Culture
Discovering a Renovated Parisian Treasure
The newly restored BnF Richelieu is more than a library. It’s a repository -- described as “a vast archipelago of spaces” – for art history and culture, containing manuscripts, prints and photography, coins, medals and antiques. The AAPA met with Laurence Engel, the library’s director, on November 24 and toured these historical rooms and their priceless collections: the scores of Mozart’s Don…
Kiev City Ballet Châtelet Rehearsal
The men of Kiev City Ballet rehearse the original piece “Boys from Kiev” during a visit by the AAPA. Since our meeting several of the men have returned to Ukraine to join the fighting. On June 9, Ivan and Katja Kozlov, Directors of the Kiev City Ballet, invited us to attend a rehearsal at the Chatelet Theatre's Pavlova studio. The company was performing in Paris when Russia invaded Ukraine...and…
France plans new Terrorism Museum
Coinciding with the opening of the trial for the horrifying November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the AAPA was invited on 9 September 2021 to meet the man behind France’s upcoming museum on terrorism, expected to open in the Paris area in 2027. Historian Henry Rousso previously helped create the Caen Memorial Museum on the WWII Normandy landings, and the Shoah/Holocaust Memorial in Paris.…
France's 'Monsieur Patrimoine' Stéphane Bern talks to the AAPA
Stéphane Bern, the ardent defender of France's cultural heritage, treated the AAPA to an hour of his insights into the post-pandemic state of play, progress on resurrecting Notre Dame Cathedral, the Christo stunt at the Arc de Triomphe, and more. The ebullient journalist and author is a household name in France thanks to his hugely popular television shows, and is a darling of crowned heads and…
Sneak Preview of the Stunning Pinault Collection in the Bourse du Commerce
The AAPA visited the new Pinault Collection on May 18 (4 days before the official opening), thanks to the organizational skills of Elaine Cobbe (with Shellie Karabell shepherding on-site). Both the building and its contents were impressive! Architect Tadao Ando’s welcoming and subtle design, blends history with contemporary art. The spatial layout of concentric circles features 10 galleries over…
Authors’ Panel
Looking for inspiration and guidance on writing that book? Eight AAPA authors provided advice on finding a publisher, getting an advance, choosing an agent, marketing your opus and more in a panel discussion on Zoom on December 10. Click the link below to hear what the panelists—Monique El-Faizy, Peter Gumbel, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Linda Hervieux, Victor Mallet, Stefania Rousselle, Dana Thomas…
Shaking it up at the Châtelet
A rare chance to watch the final rehearsals for a musical at the Théâtre du Châtelet was the cherry on the cake for AAPA members who met with the theatre's new Artistic Director on November 26. Ruth Mackenzie is the first woman in the job, and first non-French national - she is British. She made it clear to our group that she is not at all daunted by the challenges either one of those factors…
Women spies and how to write a best-seller
With an eye on D-Day stories and tips on how to write a best-selling novel, AAPA members had a wide-ranging exchange with Washington-based British novelist Jennifer Ryan. Ryan’s best-selling debut novel “The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir” was about women in World War II, and she continued the theme in her second novel, published in June 2019, “The Spies of Shilling Lane”. She shared stories of women…
Bruno Latour
"It is not a question of cognitive capacity, of comprehending facts, but rather sharing the same "territory". As reflected in the slogan: "My country, right or wrong"; to what or to whom are people loyal? We no longer share the same Land." Former Scientific Director of Sciences Po Media Lab, philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour, explained to AAPA members the basic premise of…
Le Monde boss Jérôme Fenoglio tells AAPA how his paper has managed to thrive in the current grim media landscape
Plans for an English edition of Le Monde, combating fake news, and how the leading French daily is - finally - doing rather nicely in a changed and ever-changing media landscape: these and many other topics were covered when Le Monde editor Jérôme Fenoglio hosted the AAPA. The event was held on March 27 at the newspaper's premises in the 13th arrondissement, where the imposing building's grand…