Shakespeare and Company

We were joined by journalist and writer Agnes Poirier to discuss Left Bank, her captivating portrait of those who lived, loved, fought, played and flourished in Paris between 1940 and 1950, and whose intellectual and artistic output still influences us today.

We were joined by award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge to discuss her powerful and provocative book on race and racism in modern Britain, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.

We were joined by Leila Slimani, winner of the 2016 Prix Goncourt (France’s most prestigious literary prize) to mark the English release of Lullaby, the intense and gripping literary thriller, that took France by storm.

We were joined by Alicia Drake to discuss I Love You Too Much, her sharp, beautiful novel about the loneliness of childhood set in one of the most elegant districts of Paris.

We discussed depression and anxiety with Johann Hari, author of the new book Lost Connections called “wise, probing and deeply generous” by Naomi Klein and “a brilliant, stimulating, radical take on mental health” by Matt Haig.

We were joined by Jeremy Gavron—“one of our more innovative, quietly inventive and exciting novelists” (Ali Smith)—to read from and discuss his extraordinary new work, Felix Culpa, a novel made out of lines taken from a hundred great works of literature.

In January 2018, we were joined by world-renowned comedian, actor, writer, runner, and activist Eddie Izzard. In Paris developing a brand new stand-up show (in French!), for one afternoon only Eddie Izzard swapped the comedy club for the bookstore to discuss his brilliant, moving and hilarious new book, Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens.

For our second event of 2018 exploring the burgeoning yet slippery form of the essay, we were joined by Brian Dillon whose book Essayism - his essays on essays - is already considered a classic of the form.

We were joined by Argentinian writer Ariana Harwicz, and her translator Carolina Orloff, to read from and discuss Die, My Love, a profound and bruising novel about Motherhood, womanhood, the mechanization of love, the inexplicable brutality of having ‘your heart live in someone else’s’.

We were joined by Booker-shortlisted novelist Mohsin Hamid to discuss his urgent and lyrical new book Exit West. In association with éditions Grasset.

We were joined by one of Ireland’s most exciting young novelists, Sara Baume, to discuss her new book A Line Made By Walking. In association with éditions Noir sur Blanc.

John Freeman's first poetry collection charts the impact of place on human experience. In Beirut, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Rome, and the foothills of a childhood hometown, Freeman navigates legacies of ruin and construction, illness and memory. Warm, mournful, and distinctly urban, Maps offers a compassionate perspective from the experience of one American embroiled in empire. Deborah Landau’s third collection, The Uses of the Body, was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and included on “Best of 2015″ lists by The New Yorker, Vogue, BuzzFeed, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, The New York Times, and The Best American Poetry; in 2016 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She teaches in and directs the Creative Writing Program at New York University. Her fourth book, Soft Targets, will be published in 2019.

Nathan Englander joined us to read from and discuss his “glorious…devastating… beautiful” (NPR) new book, Dinner at the Center of the Earth. In collaboration with NYU.

Backlisted is the podcast that gives new life to old books - in the words of the Paris Review, “the sense that the next book I pick up could change my life.” We were joined by the show's hosts, author Andy Miller and publisher John Mitchinson, for an evening of literary exploration and elucidation: what makes a great lost book and why some books get lost in the first place.

We were joined by Alex Preston to discuss As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books, a visually stunning exploration of birds in literature, from Ovid to Ted Hughes.