Parisian author Ann Mah will be speaking at the American Library on March 10th. Check out her novel Kitchen Chinese and her blog http://annmah.net/index.php, where she talks about the challenges and rewards of writing and living in Paris.

What brought you to Paris?
My husband is a diplomat, so we move a lot. But I always dreamed of living Paris, with unlimited access to unpasteurized cheese, red wine, and beauty. It hasn’t disappointed me yet!

What keeps you in Paris?
Alas, we move every three or four years, so I won’t be able to live in Paris forever. But it will always remain a spiritual home for me, especially as the city and I share a passion for good food and wine, eating fruits and vegetables in season, and a more sedate pace of life.

What books have changed your life?
Woman in White by Wilkie Collins — My heart almost leapt out of my chest the first time I read this Victorian thriller. A brilliant example of  meticulous plotting that looks effortless.
 
The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald — witty and super sharp, with Fitzgerald’s genius development of characters, and his ruthless depiction of 1920s mores. My favorite stories are “Bernice Bobs her Hair,” “The Ice Palace,” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.”
 
Many cookbooks — too many to pick just one — which have opened up the world for me through different spices and flavors.

What books are on your nightstand?
I’ve felt a little stressed out lately, so I’m indulging in some comfort reading (like comfort food but in book form): The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, and lots of cookbooks.

What advice would you give to struggling writers?
Start a blog — it keeps you disciplined, and the feedback from readers can be incredibly heartening.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
Always buy quality — that’s been good advice for me as a young expat and traveller.

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing? What does it add to your writing?
When I first moved overseas — to Beijing for four years — there were a lot of expectations that I would discover my Chinese ethnic roots, or cultural heritage. What I gained instead was a chance to realize a dream. Living in China made me start thinking about so many different issues: cultural vs ethnic identity, food as metaphor, the experience of being a fish out of water — all things that inspired my first novel, Kitchen Chinese. I think as expats, we are more sensitive to our surroundings, more thoughtful about our experiences. I hope this improves my writing.

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)
 I wish I could say morning, because then I could write productively for a few hours and enjoy the rest of the day guilt-free. Unfortunately, it’s the hours between 4-7 pm, as the work day is ending and I start to feel panicked that I haven’t gotten anything done.

What is your favorite Parisian café?
I have cafés for many different moods and times of day. But probably Le Mistral in the 20th at rue des Pyrénées (métro: Pyrénées). The owners are two brothers who have been friends with my husband for over twenty years, so going there is a bit like going home.

What’s next?
Launching my first novel, I’ve felt like a mother duck teaching her duckling to fly — hoping the the book will stay aloft, and not plummet to the ground. As a result, it’s hard for me to think ahead to the next project right now. But I’ve had the idea for a while that I’d like to write something about Paris and wine — and I hope I’ll have the chance.

 I had the pleasure of meeting Catherine Nelson-Pollard, a freelance writer based in Switzerland, at the Geneva Writers’ Conference, where she was on the Writing on the Web panel. She also has a radio program on World Switzerland Radio. Visit her at http://www.livinginnyon.com/.

What brought you to Nyon?
Husband’s job. He came here to work for an environmental organization, we
moved here 8 years ago from Scotland, before that we were in South America for 6 years and before that I lived all over the place. I wasn’t brought here exactly kicking and screaming from Scotland but I loved my life in North Berwick on the East Coast, we were a short train ride from Edinburgh which is fabulous city and we were just 10 minutes from the sea and fabulous beach walks. I had a lovely part time job and lots of great friends and wasn’t that keen to move. However, now I simply love it here and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but in this expat life I know you can never say never.

What keeps you in Nyon?
Still because of my husband’s job, but also because of mine now and the fact
that I love this town. The quality of life is superb, we have the lake and
mountains on our doorstep and Nyon has a lot to offer. It is host to Paléo,
one of Europe’s largest music festival and a fabulous documentary film
festival and many other events throughout the year.
       I love it so much I started a blog on it called www.livinginnyon.com which now has a regular readership. I had no idea it would become so popular, that was completely unexpected, but I love letting people know what’s going on and meeting new people through it.

What books are on your nightstand?
There are a pile of books which are a real eclectic mix! Work books related to my freelance expat writing, and for the show I broadcast on World Radio Switzerland http://www.worldradio.ch/ called Expatlife.
       “A Broad Abroad” by Robin Pascoe
       “Gen Expat”   by Margaret Malewski
Then for non work reading there’s 
       “Jan Kjaerstad  The Conqueror” – A book I haven’t started yet but was given to me by a good Norwegian friend for my birthday last year.
        “Adrian Mole – The Prostrate Years” by Sue Townsend.
       “Alan Titchmarsh – Nobbut a Lad”  Alan Titchmarsh is a famous gardener from Britain and although I am not green fingered at all, he writes about his
childhood and growing up in the town of Ilkley in West Yokshire in the North
of England. I grew up in a small village called Addingham near Ilkley and
went to school there, just a few years later than him, reading the book
was a real trip down memory lane for me.  
       “A visit from Voltaire” by Dinah Lee Kung, I haven’t read this yet either
but I bought it at the last Geneva Writers Conference book shop. I also
picked up a copy of “New Letters”, a magazine of writing and art published
by the University of Missouri. This particular edition attracted my eye as
it said it had a poem in it called “Mirrors of Damascus” by a Syrian poet
called Abed Ismael and although I don’t read much poetry I am interested in
anything to do with Syria as we recently had the most fabulous, fabulous
holiday there. 
       Latest issue of Monocle magazine, it’s innovative and is constantly coming up with some interesting ideas of how countries or companies can improve themselves.  I like to read the articles from its international writers.
I’m a big fan of the editor Tyler Brulé, he also writes a column in the
Weekend Financial times, it’s one of the first columns I turn to, along with
another column called “Expat Lives”.
       “From our own correspondent- A celebration of fifty years of the BBC Radio Programme”. (The pages are stuck to each other and all curled up as it fell into the bath when I was reading it. Soaking in a bubble bath is the best
place to read a book).
     Woman magazine- Diet special, I’ve been at my pc an awful lot over this last winter during which, I’ve munched my way through loads of chocolate and biscuits. I’ve done no exercise at all either – so it’s taken its toll on the old derriere and waistline. How the magazine will help, goodness knows
but heh, it’s a start. 

What book makes you laugh out loud?
Anything by Bill Bryson, Sue Townsend or Alan Bennett

What advice would you give to struggling writers?
Patience and perseverance, find a mentor, join a writers’ group. I believe
if you have any success at all, no matter how small, you should pick up your
own trumpet and blow it out loud.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
It wasn’t really advice, it was more of a revelation. A successful published
writer once announced at a conference she had never been to university, and I thought, “if she can do it so can I”. I always had a chip on my shoulder
about not pursuing further education and doubted that I had any writing
ability, but after she said this I felt ready to tackle anything. I felt the
same way again recently when I read the journalist Lynne Barber say in a
Mslexia magazine interview that she still has problems structuring an
article, I thought “crikey if she has problems after all those years of
writing then I don’t feel too bad about the fact that I struggle with
structure too”.

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing?
It affects most of it, I specialise in writing about expatriate issues and I
have written a screenplay around the subject.
 
What tips would you give to someone wanting to blog? Wanting to publish articles in newspapers and magazines?
For print writing, start small, even if some of that work is unpaid. I wrote
a small unpaid article in a newspaper and it led to an enquiry from an
editor who was looking for writers for a new magazine. I ended up writing
for that magazine for over two years. Follow up any editorial enquiries
immediately.
       I am a big fan of blogging and was part of the web panel at the Geneva
Writers conference. However you have to keep the blog up, particularly if
you gather a readership and it does takes time away from other writing, but
equally blogging is great fun and I love its interactive nature with bloggers from around the world.

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)
I’m not really a morning person, more of a “curtain up” girl which
essentially means when the curtain come up in the theatre, at around 19:30
that’s when I come alive, I can then write until the wee hours of the morning. The downside is that over time dark shadows appear under the eyes and it’s then I need a few early nights. 

What is your favorite place to work?
In winter in my study, surrounded by family and travel photos, posters on
the wall, messy desk and a cup of Yorkshire tea. In summer I take a notebook and pen down to the outdoor pool on the lake side in Nyon. The pool looks on to Montblanc and over to France, the view is absolutely stunning. If I really want to spoil myself I buy a first class ticket to the top deck of one of the paddle steamers that cruise up and down the lake. I sit in a
deckchair, admire the view and pretend to write, but really I just daydream
and sunbathe.

What’s next?
I’m not going to start anything new until I’ve dragged out the screenplay
again, added a couple more scenes and then actually sent it off somewhere
rather than let it sit on the shelf for another year, the same applies to a
children’s story I wrote years ago. I’m great at starting stuff but not so
hot at finishing anything, as my husband will testify.

- You wrote much of this book in Montana, and started your in-person promotions there; and there is a serious belief in Montana in the phenomenon of the Montana Writer. Do you consider yourself a Montana Writer? And if so, based on my own experiences taking creative writing classes in Montana, where are the deer in your novel?
Skeslien Charles: I do consider myself a Montana Writer. I wrote much of the book in Montana, rewrote the whole thing in the Prairie Peddler, a café where I listened to people talk. Much of what they say is in the book. The people in my hometown who read my novel said that they could relate to Daria’s isolation. I think that my themes and images are universal.

- How about a Parisian novelist? Are you one of those? What would that mean?
Skeslien Charles: A lot of people live in Paris part of the year. It is like a college town, a place people live for a few years, then move on. I don’t feel like I am part of any kind of movement here. I do appreciate Odile Hellier of the Village Voice Bookshop, Penelope Le Masson of the Red Wheelbarrow bookshop, and Sylvia Whitman of Shakespeare & Company. These three women are constants.

- How does living in a foreign country affect your writing?
Skeslien Charles: Living in a foreign language can improve your imagery. For example, in French, a kite is a cerf-volant, or a flying deer. (There’s the deer you asked me about…) In Russian, they say ‘Time will show’ rather than time will tell. You start to see and hear things in a different way. You also see your country and yourself in a very different way.

To continue reading the interview: http://www.playtime-magazine.com/2010/02/playtime-featured-artist-janet-skeslien-charles/

What brought you to Paris?
I came to Paris in 1970 from Syracuse, New York, shortly after marrying a French visiting professor at Syracuse University and completing my PhD in engineering. The US immigration authorities were happy with my continued residence as a British citizen but objected to the extension of my wife’s exchange visa. One week before leaving the USA for France we were advised that both could stay, but by that time we were fed up with the administrative hassle and very keen for me to explore the French culture. We thought we would live in Paris for two years and found ourselves still there, thirty-nine years later.

What keeps you in Paris?
At first, the challenge of learning the French language and learning to work with the French in an all-French company (Spie Batignolles); later, the charm of the city, the country, and the joys of bringing up two thoroughly bilingual children; still later, the long holidays and the comprehensive welfare system; and later still (unfortunately), the efficient medical and hospital resources. Finally, the generous pension system.

What books have changed your life?
A tough question: many writers have influenced me though none have really “changed my life”. I don’t like the image of life changing because it implies that one is not in control of one’s ideas and is waiting to be “transformed” in some obscure but mystical way. In my memoir of childhood, I relate that several books (on Hypnotism and on Poisons, for example) led me into adventures; Tolkein was another easy favourite. However, I came to regard each good book as a little building block to reinforce my intellectual edifice, not as an earthquake capable of shaking the structure. As an engineer and scientist I was deep into fantasy and science fiction; I have just picked up at random from my bookshelf Stephen King’s “The Dark Half”, Frank Herbert’s “Dune”, and Iain Banks’ “Use of Weapons”. With respect to my own memoir, I have had Caribbean influences such as George Lamming’s “In the Castle of My Skin”, Maryse Condé’s “Le Cœur à Rire et à Pleurer”, Jamaica Kincaid’s “Annie John” and “The Autobiography of My Mother”, and V.S. Naipaul’s “Miguel Street”, and Andrea Levy’s “Small Island”; South African influences with J.M. Coetzee’s “Boyhood”, “Youth”, and “Disgrace”; Indian influences with Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”; Sri Lankan influences with Michael Ondaatje’s “Running in the Family”; English influences with Jonathan Coe’s “The Rotters’ Club”, Zadie Smith’s “On Beauty”, William Horwood’s “Skallagrigg”, and R.F.Delderfield’s “To Serve Them all my Days”; and American influences with Pillip Lopate’s “Getting Personal”. As text books, by far the most interesting were Tristine Rainer’s “Your Life as Story” and Margaret Atwood’s “Negotiating with the Dead”.

What books are on your nightstand?
Steig Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo”, Iain Bank’s “Transition”, J.M. Coetzee’s “Summertime”, and Janet Skeslien Charles’ “Moonlight in Odessa”. I’m quite faithful to the authors I have liked. Oh, I almost forgot – I always have the most recent two copies on “The Economist” at hand.

What advice would you give to struggling writers?
Get a day job.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
It may take 7 years – persist!

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing? What does it add to your writing?
Feeling foreign is an intellectual stimulus, something about being “above the fray”. You can criticise the country that you are in and the country(ies) that you came from with equal facility. I feel myself a citizen of the world, only occasionally regretting that my vote in elections is virtual. Each additional country gives me an additional literature. In particular living in France provides distance from jaded Anglo-Saxon modes of thought.

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)
I work in the morning, after breakfast and coffee, for new writing. Evenings after 23:00 and up to 2:00 are better for editing. I do not hold myself to a very regular schedule such as the proverbial “500 words per day”.

What is your favourite Parisian café?
None. Parisian restaurants are fabulous, but I prefer my own brew of coffee. The Hemingway hangouts have no appeal for me, though I do have dinner regularly on Rue d’Odessa with writer friends.

What’s next?
A second memoir, jointly with my sister, based on the situation of a handicapped person in the modern world: education, work, and love for someone with cerebral palsy.

Order Christopher Vanier’s absorbing memoir: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caribbean-Chemistry-Tales-St-Kitts/dp/1899999450

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.

This has been a great week. I was in Switzerland from February 5-7 for the Geneva Writers’ Conference, which is a great place to meet fellow writers and to get inspiration. The dedicated team of organizers did an amazing job, and I am already looking forward to the 2012 conference!

Here is a description from the site: Despite the frigid weather and grey skies, the Seventh Geneva Writers’ Conference, held at Webster University, Bellevue, Switzerland, was another huge success. 205 writers attended – participants, committee members, instructors, and panelists – coming from 42 countries.

I met one of my dearest friends at the Geneva Writers’ Conference in 2006 and met my agent Laura Longrigg there in 2008. This year, I was able to read from my novel Moonlight in Odessa, proof that great connections are made during this weekend. Here is what agent Jane Dystel said about the 2010 conference: ‘I had such a wonderful time this weekend at The Geneva Writers’ Conference. What an extraordinary group of people – instructors, participants, just everyone.’

On February 11th, I traveled to London, where I was interviewed by the legendary Jenni Murray on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. We talked about everything from Tobacco Brides to modern-day email-order brides to Daria’s appalling taste in men. I also got to listen to a snippet of Jane Collingwood reading Moonlight in Odessa. She did a marvelous job of making each voice distinct.

To listen to Woman’s Hour: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2010_06_thu.shtml

To listen to Moonlight in Odessa on Book at Bedtime, beginning February 15: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qnztc

To learn more about the Geneva Writers’ Conference: http://www.genevawritersgroup.org/conference.html

Beth Arnold is a journalist and award-winning writer. She  has contributed a chapter on living in France to Retirement Without Borders (Scribner) and is currently putting the finishing touches on a  memoir about family, identity, and loss. Visit her blog at www.betharnold.com and read her ‘Letter From Paris’ on The Huffington Post.

What brought you to Paris?

Paris was the first European city where I stepped foot, and I felt at home here immediately. So I knew Paris is where I wanted—maybe needed—to be since I was 19 years old.  Time passed.  I graduated from college and grad school.  Got married and gave birth to my daughters.  I thought I would create a situation for my family to live abroad even when my children were little.  But time ticks away when we aren’t paying attention.  I was busy being a mother, writing, throwing parties, living my life.  I divorced and remarried.  My brother Brent, who was also my best friend and soul mate, became ill and died, basically from AIDS.  It took me a long time to recover from his loss.  We made other trips to France, but in the summer of 1998, we brought our family to France for six weeks—and I went home with even more desire to find a way to live here.  At some point after that, I thought of a book idea for my husband, James Morgan, and we returned to France to follow in the footsteps of painter Henri Matisse, to have a grand adventure, and to see our selves and our lives in a new way.  The book Chasing Matisse was published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster.  You can discover more of our story at www.chasingmatisse.com.  It was a rollercoaster of a ride.

What keeps you in Paris?
 
I usually tell people that we’re insane—but in a good way.  Jim is a writer and editor.  I’m a writer/journalist/blogger.  I’ve become a maker of media—podcasts and films.  With the extraordinary technology available these days, we can live anywhere and do this work that we’re compelled to do.  Also, Paris feels like home not to mention it’s the most beautiful city in the world.  It’s the lifestyle, the culture, the possibility that I feel here.  Paris is located so very well to travel the world.

What books have changed your life?

This is one of those questions I could think about for hours, but what immediately comes to mind:  The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, All the Pretty Horses and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, all of Milan Kundera’s books, and The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

Books about women who have inspired me:  Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby by Mary S. Lovell; Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft by Lyndall Gordon, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.

What books are on your nightstand?

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Paris Journal 1944–1955 by Janet Flanner (Genêt), The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin, Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and a whole pile of others!

What book makes you laugh out loud?

David Sedaris’s books—when I only read a few chapters at a time.  If I read more than that, the pattern becomes too repetitive.  Augusten Burroughs sometimes.  They’ve got that fabulously wicked gay humor mastered, and Sedaris is a captain of performance stories. They’re pros at getting the laugh.

What advice would you give to struggling writers?

Write, write, write!  Maybe keep a day job—or have a day job where you can write.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

I worked for Senator John McClellan for two summers in Washington, D.C.  His Administrative Assistant, Miss Margie, was a quintessential Southern woman, sweet as pie and smart like a fox.  She gave me a note to give her boyfriend who was on the staff of the Watergate investigation, so I could get into the Watergate Hearings.  “What if they won’t let me in?” I demurely asked her.  “Act like you know what you’re doing,” she replied.  “You can get in anywhere.”  She was right.

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing?

I think that sometimes writers—or anyone else for that matter—need distance from a place in order to access some parts of themselves. If one is right in the middle of something or some place, the possibility exists that he or she can’t see the emotional or linguistic forest for the trees.  Being at a distance can provide that space—and being in a foreign country possibly gives the ultimate latitude, because the cultural chatter isn’t in one’s native language.

Many people dream of moving to Paris to write. What tips would you give on how to make that dream a reality?

Spend a semester or year abroad here while still in school.  Look for international jobs that would bring you here.  Be prepared to do what it takes to move here.  If your dream is strong enough, you’ll find a way.  Research, research, research…then take a leap!

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)

I like to get started mid-morning—after I’ve gotten myself organized.  If I’m in full writing mode, I’ll edit my pages from the day before and then work on new pages. I might work until 7 P.M.  I often get ideas for whatever project I’m working on while watching movies.  I love movies!

What is your favorite Parisian café?

Café Nemour at the Place Colette

What’s next?

Actually, I have an idea for a graphic novel I’ve wanted to work on—although I may write it as a screenplay first.  I’m visually oriented.  I see all my books as movies, and this one is crying out loud to be one.

Translating Daria by Manon Smits, the Dutch translator of Moonlight in Odessa, or Bruid op Bestelling (Bride For Sale).

 When I was first asked if I had time to translate Moonlight in Odessa, the very trustworthy editor described it as a well-written, sensitive and sometimes hilarious story, and it immediately appealed to me. And that feeling stayed with me while I read the book. When I started translating it, I realized he hadn’t exaggerated.

I’ve never been to Odessa, I’ve never met a Ukrainian woman, but when I got to know Daria I fell for her right away and yearned to see her city for myself. Thanks to her I learned so much about Ukraine, about Odessa and the ways of the people.

I didn’t have too many difficulties during the translation, thanks to the great help of Janet who was very cooperative and had an answer to all my questions. One element that seemed a real translation problem was the fact that Daria starts reciting irregular English verbs when she’s agitated. Dutch also has irregular verbs, but not always the same ones as in English. After a while I decided that I might as well leave them in English; after all it’s English that Daria is learning, not Dutch, and the English language is sufficiently known in Holland for most people to understand the meaning of the verbs.

One of the most difficult things to translate is word play (I learned this very soon in my translating career when I started subtitling American comedy shows. In one of the first episodes, a private plane owned by a person named Jack was hijacked, which led to the memorable words: ‘Hi Jack, this is a hijack.’ I never forgot those words, though I don’t remember how I solved the problem…) Anyway, luckily there weren’t too many examples of pure word play in the book, but right in the beginning of Chapter 2 there was a very interesting one about health care in the former Soviet Union: “You had to take a gift to the doctor. No gift, no treatment. No present, no future.” In Dutch the word ‘present’ can mean ‘gift’, but only in the diminutive form: ‘presentje’. However, it does not mean ‘the present time’, that would be ‘presens’ and even that is a word that is hardly ever used. It was clear that the ‘gift’ part had to stay, so I had to get rid of the future. Eventually I came up with another form of word play using almost identical words: “Geen cadeau, geen behandeling. Als er niets werd gepresenteerd, werd er ook niets gepresteerd.” (“No gift, no treatment. If nothing was presented, nothing was achieved.”)

Another difficulty was when Daria goes to her first party in America, and is thrilled to be surrounded by English. In this case I thought there should still be some English words to keep the atmosphere. At the same time it should be a somewhat rude and uninteresting language. I could keep most of the examples in the book and use English expressions that are commonly used in Dutch and sometimes even in our dictionary:

     ‘Ik had zoiets van holy shit.’
     ‘Hij is aan het mulchen. Hij heeft nooit eerder gemulcht.’
     ‘Ze moet het vooral niet pushen.’
     ‘Die bult op zijn voorhoofd was wel een inch dik. Hij stond op die wiebelige ladder, niet de goeie. Je kunt hem bijna niet van het dak af houden, ik stond helemaal te shaken!’

            When I first contacted Janet through the mail, she was very enthusiastic and always ready to help whenever I had any questions. Moreover, she asked me to write a piece for her website, because she was aware of the importance of a translator’s work, which is great since it often tends to be neglected.

In November 2009 Janet came to Amsterdam, where we had a good time talking and having lunch at Mouria, the Dutch publishing house. It was very nice to meet her and she already feels like a friend, just like Daria does actually, and just like Odessa feels like a place I know.

I realized this all the more when I was in a garden café and heard two ladies speak Russian. It was just after I had finished the translation and I couldn’t help commenting on the beautiful sound of their language. When we started to talk (in Dutch) I told them about the book I had just translated, and the women, who were Russian, not Ukranian, told me that in fact Odessa was such a wonderful city and that the people there had such a witty way of talking… exactly as Daria had kept telling me time and time again!

Finishing a book after you have been working on it for months is of course very rewarding, but also a little sad; I had gotten attached to Daria, I was impressed by Vlad, I was curious what would happen to some of the other characters and I really felt sorry I would have to miss them. You can imagine how happy I was when Janet told me in Amsterdam that she was already writing the second book, and would probably even write a third book about Daria, Jane and the others. I’ll be waiting!

Image courtesy of Lyudmila Sylina, watercolor by Konstantyn Sylin

One of the best things about writing a book is hearing from readers who have enjoyed Moonlight in Odessa. I have received kind letters from Americans, Ukrainians, and Australians. Lyudmila Sylina, an Odessan who now lives in Florida, sent this image via e-mail. This gorgeous watercolor makes me want to return to Odessa. To see more of Konstantyn Sylin, visit this site: http://www.originalartonline.com/buyers/index/content/artwork/ArtistID/665

 

 Laurel Zuckerman is the author of bestseller Sorbonne Confidential, a novel based on her experiences at the Sorbonne in 2004-5. Originally from Arizona, she has lived in France for over 25 years. Her second book, Professor Collie’s Barbarian Dreams is a novel about a historian so obsessed with the past that he forgets to live in the here and now.

What brought you to Paris  ?

My French friends are disappointed when I tell them that I was dragged here against my will because my husband (then just my boyfriend) received a scholarship to study in Paris. We were living in Germany at the time and I had just started making good friends among Iranian women exiled by the revolution. Our common language was German, and we connected by sharing fears and complaining about our men. Fortunately, it turned out I could also do that in Paris.

What keeps you in Paris ?

Nothing now, I live in Bry-sur-Marne.

The truth is I love Paris. It takes my breath away. I’m a walker—and Paris is a city made for walkers. (Not just flâneurs.) Beautiful buildings, gaily decorated shops, surprising details, vistas, spaces, musicians. On a pretty day, it’s pure pleasure. Also, I happen to like the French.

What books have changed your life?

I’m a reader, always have been, always will be, but no one book has changed my life. Maybe books collectively? The realization that thoughtful, wise, funny, generous, wonderful people exist and that I may spend time with them through books. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is such a book. Every second in that man’s company is a privilege. Also: the realization that book can be both deadly serious and a delight. Huckleberry Finn is an inspiration.

What books are on your nightstand?

Today: The Black Swan, My Forbidden Face, and Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers—all non-fiction and highly recommended. Also, Robert Frost’s poems. In a hardback edition with a little ribbon to mark the page. He wrote incredible short stories which are presented as poems.

What book makes you laugh out loud?

Confederacy of Dunces, Parkinson’s The Law, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Dress your family in Corduroy and Denim, the first chapter of Candide, Dead Souls, Small World, Changing Places, and anything by Bill Bryson, including his brilliant chapter on Darwin in A Short History of Nearly Everything. I love humor.

What advice would you give to struggling writers?

Write. No internet. No excuses. Make friends. 

What is the best advice you have ever received?

“People don’t want advice.” It’s true. Especially friends. People want sympathetic listeners who feel their pain, not problem solvers. I wish had known this earlier. Not that I could have acted on it. My IT job was problem solver (“expert solution”). Can you imagine how off-putting this is in real life?

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing? What does it add to your writing?

It’s like having superpowers—x-ray vision. As a foreigner I was struck by things, important things, that the French could not see or understand about their own country. And, for better of for worse, I could see the humor in these things. Now, however, I’m writing about growing up in Arizona. Living far away, in a completely different environment gives these events a hazy dreamlike quality. The glaring sun and heat and smell of horse sweat and dust seem like another world from here. I don’t know what the result will be.

 At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)

Inspiration tends to strike in the middle of the night when I am asleep, which is annoying and not productive at all. If I’m good, I’ll wake up enough to jot something down. The next morning, the illegible scribble will remind me I had an idea. Sometimes I can decipher it, sometimes not.

 What is your favorite Parisian café?

It depends how grossed out you are by rodents and abuse of tourists. A couple of my favourite places can’t really withstand scrutiny, but who can? For working and meeting up with other writers, I like the Dalou at Nation. For great hot chocolate and snooty service to impress visitors, you can’t beat Angelina’s.