Paris Writers News this September: Mark Moogalian, Anne Penketh, Christos Tsiolkas, Ash Aw, Kate Stables, Zack Rock, Christine Angot, Andrew Hussy, Maxine Rose Schur, Marianne Faithfull, Max Porter,European Heritage Days, Cecilia Woloch, Eimear McBride, Le Festival des Ecrivains du Monde, A.S. Byatt, Les Murray, Samar Yazbek, Gary Steyngart, Edna O'Brian, Sean B Carroll, Naomi Wood, Sion Dayson, Shannon Cain, John Pope, Helen Cusack O’Keeffe, Peter Gumbel, Meg Bortin, Gary Lee Kraut, and more...(update ongoing)

Mark Moogalian, shot in the Thalys attack, is still in the ICU

NEW BOOKS FROM PARIS WRITERS

The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs by Andrew Hussy ("describes the conflict in such dire terms that his French publisher refused to release a translation" - New Yorker)

Food Fight: A Novel by Anne Penketh (amusing and timely novel given Coca Cola's recent efforts to fund research that downplays the role of sugar in obesity and type 2 diabetes)

Eloge du Blasphème by Caroline Fourest (courageously argued essay for liberty in a world gone mad - French)

Sur la Route by Cecilia Woloch ("a free-spirited woman’s answer to Kerouac" - —Carol Muske-Dukes in the Huffington Post)

Ces écoles pas comme les autres. À la rencontre des dis)sidents de l'éducation by Peter Gumbel (see interviews about Gumbel's previous books on the French school system - French)

SELECTED LITERARY (and other) EVENTS IN PARIS THIS SEPTEMBER

4-6 SEP Livres sur les Quais See the program at www.lelivresurlesquais.ch To sign up for the two workshops, Writing Workshop for Teens, Saturday at 11:00 with Katie Hayoz, and Travel Writing Sunday at 14h30, please contact [email protected]

6 SEP 5pm Goûter d'écoute ARTE Radio @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

7 SEP 7 pm Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap @ Shakespeare and Company, free and open to all, but space is limited so arrive early!

9 SEP 7:30 pm Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire @ The American Library in Paris admission free

9 SEP 3 pm Children’s Hour, author Kate Stables will be joined by enchanting writer and illustrator Zack Rock @ Shakespeare and Company. Please email Kate at [email protected] to confirm (1 adult per child, please!)

11 SEP 8pm Christine Angot, author of Un Amour Impossible @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris (in French, 5 euros, please reserve)

12 SEP 3-4pm FOR KIDS ages 5 and up : Award-winning writer Maxine Rose Schur! Maxine will read from her latest picture book There's a Babirusa in My Bathtub @ The American Library in Paris - free for Library members and 10€ for non-members

14 SEP 7pm Max Porter, author of Grief Is The Thing With Feathers @Shakespeare and Company - free and open to all but space is limited!

16 SEP 7:30 pm Conversation with singer Marianne Faithfull @ The American Library in Paris, reservation obligatory

19-20 SEP European Heritage Days: admission free

21 SEP 7pm Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing @Shakespeare and Company - free and open to all but space is limited!

24 SEP 11-12:30 a discussion on Homeschooling @ The American Library in Paris . Registration required. Email Celeste, the children's and young adults' services manager, to reserve at [email protected] or call the Library at 01 53 59 12 69. Participation is free for library members and 15€ per session for non-members.

25-27 SEP Festival des Ecrivains du Monde, organised by Columbia Global Center

With 17 authors participating in events across Paris, the Festival des Ecrivains du Monde features Man Booker Prize winner A.S. Byatt, Australian poet Les Murray, award-winning Syrian exile writer Samar Yazbek, a tribute to David Foster Wallace, or a Translation Slam, and many more outstanding events with internationally renowned authors.

25 SEP 7:30 pm Gary Sheyngart @ The American Library in Paris - reservations obligatory [email protected] , space limited

25 SEP 6:30-730 pm A Conversation with A.S. Byatt @ ENS 45 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris (free and open to the public)

25 SEP 7-8 pm The Book of Strange New Things: A Conversation with Michel Faber @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

25 SEP 7-8 pm Conscious and Verbal: A Poetry Reading and Conversation with Australian Poet, Les Murray @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

25 SEP 8-9:30 pm The Seven Good Years: A Conversation and Reading with Etgar Keret @ ENS 45 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris (free and open to the public)

25 SEP 8:30 -9:30 pm The Lazarus Project: A Conversation with Aleksandar Hemon @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

26 SEP 7:30pm - 8:30 pm The Country Girl: Edna O’Brien in Conversation Under the Stars @ The Irish Cultural Center 5 rue des Irlandais 75005 Paris (5 euros, reservations)

26 SEP 1-2 pm Kinder Than Solitude: A Conversation with Yiyun Li @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

26 SEP 2:30-3:30pm The Gates to the Land of Nothingness: A Conversation with Samar Yazbek @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

26 SEP 2:30-3:30 pm Exile and Belonging with Sayed Kashua and Etgar Keret @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)

26 SEP 4-5 pm Rewriting History with Carmen Boullosa @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

26 SEP 4-5 pm The Mother Tongue: A Roundtable with Aleksandar Hemon and Yiyun Li @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)

26 SEP 5:30-6:30 pm A Conversation with Christine Angot @ BNF quai François Mauriac 75013 (free and open to the public)

26 SEP 5:30-7pm The Redemptive Power of Literature with Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, Michel Faber, and Javier Cercas @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

26 SEP 6-7 pm One Day I Will Write About this Place: A Conversation with Binyavanga Wainaina @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

26 SEP 8-10 pm The Translation Slam with Carmen Boullosa and TBC @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

26 SEP 9-11 pm Infinite Jest, A Tribute to David Foster Wallace @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

27 SEP 2-3:30 pm Citizens of the World with Binyavanga Wainaina, Sayed Kashua, and Gary Shteyngart @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

27 SEP 2-3:30pm The Art of the Short Story with Yiyun Li, Aleksandar Hemon, and Etgar Keret @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris (free and open to the public)

27 SEP 4-5:30 pm TEXTES & VOIX: L’imposteur by Javier Cercas, reading by Alain Libolt, followed by a conversation with the author. Presented by Textes & Voix and Nadine Eghels @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006 (Free and open to the public!)

27 SEP 5:30-7pm Literature as a Bridge: A Reading with Samar Yazbek, Carmen Boullosa, Michel Faber, Sayed Kashua, Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, and Binyavanga Wainaina @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

27 SEP 4-5 pm Antigone in Afghanistan @ Maison de la Poésie 157 rue Saint Martin 75003 Paris

27 SEP 7:30-9pm UR - A Play, Written and Produced by Sulayman Al Bassam Performed by TBC @ Reid Hall 4 rue de Chevreuse 75006

29 SEP 7:30 pm Sean B Carroll author of Brave Genius: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize which explores the friendship between writer Albert Camus and scientist Jacques Monod @ The American Library of Paris

30 SEP 7:30 pm Naomi Wood, author of Mrs Hemingway @ The American Library in Paris

LINKS TO WRITING WORKSHOPS IN PARIS

- NEW! Write-in Paris (WIP) with Sion Dayson: 6-week sessions, each meeting is 2 1/2 hours. (Session One (5 weeks):- Daytime WIP: Mondays, 3-5:30 pm, September 14-October 12;- Evening WIP: Thursdays, 7-9:30 pm, September 17-October 15.Session Two (6 weeks):- Daytime WIP, Mondays, 3-5:30 pm, November 2-December 7;- Evening WIP: Thursdays, 7-9:30 pm, November 5-December 10.The cost of the 6-week session is 90 euros. Tea and water are provided.Limit 8 participants per session.Contact host Sion Dayson at [email protected] to sign up!)

- NEW! The Tuesday Writer's Workshop September 22 to October 27, 2015, 7:30 to 9:30 pm with Shannon Cain (Acceptance by Application. To apply, send a few pages of your writing to [email protected]. We workshop literary prose, in English: fiction, nonfiction, memoir, autofiction, etcetera. The cost of the workshop is 595€. Register early; spots fill quickly. workshop price includes wine and light dinner Space limited to eight participants. We meet in the 3eme arrondissement. Address and other important details will be provided upon acceptance. For more information, visit www.shannoncain.com - Download Flyer.

- Moving Your Passion onto the Page: An Intensive Multi-Genre Workshop for Writers with Cecilia Woloch September 28 – Oct. 2, 2015 (Each workshop participant will generate a body of new writing over the course of the workshop and receive guidance toward bringing that work to fruition. The workshop fee includes hand-outs and a half-hour private consultation with Cecilia. For more information or to register, contact: [email protected])

- WICE Creative Writing Classes for all levels and interests:

* The Craft of Memoir Writing with Meg Bortin,

* Paris Vignettes and Travel Blogging with Gary Lee Kraut

* Short Story Writing with Alecia McKenzie

* The Language of Fiction with Dr. Gretel Furner

- Paris Lit Up Drop in Writing Workshops: Sat 15-17h. see ParisLitUp for details on what to bring and how. (upstairs at L’Autre Café, 62 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud).

The Other Writers' Group Drop-in feedback workshop held every Sunday upstairs at Shakespeare & Company (37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005) 6.30pm-8.30pm. We look at the praticalities of how a poem or story works - or doesn't. 6 euros. Bring 10 copies of a poem or of 3-4 pages of prose or just come and listen. More info at http://spokenwordparis.org/the-other-writers-group/

- The Paris Writers Group: Weds; open to all writers and free (please buy a beverage or food from the host cafe) with John Pope and/or Helen Cusack O’Keeffe.

- The Paris Master Class Workshop with Shannon Cain: free, graduate level, by application only. Send about 10 pages of recent writing to [email protected].

- Writers' Meet-ups in Paris:

- Maxine Rose Schur Children's Book Writing Workshop

FOLLOW YOUR FAVORITE LITERARY EVENTS ON FACEBOOK

@pariswriters

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@amerlibparis

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@cc_canadien

On December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, launching the United States' "War on Cancer".

Yet, despite unprecedented resources, cancer mortality continued to increase.

There were many reasons for this, as Siddhartha Mukherjee documents in his outstanding "biography of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies. Cancer was difficult to understand. Scientists, surgeons and oncologists worked separately. Double blind evaluations of therapies were not adequately used to determine what worked and what did not. But one reason stands out:

The clear link between smoking and cancer was ignored. Attacking preventable cancer deaths was simply not part of the plan. And the tobacco industry did everything it could to ensure that it would not be part of the plan.

***

IS TYPE 2 DIABETES THE NEW CANCER?

Faced with clear evidence that its products caused cancer, the tobacco industry used its massive financial and media buying power to hide the evidence.

Philip Morris created the Council for Tobacco Research to instill doubt. Big Tobacco financed friendly scientists who would come up with "studies" that "showed" that the evidence was confusing. That no conclusion could be drawn. That "more research was needed.

Mukherjee's stunning biography of cancer

Today, faced with a similar health crisis - the explosion of preventable type 2 diabetes, another blue chip American company is taking a similar path.

According to the NYT, Coca Cola has created the Global Energy Balance Network, to "alter" the war on obesity. The purpose: to shift the blame from sugary drinks (sold by Coca Cola) to a lack of exercise.

***

Continue reading "When Americans Get Health Advice From Lucky Strike and Coca Cola" »