Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

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

Laurel Zuckerman — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:53:08 +0200

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.

I love Eurobonds and shared liability because Christine Lagarde says I should, but I have a couple questions

Laurel Zuckerman — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:29:51 +0200

Like: what does "shared liability" mean - for Europe, for France, or for me? I can't help but wonder: does anybody know?

The question of what we're actually talking about becomes urgent because France's new IMF chief, the brilliant Christine Lagarde, recently joined the chorus for "fiscal liability sharing" among European governments. This is not a rogue position. The OECD (based in Paris) had just endorsed joint bond issuance in its latest "Economic Outlook". Everyone's piling on. Everyone, of course, except Germany, which knows deep in its heart that everyone else is hoping it will foot the bill.

What bill? For what? How? For how long?

Aye, there's the rub. Who the hell knows?

What, exactly, is "shared liability"?

Does that mean that Greek government debt (and Portuguese, and Spanish, and Italian - and French?) is guaranteed by "Europe"?

And who is "Europe"? Does that mean Germany because it hasn't blown its wad yet (in which case everyone but Germany LOVES the solution) or does it include relatively poor new European countries like Slovenia and Estonia (giving new poignancy to Marx' "from each according to his ability to each according to his need").

Gosh, the questions just keep piling up. Here are the most head-scratching ones.

Amount: Are we talking millions, billions, trillions - or zillions?

What liability would be shared? sovereign debt? bank debt? the cost of imports? unfunded pension debt? Specific infrastructure projects (Like Jefferson County, Alabama's $3.2 billion default on its sewage project bonds?)

How would it work? An issue of new "eurobonds" by the ECB - or a new entity? A sweeping retroactive "guarantee" to be paid with a printing press? A kind of Common Agricultural Policy for banks to be financed by contributions extracted from member states? Weird accounting moves? What?

Who decides? Chrisine Lagarde? François Hollande? François Baroin - (he's France's new finance minister). I'm assuming it's a French person because otherwise why would France support it. Who else?Draghi? Goldman? JP Morgan? Obama? Zidane? Paris Hilton? Me?

OK, those are stupid guesses. Is yours any better?

Isn't it weird to be sure this is the solution without having any real idea of what we're talking about?

For some interesting ideas, see NYT's room for debate: Can Euro Bonds Save the Union?

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/22/can-euro-bonds-save-the-union/europe-doesnt-need-more-debt via @roomfordebate

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/22/can-euro-bonds-save-the-union/euro-bonds-are-an-idea-ahead-of-their-time via @roomfordebate

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/05/22/can-euro-bonds-save-the-union/euro-bonds-are-a-bad-deal-for-strong-nations via

See also, Clive Crook's excellent article: The Seeds of the EU's Crisis Were Sown 60 Years Ago

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-23/the-seeds-of-the-eu-s-crisis-were-sown-60-years-ago.html

And David Jolly in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/business/global/daily-euro-zone-watch.html?_r=1

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

Laurel Zuckerman — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:47:08 +0200

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 thedéfunt 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

Laurel Zuckerman — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:21:40 +0200

Thank you Gérard Ducray!

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

Select your favorite feed: Paris Writers News, Mysteries of France, Education News, Ecology News are finally separate!

Laurel Zuckerman — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:35:16 +0200

The problem with indulging in multiple interests is that not everyone shares the same mix of obsessions.

Also, it messes with your rss feeds.

Thus in the past if you wanted to subscribe to Paris Writers News you were astonished to discover weird ramblings about toxic killer seaweed on the French coast (the photos were good) or incomprehensible meanderings into that unfragrant pit that is the French nuclear industry. Oh, and education? Don't get me started. (What happens at the Sorbonne does not, sadly, stay at the Sorbonne.)

But now technology has come to our mutual rescue. Well, not technology so much as me finally catching up a little with it. And, ta da! The different categories of topics - Paris Writers News, Mysteries of France, French Education News and Ecology in France - finally all have their own separate feeds.

So if you're a writer and you love news about literary events in Paris, recent books and interviews with Paris authors, but at the same time you'd rather DIE than be importuned with an analysis of French education politics, you're in luck!

Paris Writers News now has its own feed! ( Subscribe to Paris Writers News )

Likewise if you prefer to discover little known - but true! - facts about French life, you can single out the amusing (and sometimes appalling) Mysteries of France (Subscribe to Mysteries of France ).

For those concerned about environmental issues, there's Ecology News (Subscribe to Ecology News in France).

Teachers, future teachers, parents and, yes, students have a choice of two feeds, Education News (Subscribe to Education News from France) which is always in English, and The Sorbonne Confidential Blog Subscribe to Sorbonne Confidential: The Blog: which is sometimes in English and sometimes in French.

Best Paris Stories has a feed you can subscribe to, too. (From the Best Paris Stories website) Here it is: (Subscribe to Best Paris Stories Blog)

***

I haven't made a separate feed for my thoughts on finance and banking, not because the topics are uninteresting (au contraire!) or because I think people in bespoke suits who lose hundreds of billions of dollars know more than I do (I suspect any idiot can lose money, don't need calculus for that!), but because of a deep and terrible past trauma. So deep and terrible that I have never spoken about it on my blog.

You see, the first job for which I was ever officially hired in France was "foreign currency options trader". (That's a hard thing to admit to writers.) It was back in 1987 and I had just graduated from business school. In a weird twist of fate, I ended up understanding a tiny bit about a subject that most people knew even less about. Unfortunately, my first day of work was my last, due to work permit complications not unlike those faced by foreign graduates in France today. Sometimes, when I read the financial press, I think with a sigh: but for the grace of the Direction Départementale de travail, it could have be me losing all those billions!

And this is why there is no feed on financial matters.

Feeds one can subscribe to from this blog:

Subscribe to Paris Writers News

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

Laurel Zuckerman — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:14:04 +0200

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

Laurel Zuckerman — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:12:33 +0200

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: rhoads@americanlibraryinparis.org 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 dtresilian@aup.fr

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 Laurel Zuckerman, editor of Paris Writers News, will present the anthology Best Paris Stories, which features a constellation of 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

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)

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 pww@wice-paris.org. 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

Laurel Zuckerman — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:43:48 +0200

Healthy Nutella breakfast

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...

Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest, talks with Paris Writers News

Laurel Zuckerman — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:39:36 +0200

I first met Anne Korkeakivi in C. Michael Curtis' short story seminar at the Paris Writers Workshop and was immediately struck by her sly humor, kindness and obvious literary talent. Since then, Anne has published many wonderful short stories in literary magazines such as The Yale Review and The Atlantic. Recently, to our delight, she served as a distinguished judge for Best Paris Stories.

Her outstanding novel, An Unexpected Guest, has just been released to critical acclaim and reader enthusiasm. Foreign rights have been sold in Australia, Italy, Russia and Serbia, and numerous literary publications have singled the novel out, including starred reviews and a Publisher's Weekly Pick.

Here, then, is Anne Korkeakivi, former Paris expat and author of An Unexpected Guest.

***

Laurel Zuckerman : You’re an American married to a Finn living in Geneva. Where are you from?

Anne Korkeakivi : I was born in New York City, and was raised there and in western Massachusetts.

LZ : Do you remember that feeling of falling in love with a book as a kid? Who were your favorite authors…

AK : I can't recall a pre-reading time. As a child, I read a lot of classic authors, both American and British, and also magical authors. I re-read the entire Narnia series by C.S. Lewis annually, and was crazy about D'Aulaire's beautiful illustrated Book of Greek Myths.

LZ : What started you writing? How did you learn?

AK : I'm not sure I recall a pre-writing time either. I used to lie awake at night as a very little girl writing stories in my head, a new scene every night. I was a mini-insomniac.

LZ : Your short stories have been published by The Atlantic, The Yale Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Brooklyn Review, and others, and you were recently a Judge on the Best Paris Stories contest. What do you look for in a short story? How to distinguish the banal from something really special? In short, what makes a story great?

AK : It takes more than craft to make a short story great for me. It also takes heart.

LZ : An Unexpected Guest is your first novel. What inspired you to tell this story?

AK : Basically, the idea sprung from a perfect storm of a visit to Paris at the height of the Iraq War that had me walking down the Rue de Varenne (the eventual epicenter of the novel's action), thinking about the ramifications of a series of news items then making headlines, and an uneasiness I felt as an American expat.

LZ : How did you get into Clare’s thoughts? Is she based on someone you know?

AK : Clare is entirely her own person. I think about my characters for a long time before I start writing. By the time I do, they pretty much have lives of their own.

---

Anne Korkeakivi was born and raised in New York City but currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland, with her husband, who works at the United Nations, and two daughters. Her short stories have been published by The Yale Review,The Atlantic, and The Bellevue Literary Review, among other magazines, and she is a Hawthornden Fellow. She has also lived in France and Finland, as well as in a few additional corners in the U.S.

Praise for An Unexpected Guest: "With this seemingly slight day-in-the-life tale, Korkeakivi produces a knowing comedy of manners, a politically charged thriller and a genuinely moving study of the human heart.' -Kirkus, Starred Review

BEST PARIS STORIES: May 29th at the American Library in Paris !

Laurel Zuckerman — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:43:17 +0200

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, 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.

Please join us for an evening of celebration and lively discussion AT The American Library in Paris on May 29th.