25 June Paris Writers Workshop Panel “Getting Published – A Writer’s Options”

4PM – 6PM Wednesday 25 June 2014 

American University of Paris. Combes Building, Room C12, at 6, Rue du Colonel Combes, 75007

* FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC *

WICE to offer class in writing about Paris

Thursdays October 4, 11, 18, 25

Course Description: For so many, Paris is less a place than a dream, an icon of romance and beauty infused with all manner of improbable hopes and impossible desires. For those of us who live here, however, Paris is a very real and sometimes gritty city, the backdrop for the evolving dramas of our daily lives. How to write about Paris – and our lives here –  especially when our reality does not conform to the fervent expectations of others? In this four part series, mixing classwork with writing exercises, we will learn from the masters and explore avenues for writing about Paris in ways that are both fresh and personal.

Instructor: Laurel Zuckerman is the director of Best Paris Stories and the editor of Paris Writers News. Her books include Sorbonne Confidential (Fayard) and Les Rêves Barbares du Professeur Collie (Fay

Against the homogenization of literature - Jeanette Winterson

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Jeanette Winterson decried the growing homogenization of literature due to the proliferation of writer training programs.

"The crazy part of it is that we are breeding professional, competent, homogenized writers who will go on to teach writing that is professional, competent and homogenized." 

Competence is good. But uniformity is not.  This expresses perfectly our concern - and explains why we set up such an unusual selection process for Best Paris Stories.