Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

Paris Writers News February 2011 Update!

This month, news from Heather Stimmler Hall, Barry Kirwan, Noel Riley Fitch, Melany Comley, John Baxter,  Isabel Eastman, Alain Riding,  Steve Crawshaw, Expat Expo,  David Nicholls, John Lichfield, Glyn Pope, Janet Skeslien Charles, Thirza Vallois, Charles Timoney, Felix Rohatyn, Dinaw Mengestu, Leslie Dunton-Downer, the Paris Novella Contest, Ann Masala, John Baxter, Sarah Towle, Mark Gevisser, The Paris Alumnae Network, Gautier Cazenave, Dinaw Mengestu and Conner Middelmann-Whitney!

 

 

NEWS and BOOKS !

  The Eden Paradox, Barry Kirwan's debut novel in the sci-fi Eden Saga trilogy, will be published in February!  Launch date to be announced!

Noel Riley Fitch's biography of Sylvia Beach, Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: a History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties, is coming out in French. Launch of Une Americaine a Paris February 17 from Perrin Editions

L'Express magazine named Heather Stimmler-Hall's Secrets of Paris blog as one of the best Paris blogs! 

Posters of Janet Skeslien Charles' Moonlight in Odessa, will be displayed for two weeks in 300 train stations throughout the UK! 

 

 Keeping the Feast One Couple's Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy  by Paula Butturini comes out in paperback! (see NPR's "Comfort Food for the Wounded" interview)

Glyn Pope's novel of 1940's England, The Doctor, The Plutocrat, and The Mendacious Minister, is now available in all e-book formats!

Reading to select the shortlist has begun for both the Paris Short Story Contest and Shakespeare and Company's Novella Contest.

Sarah Towle explains how she turned a book about Paris into an interactive APP !  Watch for her upcoming article here.

Melanie Comley's Impending Justice, now available in paperback!

 

Conner Middelmann-Whitney has published Zest for Life, a 120-page cancer prevention cookbook.

 Paris Writers News to feature Ann Masala's interviews on the Proust Questionaire!

NEW WRITERS SERIES! The Paris Alumnae Network (PAN) is launching a series of talks by writers to be held in the Marais starting in April. Watch for upcoming talks here and on the PAN facebook page and website!

For selected tipbits from the French literary scene, click here...

 

 Selected Literary EVENTS in PARIS (for more, see websites on sidebar)

Wednesday February 2 at 7pm David Nicholls will present and sign his book One Day, winner of the Galaxy Book of the Year and Popular Fiction Book of the Year. The French translation Un Jour (Editions Belfond) will be available for sale at the event. WHSmith, reservations advised.

Wed February 2  at 19:30 pm The American Library in Paris – Paris John Baxter presents his biography Von Sternberg.

Thursday, February 3 at 7pm  ALAN RIDING And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris at Village Voice

Thursday  February 3 at  7pm Steve Crawshaw will present and sign his book Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and a Bit of Ingenuity Can Changethe World. Guest speaker: Geneviève Garriogos, President of Amnesty International France at WHSmith

Saturday 5th February - 4-6pm at the Parc Floral, Paris Expat Expo! Author Events with WHSmith: 4-5pm Stephen Clarke; 5-6pm John Lichfield; Heather Stimmler-Hall Charles Timoney. RSVP, to books (at) whsmith (dot) fr with 'Expat Expo Event RSVP' as the object of the message. (No confirmation, but your name will be registered on our guest list.)

Sunday February 6 at 4 pm. Thirza Vallois, Paris expert, author of the legendary Around and About Paris series, Romantic Paris and Aveyron, A Bridge to French Arcadia, will be speaking at Expat Expo  at 4pm. "How to Make the Most of Paris" is her topic, how to walk its streets, how to look, absorb, listen and read.... The streets of Paris, literature, cinema, theatre, music, art, food, all participate in making Paris the unique city it is.

February 6  PLAY READING Gautier Cazenave "Sherlock Holmes v Frankenstein" (in English) MOVING  PARTS at  Carr's Pub & Restaurant Always on Sundays, always at 7.30 pm

February 6 Janet Skeslien Charles will discuss her award-winning novel Moonlight in Odessa with the Paris Alumnae Network Bookgroup. 

Monday, February 7th at 7pm Village Voice  P.O.L. & Dalkey Archives The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Monday  February 7:00p m In celebration of Bloodaxe’s anthology Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poetry, there will be a night of poetry from some of the most interesting poets today. Featuring prize-winning poets A.B. Jackson, Annie Freud, Sally Read, Ahren Warner and editor and poet Roddy Lumsden. AT Shakespeare and Company

February 9 7:30pm Centre Culturel Irlandais, Awards ceremony for the Limerick contest! Reading of selections! Wine and fun atmosphere guaranteed! (Reservations advised)

 Feb 8 and Feb 22 for screenings of SHANGHAI EXPRESS and BLONDE VENUS. With John Baxter, author of Von Sternberg. Paris Ciné Club

Tue February  8 at 19:30  – Felix Rohatyn presents his memoir Dealings. It was a German soldier's chance decision to reach for a cigarette and absently wave a car through a checkpoint outside Marseille in 1940 that allowed Felix Rohatyn and his Jewish family to escape from Nazi-occupied France... Felix Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s. He served as United States Ambassador to France from 1997-2000.  AT The American Library in Paris

Thursday, February 10th at 7pm DINAW MENGESTU How to Read the Air AT Village Voice

February 17 7:30 pm Centre Culturel Irlandais John Banville, Booker Prize Winner for The Sea, in English (reservations advised)

Friday February 18 6:00pm Come and get a special edition of Yvon’s Paris, signed for you by Robert Stevens AT Shakespeare and Company

February 20 PLAY READING Isabel Eastman "Irresistible" (in English) MOVING  PARTS at  Carr's Pub & Restaurant Always on Sundays, always at 7.30 pm

February 24th at 7 pm MARK GEVISSER & DINAW MENGESTU Granta 114: Aliens AT Village Voice

Thursday  February 24 7:00pm   In order to celebrate the second issue of Vestoj - The Journal of Sartorial Matters, themed around fashion and magic, Shakespeare and Company invites you to an evening of ‘Magic for Beginners’

Monday February 28 7:00pm Alan Jenkins, prize-winning author of the collections The Drift, Harm and A Shorter Life, returns to Shakespeare and Company to read his new book of poems,Blue Days (The Sailor’s Return).

 

 for more events, especially poetry and bilingual reading, please consult Paris Reading and Events.

Grants, Conferences and Residencies 

 Dream of some quiet time to finish your novel?

Check out Poets and Writers database of grants, conferences and residencies at   http://www.pw.org/conferences_and_residencies . They also have a contests and more.

 

Ten rules for writing fiction Anne Enright from guardian.co.uk

 1 The first 12 years are the worst.

2 The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.

3 Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

4 Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.

5 Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity.

6 Try to be accurate about stuff.

7 Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you ­finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.

8 You can also do all that with whiskey.

9 Have fun.

10 Remember, if you sit at your desk for 15 or 20 years, every day, not ­counting weekends, it changes you. It just does. It may not improve your temper, but it fixes something else. It makes you more free.

 

Blurbs and pratfalls from the French literary scene

1) Great writer and truly vicious anti-Semite Céline was dropped from French national celebrations after Serge Klarsfeld protested according the Nazi collaborator state honors. 

2) Céline scholar Henri Godard cried "censure!" at Frédéric Mitterand's decision despite the fact that Céline's works are widely available in France and figure among the most translated works of French literature in the world.  (See debate in Le Monde)

3) PPDA accused of plagarism (again) this time on Hemingway bio: read his defense in Le Monde 

 

 

 4) Michel Levi and Michel Houellebecq fight over the title "La Carte et le territoire" rue89

 

 

5) Servier Labs manages to force publisher to recall books on Mediator scandal because of subtitle: "How Many Deaths?" before widening public outcry over confirmed deaths obliges courts to overrule previous ruling.  Bravo to Doctor Irène Frachon and the publisher who defended her, Charles Kermarec!

6) Aurélie Boullet, better known under her nom de plume Zoe Shepard, has been reinstated in her civil servant post after being temporarily suspended for the publication of her satire of official sloth in Absolument Débordée, soon to be a film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FLASH: Upstairs at Duroc launches literary journal at Berkeley Books of Paris JAN 27 7pm

This just in...!

UPSTAIRS AT DUROC, the Paris literary journal, is pleased to announce the LAUNCH for its ISSUE 12

 

January 27, 2011 at 7 P.M.

Berkeley Books of Paris

8 rue Casimir Delavigne

75006 Paris

Metro Odéon

 

Come hear new work by  Amy Hollowell, Nina Karacostan Alice Notley, Jonathan Regier, Joe Ross

 

 AMY HOLLOWELL is the author of Peneloping: Episodes in the Day of She and Giacomettrics, and is a contributor to numerous publications in the US and Europe. A former editor of the Paris-based review Pharos, she is a journalist, translator and Zen Buddhist teacher. 

 

NINA KARACOSTA’s work has appeared in Pomegranate Seeds: An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry, Best of Stain Anthology, Surreal-zine and The Melancholy Dane. An actor/poet born in Greece, she moved to NYC in 1995 and to Paris in 2009, which she now considers home. 

 

ALICE NOTLEY has published over 30 books of poetry, including most recently, Reason and Other Women; Grave of Light, New and Selected Poems 1970-2005; and In the Pines. With her sons, Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, Notley edited The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan. She is also the author of a book of essays on poets and poetry, Coming After. Notley has received many prizes and awards including the Academy of American Poets’ Lenore Marshall Prize, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Award, two NEA Grants and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Poetry. Often considered an important figure in the New York School, Notley lives and writes in Paris. 

 

JONATHAN REGIER’s first book of poetry, Three Years from Upstate, was published by Six Gallery Press (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2008. He’s now at work on a second book, as well as doing a PhD in the philosophy of science at Université Paris 7. 

 

JOE ROSS is the author of 12 books of poetry. In 1997, he received an NEA Fellowship and moved from Washington, DC to San Diego, where he worked for that city’s Commission for Arts and Culture and, later, as Chief of Policy for elected officials. He was awarded the Gertrude Stein Poetry Award in 2003. In 2004, he and his wife moved to Paris, where their 2 children were born, and where he continues to publish while working as an educator.

 

For more information about UAD, consult  www.wice-paris.org,

 

France's problem with repeat violent sex offenders

Five laws in six years--and yet another young woman murdered by a violent repeat sex offender?

The suspect already had 15 convictions and was at liberty to commit another crime. As were the rapist-murderers in four previous high profile cases. 

The problem: after investigation, arrest, trial and sentencing to prison, dangerous repeat offenders are repeatedly let loose in France, and nothing -- including the voting of ever stricter laws -- appears to stop this practice.

Why?

 Some blame the judges, who in France are reputed to show more concern for offenders than for victims. (Judges are now striking in fury at this suggestion)

Some blame a lack of prisons, which leads to overcrowding and conditions so inhumane that Europe has repeatedly sanctionned France.

Some blame the government, for voting laws for show without making the effort to fully implement them by publishing the "décrets d'application" and providing funding.

Whatever the cause (I think it is all three), the problem remains: a violent, sick individual who has been identified as a grave risk to fellow citizens (usually young women) and convicted repeatedly of serious crimes, is likely to be given his liberty in France while still able and likely to commit more crimes. 

In a solemn speech Tuesday, President Sarkozy said the "criminal recividism is not a fatality." And yet, case after case appears to contradict him. (This Le Figaro article details previous cases.)

If Marine Le Pen's far right rises, this will be one of the reasons.

French media pick up story of US role in ousting Ben Ali: first TF1, now L'Express

I rubbed my eyes.

Claire Chazale, the TF1 8 o'clock evening news anchor had just presented a report on American involvement in the fall of Ben Ali. 

It looked like news to me.

According to TF1, the head of the Tunisian army had been in constant communication with the Americans just before REFUSING Ben Ali's order to fire on demonstrators.

And, according to TF1, Ben Ali had planned to spend a few days in Paris before returning as a savior to Tunisia when suddenly his plane rerouted for Saudi Arabia, who, said TF1, the Americans had convinced to offer hospitality to the former ruler.

And yet, later that night, on the same station, the news had disappeared.

This morning: nothing in Le Figaro, the NYT, The Guardian.

I reran the video of last night's 8 pm news on the internet, and sure enough, there it is (after snow in Corsica, the high cost of toll roads, Belgium political problems, another tragic kidnapping/murder and industrial espionage at Renault). 

You have to wait, but it exists: http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/tunisie-ben-ali-les-dernieres-heures-d-un-president-6235515.html

ADDED JANUARY 25: L'Express publishes an article entitled "Did America play a role in the departure of Ben Ali"  (Their answer is: "oui")

 

Future of food: eat insects or control population growth?

With overpopulation threatening food supplies, brilliant Dutch chefs have come up with an astonishingly cheap and easy solution: eat insects!

Of course, French chefs mock these low efforts.

"Name one decent Dutch dish other than "raw herring" or "going Dutch", a famous gastronome challenged. 

"Besides," he sniffed, "everyone knows you should eat snails." 

Children, it has been pointed out, prefer bugs to broccoli any day of the week, and will prepare their own. 

But squeamish adults (and the US agribusiness lobby) are harder to convince, preferring to sing the praises of genetically engineered crops instead.

"Just put the virus of a killer whale into a seed of wheat and see how it defends itself from nature!" yelled an enthusiastic Monsanto investor. "Why, you don't even need water!"

Of course, techno-Luddites like myself can't help but wonder if we're not solving the wrong problem.

See The Economist's 14 page special on the Future of Food in which the question of population control is never asked.

 

 

FLASH : Writing for the theatre in Paris: Moving Parts ! Sundays in Carr's Pub

MOVING  PARTS

presents

with the kind permission of Carr's Pub & Restaurant

Always on Sundays, always at 7.30 pm

 

23^rd January             Reina Ceret                       "Une Ile" (en francais)

  6^th February            Gautier Cazenave              "Sherlock Holmes v Frankenstein" (in English)

20^th February            Isabel Eastman                  "Irresistible" (in English)

  6^th March                Gwyneth Hughes               "Angles of Attack" (in English)

20^th March                Gaelle Arenson                  "The Case of the Lophius" (in English)

  3^rd April                   Debra Wiess                      "A Floor Between Us" (in English)

17^th April                   Elisabeth Pierme Boi         "Le Collier des Augures" (in French)

  1^st May                   Tony Stowers                     "Le Petoman" (in English)

 

Contact Stephanie to book a reading of YOUR play

Bookings now being taken for May 2011

Programme subject to change

Latest version available on the website : www.movingparts.org.uk

or send an e-mail to the movingpartsparis address at gmail.com

 

For further information contact :

Stephanie Campion on : 06 14 67 18 58

 

Paris Writers News talks with Janet Skeslien Charles about her award-winning Moonlight in Odessa

Authors interview Authors

 

Laurel Zuckerman interviews Janet Skeslien Charles on her excellent debut novel  MOONLIGHT IN ODESSA.

 

LZ: Janet Skeslien Charles, you wrote Moonlight in Odessa, a novel inspired by the women you met when you were teaching English in the Ukraine. What made you want to write this story?

JSC: I couldn’t believe how women were advertised on International Marriage Broker sites. Many times, the photos look like they belong in Playboy. I’d always thought of mail-order brides as a fringe activity that very few men looked into. Yet when I started to research and asked friend about the subject, nearly everyone had at least one person in their family or a friend or neighbor who had found a woman through an IMB. The internet has facilitated the business and there are an estimated 4000 to 6000 women who enter the United States each year on a fiancée visa. Many of the women I interviewed were desperate to leave their country, and desperate in a completely different way once they moved to America. I wanted to capture both kinds of desperation.

LZ: How did you research your subject? Were you ever tempted to go undercover as an email order bride yourself ?

JSC: I spent a lot of time interviewing women who moved to America to marry and American man. I also looked at dozens of International Marriage Broker sites such as A Foreign Affair at www.loveme.com and spent time reading posts in forums by men who were in the process of meeting women or dealing with problems once the woman had arrived in America. I found most of the men to be very generous with their time in giving thoughtful advice; however, a few posts from a minority of the men scared me with their ‘My way, or back to Russia’ attitude. Finally, I read the newspapers. Sadly, several women who used IMBs have been killed by their American husbands. I wanted authentic material for the book, so I asked a friend to go on-line for me. She corresponded with several men and got married to one last year. I was the matron of honor at the wedding.

 LZ: Many of the women you knew have had very difficult lives. Did they help you with the book? How did you go about creating your characters and bringing them to life?

JSC: I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a novel. The characters brought themselves to life. Over successive drafts, I was surprised by the characters and their actions. I had plotted out many twists and turns, but most often did not follow the story book I’d created.

LZ: Do you still speak Russian? Are you planning to go back? Do you stay in touch with the women you knew in Odessa. Where are they now?

JSC: The more I speak French, the less I speak Russian. I’d love to go back for a visit.

LZ: You have lived in Montana, Odessa, and Paris. Which is the best place for writer? And why?

JSC: Many people come to Paris to write the Great American Novel, but I would say that it is easier to write in Montana. More space, more quiet, and better access to the market in terms of literary magazines, etc.

LZ: You have led writing workshops at Shakespeare and Company. Do you have advice for aspiring writers—and workshop leaders?

JSC: Too many young writers feel that an MFA is the only way to become a writer. Each year we see a few bestsellers from young writers from prestigious MFA programs, and that gives the impression that an MFA will get you the contacts and the help you need to get a lucrative book deal. Yet each year there are thousands of other MFA graduates who don’t get book deals. I think that writers need to focus on writing and polishing their work and to learn about the business side of writing. They need to learn how to write a strong query letter and synopsis. I spend a lot of time researching markets such as magazines and literary journals. It is time consuming but important to do. Writing instructors must nurture and encourage their writers.

LZ: Any advice for men wanting to order brides?

JSC: There seems to be a lot of false advertising for email-order brides. On IMB sites, the prospective brides are often shown as docile women. All people want to feel valued and lead rich lives, and this includes making friends, learning English and making connections with others through hobbies and work. Most men understand this, but the few who expect their new brides to cook and clean for them and stay home all the time will certainly be disappointed.

LZ: What is your next project?

JSC: I am working on another novel set in Odessa.

 

Janet Skeslien Charles’ debut novel Moonlight in Odessa was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their top ten debut novels of Fall 2009.  It was Book of the Month in the September issue of National Geographic Traveler and it won the the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. You can follow Janet on her blog at http://www.jskesliencharles.com/.

Laurel Zuckerman is the author of Sorbonne Confidential and the editor of Paris Writers News.  You can follow her on her blog at http://www.laurelzuckerman.com/

 

Ann M Mah, author of Kitchen Chinese, on food, identity, humor and growing up Chinese

Authors interview Authors:

   In this new segment, writers talk about their work with other writers.

 Laurel Zuckerman talks with Ann M Mah, author of the new book, Kitchen Chinese

 

 LZ: Ann Mah, you were born in California, won a James Beard Culinary Scolarship to study in Italy, worked in Beijing and now live in Paris. Who are you?

AAM: I've been lucky to live in places where good food is a key element of the local culture. My husband is a diplomat and we move often. Living in different cities has certainly shaped me, as has the experience of being a trailing spouse. But at the end of the day, I'd describe myself simply as someone who thinks about dinner while eating lunch. 

 

 LZ: “In Bejing, my Chinese appearance means that I can pass as a local as long as I keep my mouth shut.” Is this what make you a “banana”?

AAM: I first heard the term "banana" in high school (another word is "twinkie"). It refers to someone who is yellow on the outside, white on the inside; in other words someone who has assimilated so fully to Caucasian-American culture, they're oblivious to their ethnic identity. Growing up in the suburbs of Southern California, being a banana felt like a survival tactic. But after living in Beijing for four years, I'm not sure I could describe myself that way.

 LZ: The fabulous mother and Aunt Marcie pressure the heroine to undergo blepharoplasty (surgery on the eye-lids), bribing her with handbags and saying such horrors as “I know you want to look pretty.” (She finds it easier to go to China than to confront them.) Where did you find the inspiration for these wonderful passages?

AAM: Obviously the characters of Aunt Marcie and Isabelle's mother represent an extreme, but I think many cultures put pressure on young women to adapt to a certain standard of beauty. I have Jewish friends who've told me similar stories about mothers encouraging their daughters to get nose jobs. Ultimately, these passages are about perception, the way we view ourselves versus the way others see us, whether it be cultural identity, or physical appearance.      

 

 LZ: “Just because you visit China doesn’t mean your life is turning into an Amy Tan novel.” What do you have against Amy Tan?

AAM: To be clear -- I love Amy Tan's books. I first read the Joy Luck Club in 8th grade, and it was a formative experience. But when you have an Asian-American background, I think there can be this expectation that somewhere, somehow, you will yearn to discover your heritage, your roots. Amy Tan spoke for many Chinese Americans by writing about this in the Joy Luck Club. Unfortunately, Asian Americans are still woefully under-represented in literature, TV and film, so stories like these remain the few that are told. I wanted to show that there are also Asian Americans who don't yearn for this experience, who may visit the country of their ancestors without having a cultural epiphany.   

 

LZ: China and France have produced two great cuisines. Yet Chinese women are even thinner than French women. Why?

AAM: I don't know, but I must say I've noticed a lot of diet pills in both countries!   

 LZ:  Kitchen Chinese is a very easy book to read, with a lot of humor and sly observations. Tell us about your process as a writer to this seemingly effortless result.

AAM: Thank you -- I'm blushing! I've always admired stories that appear to very simple on the surface but become more complex as you peel back the layers and that's what I tried to create with this book. Writing is a very laborious process for me as I am far too easily distracted. Step one is definitely unplugging the internet. Then I have to sit on my hands to make sure I don't plug it back in.

 

LZ:  Are there special rules of etiquette for Chinese restaurants that we should know about? What is the worst mistake we’re all making right now?

AAM: You're never supposed to stick your chopsticks upright into a bowl of rice as it looks like incense at a funeral. But other than that, Chinese restaurants are pretty casual. 

 LZ: What’s next?

AAM: I would love to write something set in Paris, maybe about wine and a female sommelier. At least, the research would be fun.

 LZ:  As a special treat for PWN readers, could you recommend three restaurants in Paris?

 AAM:  1. Pâtes Vivantes (46 rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 9ème) -- I just discovered this Chinese noodle restaurant in the 9th. They make fresh pulled noodles and knife-cut noodles just like I've seen in China!

2. La Laiterie (64 rue de Bellechasse) -- Tiny and hip, with a chalkboard menu of seasonal dishes that have a dash of ethnic flair.

 3. Le Mistral (401 rue des Pyrénées) -- My husband has been friends with the owners for over 20 years, but I would recommend this simple bistro even if we didn't know them. Their Averyonnais specialties like aligot and sausage are like a big, hearty hug

To order Kitchen Chinese, click here.

 

Ann Mah is a journalist and author of a novel, Kitchen Chinese. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, the International Herald Tribune and other publications. She lives in Paris with her husband and a vegetable market across the street. 

Laurel Zuckerman is the author of Sorbonne Confidential and the Editor of Paris Writers News.  Her essays and interviews have appeared in Hommes et Commerces, Cahiers Pédagogiques, Le Point, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Times, as well as on France 24, TF1, RFI, and the BBC.