Culture
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…
Hachette CEO’s Downbeat View of the Book Market
The market for books whether print or digital should remain flat in the next three to five years and then decline slightly over the following decade, according to Arnaud Nourry, chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre. But the picture could be bleaker, as books are holding up better than all other culture and entertainment sectors, he told the Association over an elegant lunch in the group’s two-year…
AAPA Members Visit World’s Biggest Auction Space
The AAPA’s evening field trip on May 18 to Drouot, Paris' historic and esteemed auction house, was an eye-opener to most of the group who had never experienced a high-powered auction in full swing. Drouot opened in 1852 and is the world’s largest public auction space, with 18 auction halls where 110 affiliated auctioneers sell off objects to the highest bidders from premium art works to more…
Pompidou Center’s Attraction Still Rising After 40 Years
Terror attacks scared off visitors to the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay last year, but the numbers kept on rising for the Pompidou Centre, its president Serge Lasvignes told AAPA members over lunch on Jan. 11 as the centre marks its 40th anniversary. The nine percent rise at the Pompidou - 3.33 million people turned up in 2016 - was because the bulk of its visitors are French and they see the…
Le Canard Enchainé Celebrates 100 Years of Needling the Establishment
PARIS—Drawing on his large stock of entertaining anecdotes, Erik Emptaz, the editor of Le Canard Enchainé, looked back over the French satirical weekly’s 100 years of existence when he met the AAPA on Dec. 7. A solid turnout at the Bonne Bière heard Emptaz comment on a vast range of subjects, including the paper’s independence from advertisers and big business shareholders, the recent surprises…
New-Look American Institution in Paris Gets the Once-Over
The recent renovation of the American Library was done with the user in mind, Director Charles Trueheart told an early bird group of AAPA members and their guests over coffee and viennoiseries on Oct. 11. We met before the opening to the public at 10 AM in a spacious, carpeted downstairs book-lined meeting area, formerly a dark and forbidding basement for books. "The new plan provides a…
Young Audience Gives Standing Ovation at Paris Opera
Most of the audience looked as though it would have been better suited to a rock concert. Certainly not a preview of a new, modern-day production of Camille Saint-Saëns’ 19th-century opera Samson and Delilah at the Paris Opera Bastille on October 1. Not only were they young (under 28 years of age), but they had all bought tickets at the rock-bottom price of 10 euros each. The performance was…
AFP’s CEO Briefs AAPA on N. Korean Expansion
Opening a bureau in North Korea, arguably the world’s most secretive state, inevitably involves making compromises, Emmanuel Hoog, the CEO of Agence France-Presse, conceded in a meeting on Sept. 20 with the AAPA. AFP inaugurated its bureau in Pyongyang in early September in a deal with KCNA, North Korea’s official news agency, and it has a permanent staff there of a North Korean photographer and…