“Paris is very stimulating in terms of its arts and people. Living here allows me to feel like I’m part of a great tradition. Plus, I have always tended to set my books where I am. My past two books were on Paris, and people seemed to like them... it has been nice to have a new Francophile audience. This broader audience and Paris as a subject has given me much pleasure.” Diane Johnson (author of “Le Mariage” and “Le Divorce”)
“Being a writer in Paris can sound dreadfully pretentious. But I’m still just working, sitting at a desk, living in an apartment, getting on the subway. No one wants to hear that living in Paris can be ordinary, or difficult.”) Lauren Davis: (author of “Rat Medicine and Other Unlikely Curatives” and “The Stubborn Season,” out in May)
“One can live ‘the writer’s life in Paris,’ but it’s ridiculous at the same time. People no longer congregate in cafés. They sit at home and write in front of their computers. Living here as a writer is perhaps a tribute to a time, a self-conscious reproduction of that café life. Yet we live today in an age where a community... isn’t necessarily found in cafés, but where the Internet, or the computer acts as one’s community.” Ethan Gilsdorf (Poet, freelance writer, managing editor of Frank)
“From this outsider status — being both a part of and not a part of the French culture — you see things more clearly. Paris is an international city. It has a lot of political curiosity. It looks out to the world in a way other cities, even New York, do not and I find that stimulating... What a writer can create here that’s different from home is a less provincial or narcissistic consciousness, a more interesting kind of loneliness, a broader vision.” Alice Notley (Poet and author of over 20 books including her most recent 300-page poem, “Disobedience”)
“I was inspired by Baldwin, but stayed because I immediately fell in love with the city. I do feel a part of that [African-American] tradition, but there’s a big difference between say Baldwin’s or Wright’s reasons for living in Paris and my own. I don’t feel in exile here... I came out of a sense of curiosity. I never felt like I had to get out of America, and I never planned on staying — it happened as an accident...” Jake Lamar (Author of “Bourgeois Blues,” “Close to the Bone,” and “If 6 Were 9”)
“The real excitement about writing in Paris comes from being in a place that has always stimulated writers. Also there’s an appreciation you receive as an artist here that’s not necessarily apparent elsewhere.” Polly Platt (Author of “French or Foe?” and “Savoir Flair: 211 Tips for Enjoying France”)
“I think the fact that Paris has a great literary community — where it’s common to see people with their noses in books, on the metro, in stores, while they’re walking — is a great inspiration. The city also has a lot of historical atmosphere that inspires a writer to dream...” Kyle Jarrard (Author of “Rolling the Bones and Over There”)
“I didn’t see this as a romantic idea. It had nothing to do with France itself, with wearing hats or writing tortured letters from a sidewalk café. I didn’t care where Hemingway drank or Alice B. Toklas had her mustache trimmed. What I found appealing in life abroad was the inevitable sense of helplessness it would inspire. Equally exciting would be the work involved in overcoming that helplessness. There would be a goal involved, and I like having goals.” David Sedaris (quote from “Me Talk Pretty One Day”)
