Literary Walks
John Baxter's literary walks commence at Forum 104 and take between two and three hours, with frequent stops at significant sites in the history of 20th century literature. The pace is relaxed, with ample opportunities to pause at an interesting café or linger in the Luxembourg Gardens to watch a game of petanque.
Eighteen years in the 6th arrondissement, where Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Gertrude Stein and many others also made their homes, has given John an encyclopedic knowledge of their lives and work. The building he occupies is itself a historical site, since Sylvia Beach lived there when she ran the famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop, and published James Joyce's Ulysses. Time permitting, each tour ends with a visit to John's home, and a chance to view his collection of rare books and literary memorabilia.
John's publications include We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, A Pound of Paper; Confesions of a Book Addict, the forthcoming Immoveable Feast; A Paris Christmas, and more than thirty others, including biographies of Robert DeNiro, Federico Fellini Stanley Kubrick and Woody Allen.
Twentieth Annual Paris Writers Workshop
previous stop press
British novelist to judge first Paris Prize
British writer Matt Thorne has agreed to judge the first $5000 Paris prize for fiction. Born in 1974, Matt grew up in Bristol, graduated from Cambridge University, and published six novels before he turned thirty. Tourist, (1998) attacked the negative effects of tourism on a seaside town. Eight Minutes Idle (1999) drew on his experiences working in a call centre, and won an Encore Award, while his 2004 novel Cherry was longlisted for the Booker Prize. His critical study of the rock musician Prince will be published in 2010.
A regular critic for national newspapers, Matt has written screenplays and plays for radio, and several books for young adults, including the 39 Castles series, about a group of high-spirited children in medieval England.
Photo: Caroline Forbes
Another PWW success story!
Natalia Sarkissian (PWW 2007) writes: "Congratulations on your lovely new website. I would love to attend PWW this year, but as a result of last year's short-story workshop with Manette Ansay I was awarded a merit scholarship by Vermont College, where I am currently enrolled! I can safely say it is all thanks to you and your wonderful program that my life has taken a new and unexpected turn."
The Organisers
Meet Marcia and John, the people who made this year's PWW happen.
Marcia Lèbre
Marcia Mead Lèbre, who has lived in France since 1973, is a poet, translator, and teacher.... She attended her first Paris Writers Workshop in 1992 as a beginning writer and discovered her vocation as a poet. After participating in several more PWW's, she returned to graduate school and earned a M.F.A. at Bennington College She has directed the Paris Writers Workshop since 1998.
John Baxter
John Baxter was born in Australia but has written and taught in London, Dublin, Los Angeles and, for the last 18 years, in Paris. He is the author of more than 40 books, including We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, A Pound of Paper; Confessions of a Book Addict, the forthcoming Immoveable Feast; A Paris Christmas, and biographies of Robert DeNiro, Federico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick and Woody Allen.
