remarkable Editorial Committee formed by Beth Arnold, Janice Abbott, Jennifer K. Dick, Mary Duncan, Kristin Espinasse, Karen Fawcett, Mary Ellen Gallagher, Nancy Gerbault, Hilary Kaiser, Dimitri Keramitas, Barry Kirwan, Marcia Lebre, Kai Maristed, Thirza Valois, Christopher Vanier, and Eve Zuckerman,

BEST PARIS STORIES will celebrate the this new publication at The American Library of Paris on May 29 at a literary event that will be open to the public.

If you are a Book Reviewer, Book Blogger, Travel writer, Paris organization or Publication based in France and you would like to receive a review copy of Best Paris Stories, please contact Summertime Publications with "review copy" in the subject line..

and the winner is.... Best Paris Stories ebook cover contest

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:43:00 +0000

After long and tortured consideration of many excellent submissions, we have selected the cover for the ebook edition of Best Paris Stories, to be released in May 2012.

Congratulations to graphic designer Lydia D'moch!

BEST PARIS STORIES launch May 29, 2012 at The American Library in Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:29:00 +0000

details coming soon!

Last Submissions for Best Paris Stories Ebook Cover contest!

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Last day for submissions to the Cover Contest for Best Paris Stories ! Here are the latest additions to the many excellent designs we have received from talented artists. Might one of these be the cover? Many thanks to the fine graphic artists for their excellent work: William Busch, Micheal Dekel, Jonathan Freedman, Margo Berdeshevsky, Lee E. Shilo, Naofimi Hojin, Pascal Nocquet, Lydia D'moch, Ryssa Mae Allercon, Sophie Ren, Louisa Gioffre Suziki, Bas Zwigtman, Sarah Nocquet, Sharon Watts, and Bob Bouwense. We invite you to enjoy their creativity and watch this space for more …

Naofimi Hojin 2

Bas Zwigtman

Sharon Watts

Pascal Nocquet

Bob Bouwense

Sarah Nocquet

Lydia D'moch 1

Naofimi Hojin

Lydia D'moch 2

William Busch

Ryssa Mae Alercon

Sophie Ren

Margo Berdeshevsky 1

Louisa Gioffre Suzuki

Micheal Dekel

Jonathan Freedman

Margo Berdeshevsky 2

Lee E. Shilo

Jonathan Freedman

Margo Berdeshevsky 3

See: list of short story winners

See: Judges and Editorial Committee

See Submission Guidelines for Ebook Cover Contest

Announcing the Paris Short Story Cover Contest…

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:24:00 +0000

Calling artists and graphic designers…

Help us create the front cover for the ebook of BEST PARIS STORIES!

The winners of the Paris Short Story Contest have been selected, the book is nearly ready. Only one thing remains: the cover.

The winning submission will receive 100 euros and see his/her creation used as the official cover for the BEST PARIS STORIES ebook, on Kindle, Ipad, Nook, Sony, etc…

Attention: BEST PARIS STORIES comes out this fall. The deadline is short.

Submission guidelines

Title: Best Paris Stories

( See Paris Short Story website for more information-- list of authors, titles and judges)
Format: JPG

Dimensions front cover : 5 x 8 in or 203 x 127 mm*

Minimum Resolution : 300 dpi

Maximum file size: 20 MB per image. (Large files risk rejection by email servers)

Filename : should be your name.

Rights: You must own the rights to all images submitted and be willing to authorize display of your submission as will as a release for use in BEST PARIS STORIES.

You should also obtain a release for any recognizable person in any photograph

Send JPG file, to parisshortstory@gmail.com, put “Cover Contest” as the subject

· Best cover wins 100 € and will be used for the BEST PARIS STORIES ebook

· Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2011.

*Artists of shortlisted covers will receive specifications for the BEST PARIS STORIES paperback cover, with template including front, back and spine.

· Shortlisted covers and Honorable Mentions will be featured on our website and social media.

Story summaries (for inspiration)

“The Pharmacy” – Ruled by someone else’s whims and habits, a man opens a black-market pharmacy looking towards the day he may break free.

“May” – A married woman flirts with her professor with help from Henry James.

“Brazzaville” – Raised amid unrelenting praise for the French, a man finds himself a Congolese refugee in Paris.

“A Pinch of Tarragon” – Meek Sophie’s monotonous routine as a waitress changes when she encounters a man who teaches her to appreciate food, and thus, life.

“Desolée Monsieur” – After the death of his father, a young man returns to Paris to reclaim his ancestral apartment.

“Frank Stands His Ground in Belleville” – Frank considers the value of things in his life as his apartment building goes up in flames.

“Hortense on Tuesday Night” – A group of women meet weekly to discuss intellectual matters, frivolous things, and their lovers until the glamorous Hortense upsets their routine.

“The Way You Looked At Me” – A newcomer to Paris unknowingly disarms men with her smile

“The Baker of Vaugirard” – A bench in the Tuilieries anchors a man’s life.

"That Summer With My Dad, In Paris” – An adolescent girl, jaded since the death of her mother, travels to Paris with her father.

"My Sunday with God"

Paris Short Story Contest announces titles of winning stories

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 31 May 2011 23:00:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce that the judges have made their selection in the Paris Short Story Contest.

The following stories will be published next fall in The Best Paris Stories:

"A Pinch of Tarragon" by Lisa Burkitt

"Brazzaville" by Jo Nguyen

"Désolée, Monsieur" by Julia Mary Lichtblau

"Frank stands his ground, in Belleville" by Mary Byrne

"Hortense on Tuesday Night" by Marie Houzelle

"May" by Marie Houzelle

"My Sunday with God" by Bob Levy

"Our Pharmacy" by Nafkote Tamirat

"That Summer, with my Dad, in Paris" by Jeannine Alter

"The Baker of Vaugirard" by Jim Archibald

"The way you looked at me" by Jane M. Handel

Paris Short Story Contest announces winner of the Editorial Committee Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:00:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce that the winner

of the

Editorial Committee Prize

for the

Paris Short Story Contest

is:

DESOLEE MONSIEUR

Julia Mary Lichtblau

Stories Nominated for the prize were:

MY SUNDAY WITH GOD by Bob Levy

I THINK THEREFORE I AM by Haminudhin Mohd Derus

TANGO by Julia Lichtblau

THE CONVERSATION by Virginia Gilbert

DESOLEE MONSIEUR by Julia Lichtblau

A VOIR by Nina Atkinson

SPARE LOVER by Marie Houzelle

GETTING THERE by Cathy Altman Nocquet

TRACES by Christopher Clark

LOVE THY FRENCH NEIGHBORS by Angie Ho Guyoton

THE KINE AND SARKOZY by Martin Raim

A PINCH OF TARRAGON by Lisa Burkitt

WOMAN, BLOSSOMING by Susanne Kamata

The winning stories selected by the finalist judges will be announced on Tuesday.

(Click on SHORTLIST to see the list of stories under consideration)

Paris Short Story Contest to Announce Winner of Editorial Committee Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:40:00 +0000

The Editorial Committee of the Paris Short Story Contest has two roles:

1) select the shortlist of stories to be submitted to the finalist judges. (The stories chosen by the 12 judges will be announced separately.)

2) choose the winner of the 200 euro Editorial Committee Prize.

Each Editorial Committee member was invited to nominate stories for the Editorial Committee prize. All of the nominated stories were then read by a sub-group of the EC which voted on the winner.
The winner of the Paris Short Story Contest Editorial Committee Prize will be announced on Tuesday, May 24.

Members of the Editorial Committee

* Beth Arnold : Award winning writer and journalist for Rolling Stone, GQ, InStyle, Self, American Way, Premiere, and online at The Huffington Post, Salon.com and Vogue.com, Editor of Letter from Paris

* Janice Abbott: author of Meet the Press, translator and English teacher and program director.

* Jennifer K. Dick : Author of Fluorescence and Patina, co-founder of Ivy writers series and professor of American Literature in Mulhouse University

* Mary Duncan: author of Henry Miller is Under My Bed, Professor. Founder/coordinator Paris Writers Group. Patron of the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival, founder of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Moscow

* Kristin Espinasse : Author of Words in a French Life and the cult blog, French Word A Day

* Karen Fawcett : Publisher and editor of the widely-read e-magazine Bonjour Paris , and veteran journalist.

* Mary Ellen Gallagher: Fiction and non-fiction writer, currently completing a novel. MFA from Lesley University, Cambridge MA; short story awards from the US, France & Australia.

* Nancy Gerbault: Literary agent and President Abroad Writers Conferences

* Hilary Kaiser : Author of WWII Voice: American GI's and the French Women Who Married Them, and French War Brides, former associate professor at the University of Paris

* Dimitri Keramitas : Short story writer, reviewer, teacher, translator, film reviews for Bonjourparis.com

* Barry Kirwan: author of The Eden Paradox, short story writer and essayist

* Marcia Lebre : Director of the Paris Writers Workshop since 1998, MFA Bennington College

* Kai Maristed: Author of the short story collection Belong to Me and the novels Out After Dark, Fall, and Broken Ground, her fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, The American Voice, StoryQuarterly, The American Scholar, Zoetrope, and The Anchor Essay Annual. Kai has taught at Emerson College and the Harvard Extension School and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program, has judged the University of Michigan Hopwood Awards and reviews frequently for The Los Angeles Times.

* Thirza Valois : Author of Around and About Paris series, Romantic Paris, Aveyron, A Bridge to French Arcadia, as well as the Paris entry to the Encarta Encyclopaedia, Thirza holds several degrees from the Sobronne, (including the most prestifious agrégation) and is an acclaimed lecturer on

France

She has appeared on BBC, PBS, the Travel Channel, CNN, Discovery, the French Cultural Channel, has been aired on scores of radio stations in the US, Britain and others, and has contributed articles to The Financial Times, United Airlines' Hemispheres, Condé Nast Traveller, among other publications.

* Christopher Vanier : Author of the memoir Caribbean Chemistry. short story writer, winner of the Paris Writers Workshop Prize and the Kingston University Life Writing Competition.

* Eve Zuckerman : Editor in chief of L'Inébranlable, contributor to Sunday Telegraph,

Ireland

's Independent and Bonjourparis.com.

The Paris Short Story Contest announces the Shortlist !

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:57:00 +0000

The Paris Short Story Contest

is pleased to announce

that

the Editorial Committee

has finished reading the 141 submissions from all over the world.

Stories by the following authors have been shortlisted :

Aisling Smith

Alice K. Boatwright

AM. Garner

Angie HO GUYOTON

Bob Levy

Cathy Altman Nocquet

Christine Collette

Christopher Clark

Claire Thiollent

Cynthia Tuttelman

Elizabeth Joseph Brahy

Gareth Hughes

Gwyneth Hughes

Haminuddin Mohd. Derus

Hillary Andujar

J.K. Dane

Jane Verwijs

Jeannine Alter

Jessica Chen

Jim Archibald

Jo Nguyen

Josepha Gutelius

Julia Lichtblau

Julia Mary Lichtblau

Karen Uhlmann

Landa Wo

Laure Fournier

Linda Blitstein

Lisa Burkitt

Louise Thunin

Marie Houzelle

Marin Shannahan

Martin Raim

Mary Byrne

Nafkote Tamirat

Nina Atkinson

Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Sarah Towle

Sion Dayson

Suzanne Kamata

Virginia Gilbert

Wes Lee

The shortlisted stories will now go to the twelve finalist judges.

Many thanks to all the writers who shared their stories with us, and to our hard-working Editorial Committee members who read them with great care.

To follow news and updates on writers in Paris:
Paris Short Story Contest
Paris Writers News
Facebook
Twitter: @pariswriters

Paris Short Story Contest : deadline November 30 !

noreply@blogger.com (Best Paris Stories) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:03:00 +0000

PARIS WRITERS NEWS SHORT STORY CONTEST

SUBMISSIONS HAVE CLOSED FOR BEST PARIS STORIES: BOOK COMING OUT FALL 2011 !

Genre: Short fiction (story must have some link to Paris)

Closing date: 30 November 2010

Prize: 200 euros for first prize, plus publication of twelve best stories

Entry fee: 10 euros

Restrictions: Maximum 5 000 words. Submission in the body of the email only

Further information: 12 stories will be selected to appear in the book: “BEST AND MOST DELIGHTFUL STORIES ABOUT PARIS” to be published fall 2011

Internet site for details and updates: http://parisstoriescontest.blogspot.com/

The finalist judges are :

Nicola Keegan (author of Swimming),

Janet Skeslien Charles (author of Moonlight in Odessa),

Elizabeth Bard (author of Lunch in Paris),

Charles Trueheart (Director of the American Library in Paris),

Charles and Clydette De Groot (of the De Groot Foundation),

Cara Black (author of the Aimée LeDuc mystery series),

Anne Korkeakivi (short stories published in The Atlantic, The Yale Review…),

Heather Stimmler Hall (author of Naughty Paris and Secrets of Paris),

Penelope Fletcher (owner of the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore in Paris),

Robert Stewart (editor of the New Letters literary review),

Diane Johnson (author of Le Divorce, Le Marriage, National Book Award Finalist)!

For info and submissions: http://parisstoriescontest.blogspot.com/

Download flyer: http://laurelzuckerman.typepad.fr/files/paris-short-story-contest.pdf

To submit your short story, please send your text IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL (no attachments, no links) to : pariswritersnews AT gmail DOT com
We accept payment through Paypal; (click on "ajouter au panier" which means "add to basket" )