Few literary ceremonies demand such an effort with appearance. But tomorrow tonight is special. Shakespeare and Company are handing out their Paris Literary Prize for their very first novella competition.
Few literary ceremonies demand such an effort with appearance. But tomorrow tonight is special. Shakespeare and Company are handing out their Paris Literary Prize for their very first novella competition. Starting with Sylvia Whitman – the Shakespeare and Company’s Botticelli-like owner – the event is bound to be full of brainy beauties with lush lips and neat ankles.
Oh to be a Tumbleweed – the name given to the bookshop’s young, aspiring resident writers – and oh to wander through Shakespeare and Company –a Parisian institution that defines a quirky wonderland. Every time, I walk through the door: I wonder why I don’t live there. Put that down to its welcoming higgledy-piggledy bookshelves, nooks and crannies! Then I become quite scattered. Like a child in a sweet shop, I cast a greedy eye over all the titles on display and want them all.
Sylvia Whitman is responsible for my over-stimulated state. Au courant, count on her to order the latest novel, biography, set of essays and poetry anthology. While in person, the very blond and well-read Sylvia raises the bar. As she talks, I secretly vow to finally read Proust in French and give Baudelaire and Verlaine another whirl.
Professionally, Sylvia also inspires. When she arrived in 2003, Shakespeare and Company was described by one snippy journalist as resting on its laurels and former years associated with Ernest ‘Papa’ Hemingway, James Joyce and so forth. Thanks to Sylvia’s passion and considerable organizational skills that has changed. Shakespeare and Company now shifts loads of books as well as arranging workshops, poetry evenings and author get-togethers. Meanwhile, Sylvia views reading as a slow process. “And there’s something precious about that,” she says. I couldn’t agree more.
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is a Paris-based British journalist who covers fashion and lifestyle as well as being the author of Sam Spiegel – The Biography of A Hollywood Legend, Understanding Chic, an essay from the Paris Was Ours anthology and soon-to-be released Chanel book, for Assouline's fashion series.
Robert Beck is former New Yorker currently based in Paris. Also known as C.J. Rabbitt, he is the author and illustrator of several children's books, including The Tale of Rabbitt in Paradis, Un Lapin à Paris and the soon-to-be-published A Bunny in the Ballet.
