When I arrived in Paris, I taught English in three different schools and gave private lessons in Paris and Versailles. Time went by, and five years later, I was spending more time below ground in the metro, running between schools and students, than I did above ground writing. It was time to make a change, so I decided to write full time and to lead a writing workshop to meet people who liked to read, write, and go to the cinema. It wasn’t easy to find a venue, but luckily, when I asked Sylvia Whitman at Shakespeare & Company, she was open to the idea and suggested I look at the upstairs library. When I walked up the stairs, her father George Whitman asked, ‘How long can you stay?’ I stayed for five years.

The first year, the cost of my eight-week session was 25 euros (then $25), because I wanted the class to be open to everyone just like Shakespeare & Company. People of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities took the class. Each week, students, professors, bankers, musicians, journalists, etc. came together to talk about the books they loved to read and the poetry and prose they were writing. Many of the participants stayed with me for three years; they were the first readers of my novel. Anna Pook now leads the workshop and does a marvelous job.

Monday, February 15th at 7 pm, Shakespeare & Company is hosting my reading of Moonlight in Odessa, a celebration of the UK launch. My agent, editor, German editor, French subagent, friends, fellow writers, and family will be there to raise a glass. I am thrilled to have such support, and thrilled that the workshop that I began at Shakespeare & Company has blossomed into rich friendships and a new novel.

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