A Preview of My Fair Lady
Days before it opened to raving critics and enthusiastic audiences, more than 30 AAPA members and guests enjoyed a sneak preview of the popular musical "My Fair Lady" at the Chatelet Theater on Dec. 3. The show's lively, creative director, Jean-Luc Choplin spent nearly an hour with us, answering questions about challenges of presenting a musical in English with French subtitles . He…
Farewell to Pat Thompson
We gathered for the burial mass under a gray, damp sky on the morning of December 28 at the Eglise Saint Thomas d'Aquin in the 7th to remember and reflect on the life of longstanding AAPA member Pat Thompson, amid prayers, music and a sense of great loss among some one hundred fifty attending relatives, friends and colleagues. Conducted in English by the American priest Francis Finnigan, the…
The President’s letter
Dear Association Member, Our Annual General Meeting at John Morris’ home on Nov. 24 was a convivial and productive evening. We discussed a number of topics including: our healthy finances, a recap of the many varied guests we received and events which were organized during the past year, our membership tally, and our ever-evolving website. And, of course, we voted for our officers who will serve…
Joanne and Gerry Dryansky's books
Gerry Dryansky and his wife Joanne, who began writing together doing screenplays, have had two of their three novels out now, nearly at the same time, SATAN LAKE and FORTUNE’S SECOND WINK/LA DEUXIEME VIE DE FATIMA. The first is with the prestigious literary houses of Actes Sud in France and McArthur &Co. in Canada and the second with the French Les Editions Héloïse d’Ormesson. Each is in a…
ESA Explores The Final Frontier
People don’t realize how much their daily lives depend on space technology, according to the head of the European Space Agency. “To help EU citizens understand how much they rely on space in their daily lives,” ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain told AAPA members on Dec. 1, “I would like to have a ‘Space Day’ every year when I turn off all the satellites. Then they will see how important…
Douglas Kennedy Meets The Press
A crowd of more than 50 people filled John Morris' loft Nov. 22 to hear best-selling novelist Douglas Kennedy talk about himself, his art and his vision of the world. Kennedy, whose 1998 novel "The Big Picture" has recently been made into a box hit of a movie in France, “L'Homme Qui Voulait Vivre Sa Vie," has sold millions of books worldwide. Kennedy explained how he organizes his writing, and…
AAPA Meets Le Monde's Top Brass
More than 20 AAPA members went to Le Monde on November 9 to meet with the group's director, Éric Fottorino, and chief editor Sylvie Kauffmann, over an informal, bring-your-own lunch in the newspaper's conference room. The discussion centered around the paper's new trio of major shareholders who saved the paper from bankruptcy -- Pierre Bergé, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse -- and their impact…
Reporters sans frontières
Protecting the freedom of journalists has become far more difficult and complex during the past few years, but organized efforts to combat media controls are increasing throughout the world, according to Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of Reporters sans frontières. Meeting with over a dozen of us at RsF headquarters Oct, 18, Julliard, who became its secretary general two years ago,…
Peter Gumbel's new book
“On achève bien les écoliers” (Grasset) Back in 2002, we moved to Paris from Los Angeles, in part because we wanted our children to have a great European education. French schools, with their high academic standards, seemed to offer just that, at least from a distance. It didn’t take long to discover that the reality of school here is far removed from the magnificent ideal of a great…
Annual Gala Gets Top Marks
Virginia Power welcomes the AAPA to the U.S. Ambassdor's residence Charles-Efflam Heidsieck plays for Yana Boukoff Presidential special envoy George Mitchell and ambassadors Charles Rivkin and Sir Peter Westmacott The gala 2010 was one of the best ever, with 90 members celebrating It was one of the best AAPA galas in recent years, according to many of those present. Some ninety members and…