Best Paris Stories paperback at The Red Wheelbarrow in Paris

If you are looking for the paperback of Best Paris Stories, you can now find it at The Red Wheelbarrow bookshop in Paris! 22, rue St Paul 75001 Many other terrific books also available!

BEST PARIS STORIES by Jeannine Alter, Jim Archibald,  Lisa Burkitt, Mary Byrne, Jane M. Handel, Marie Houzelle, Bob Levy, Julia Mary Lichtblau, Jo Nguyen, Nafkote Tamirat 

ISBN: 9780982369852   210 pages  Trim size: 5.06 x 7.81 in or 198 x 129 mm 

For some, Paris is home, for others, merely a dream. For Gaston, it is a bench, the anchor of his life. For Sue, a romantic city filled with scandalous, dark-eyed men, for Frank an all-consuming fire, for Mme Santinelli a ghost she'd hoped to forget.

By turns humorous, bittersweet, historical or surreal, each of these carefully selected stories invites us to explore a different facet of Paris.

Exciting new voices from the winners of the 2011 Paris Short Story Contest - Paris Writers News

SELECTED BY DISTINGUISHED JUDGES 

I chose "The Way You Looked at Me" for its graceful writing and general subject - our differing points of view - and for its powers of observation, and astute cross-cultural detail.  (JUDGE DIANE JOHNSON, author of Le Divorce)

“Hortense on Tuesday Nights” had a sparse, mysterious quality which engaged me. The point of view was culturally ambiguous - and distinctly Un-American - which I found refreshing. (JUDGE ELIZABETH BARD, author of Lunch in Paris: a Love Story with Recipes) 

I liked the story for its realism, its knowing voice, its discreet sense of humor, its successful reliance on dialogue, and its confidence in its own originality.  (JUDGE CHARLES TRUEHEART, on “Our Pharmacy” by Nafkote Tamirat)

I chose “My Sunday with God” because, in addition to being well written and having a strong voice, it felt very fresh to me. (JUDGE ANNE KORKEAKIVI, author of An Unexpected Guest) 

When reading this story, I was struck by the narrator's voice, which took me to other times and other places. I admired how the author shed light on the plight of immigrants who come to France and the harsh realities they encounter on the way. (JUDGE JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, author of Moonlight in Odessa, on “Brazzaville – Belleville Express” by Jo Nguyen

This is a story whose characters emotionally hooked us and we wanted to keep reading.  Set in an earlier era added intrigue and grounding while capturing the French primal relationship with food. (JUDGES CHARLES AND CLYDETTE DEGROOT, on “A Pinch of Tarragon” by Lisa Burkitt)

For more on the Authors, Editorial Committee and Judges, click here. 

The challenge of writing about Paris is to keep it fresh. - interview

Best Paris Stories is honored to present the anthology at the American Library in Paris on May 29th 10, rue du Général Camou 75007 Paris, France.

In this interview, published on the blog of the American Library in Paris, the editor Laurel Zuckerman explains how the collection of Paris short stories was conceived, what the stories are about, who the authors are, and how changes in publishing are offering new opportunities to writers of short stories and novellas.
You can read the full interview on the American Library Blog here.

Extracts:

On the idea behind Best Paris Stories

"The challenge of writing about Paris is to keep it fresh. Writers have been writing about this remarkable city and its people for centuries. What’s changed? What’s eternal? What’s the reality below the surface? How to go beyond the beautiful tourist destination many of us know as expats? That was the starting point for Best Paris Stories."

On the diversity of short stories including in the Paris antholoty

There are funny stories and moving stories. “That Summer With My Dad in Paris” by Jeannine Alter explores a daughter’s journey back towards her father after loss, while in “The Baker of Vaugirard”, Jim Archibald follows a life lived quietly over decades in one small Parisian neighborhood. In “May”, Marie Houzelle plunges us into French academia, while “A Pinch of Tarragon” by Lisa Burkitt takes us back to a time where food meant life. Immigrant Paris offers the setting for Mary Byrne’s “Frank Stands His Ground In Belleville” and “Brazzaville-Belleville Express” by Jo Nguyen....

The stories, like the inhabitants of Paris, are extremely diverse and appeal to different sensibilities. 

 On how stories were selected

"Judging was something we gave a lot of thought to. It’s really interesting to observe how different readers respond to the same story. Some might love a piece, while others hate it or simply shrug with indifference.  If you forget for a moment what you are supposed to like and ask yourself instead what you really enjoy, the result can be surprising—and fun. It’s incredibly personal, a reader’s reaction to a story. Brilliant language, characters who are alive, wit, a distinctive voice, emotional resonance and clever plotting can’t hurt, of course. But they alone cannot explain what make readers connect with a story. So, for us, the challenge was to select stories that met certain generally accepted standards while recognizing – and encouraging – a highly personal response."...

For the complete interview with Laurel Zuckerman, please see the American Library in Paris Blog