Shakespeare and Company in Paris

Some good friends of Nina were strolling along the Seine in Paris France recently and were lured into a quaint bookstore on the Left Bank, Shakespeare and Company. The independent bookstore lies just across the magestic Notre Dame Cathedral on Ile de la Cite and steps away from the trendy cafes of Place St. Michel.

Shakespeare and Company resides in a building that served as a monastery in the 16th century. It’s located on Rue de la Bûcherie and serves as both a bookstore and a reading library, specializing in English-language literature. The bookstore was opened by George Whitman under Le Mistral then changed to its current name  in honour of an earlier store which closed during World War II. The bookstore served as a focal point for

Darwin's Paradox in Shakespeare and Company

 literary culture in Bohemian Left Bank Paris. Customers have included the likes of Henry Miller and Richard Wright. The store  was a base for many writers of the Beat Generation like Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William S. Burroughs. Whitman’s daughter, Sylvia, now runs the shop and regular activities include Sunday tea, poetry readings and writers’ meetings.

The bookstore houses young writers, known as “tumbleweeds”, who earn their keep by working in the shop for a couple of hours each day. The current store is named after and in honour of an

Autographed copy of Darwin's Paradox on the shelf

earlier store which closed during World War II. George Whitman calls the bookstore “a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore”.  The bookstore includes sleeping facilities, with 13 beds, and Whitman claims as many as 40,000 people have slept in the shop over the years.

As Nina’s friends pored over the eclectic assortment of international and local English and French books they stumbled upon a copy of Darwin’s Paradox! They had to take a picture and here it is.

That Darwin sure gets around!

And thanks, Chuck and Jane, for telling us!

For over fifty years, the bookshop has housed numerous writers and hosted readings by published and unpublished authors. Run by Sylvia Whitman, daughter of the legendary George Whitman, the bookstore looks like something in a Harry Potter movie, with stacks upon stacks of all sorts of literature. Upon entering, you’ll find yourself in a place Henry Miller described as “A wonderland of books”.

Shakespeare and Company is open evey day from 10:00 to 23:00. If you’re touring Paris go check it out. The selection of English books is impeccable, with many by local writers.

If you’re a young traveling writer looking for a place to crash, Sylvia might put you up too!
While I was there, we briefly toured the city, including the impressive Tuillerie Gardens on the Right Bank.

Nina took me to vitamin b12 dogs
her "outdoor" office, located in Place Saint-Michel on the Left Bank with a great view of Notre Dame Cathedral. I asked her how she liked Paris over a pastis (anise-based liqueur) and cafe creme.

"I love Paris," she said. "I love everything about it, the food, the people, the architecture, the streets...The street performers who sing with feeling...the couples kissing on every street corner...that quiet reserve that just melts once they recognize that you are lost... their reverence for art and literature... Parisians know how to live. They have no problem waiting at length in line for fresh croissants at their favorite patisserie or will linger over lunch at a cafe to discuss the finer points of life over an espresso or cheese and wine. They are so civilized."

I asked her how her research was going.

"I confess that I have done some of my best work here... that pastis can be very inspirational!" Nina confided to me with that typical impish smile of hers.