The American Library in Paris

An Alternative History of Paris with Justinien Tribillon and Aaron Peck
2025-02-12 19:30 - 20:30 (Europe/Paris) | The American Library in Paris
Join us for an illuminating discussion on Justinien Tribillon‘s The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris, who explores the Parisian hinterland that has shaped the city’s identity for over two centuries. From its origins as defensive walls to its reinvention as the Boulevard Périphérique, The Zone offers a compelling perspective on the intricate social and spatial dynamics that define modern Paris.
This conversation will be moderated by author and critic Aaron Peck.
About the speakers:
Justinien Tribillon is a curator, writer, editor and educator with a transdisciplinary practice including social sciences, photography, architecture, history and design. He recently published The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris (Verso, 2024), Ruderal: Liquid Identities (Deux-cent-cinq, 2024) and Visible upon Breakdown (Spector Books, 2024). Justinien is a lecturer in History, theory and criticism at the École nationale supérieures des arts décoratifs in Paris. He received his PhD in Urban Studies from The Bartlett, University College London.
Aaron Peck is the author of Jeff Wall: North & West, Letters to the Pacific, and The Bewilderments of Bernard Willis. A literary and art critic, he writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and Aperture magazine. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Wheatley at 250: Celebrating the Legacy of America's First Published African-American Poet
2025-02-25 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Phillis Wheatley Peters, the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry, revolutionized American literature with Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). In celebration of her groundbreaking work and to mark its 250th anniversary, Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters brings together 20 Black female poets to reimagine her legacy and voice.
Join Danielle Legros Georges and Artress Bethany White, co-editors of the collection, and Florence Ladd, novelist and poet, as they discuss Wheatley’s impact on the literary world and how her work resonates today. This conversation, moderated by Professor and author Trica Keaton, will explore the transformative power of Wheatley’s words and the ongoing influence of Black women poets across generations.
About the speakers:
Danielle Legros Georges is a writer and editor whose work has been supported by fellowships from organizations including the American Antiquarian Society, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. Appointed Boston’s Poet Laureate in 2014, she served in the role for four years. Her books include Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters (Pangyrus, 2023); Blue Flare: Three Haitian Poets (Zephyr, 2024); and Three Leaves, Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story (Beacon Press, 2025).
Artress Bethany White is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. Her third poetry collection, A Black Doe in the Anthropocene: Poems, is forthcoming from University Press of Kentucky in spring 2025 and chronicles her family’s history of enslavement in America. She is the recipient of the Trio Award for her poetry collection My Afmerica: poems (Trio House Press, 2019), selected by poet Sun Yung Shin. Her prose, Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity, received a 2022 Next Generation Finalist Indie Book Award. White is co-editor of the new anthology Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters. She is associate professor of English at East Stroudsburg University.
Florence Ladd is the author of two novels, Sarah’s Psalm and The Spirit of Josephine. She has published two chapbooks: Reclaiming Rose: A Suite of Poems and Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges and His Mother: An Epic. Other poems have been published in The Women’s Review of Books, The Progressive, The Rockhurst Review, Sweet Auburn, Beyond Slavery, Transition, The Golden Shovel Anthology, MUSE, Oberon and Renga for Obama. She co-founded Langston’s Legacy, a collective of poets. For decades, she lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and currently lives in Burgundy.
Trica Keaton is a professor and an interdisciplinary social scientist in the department of African and African American Studies at Dartmouth College with affiliations in the departments of Sociology and Film and Media Studies. Her publications include #You Know You’re Black in France When…: The Fact of Everyday Antiblackness. She is the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at French Institute for Advanced Study/ Iméra-Aix*Marseille Université, France 2024-2025. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Poverty, by America with Matthew Desmond and Lauren Collins
2025-03-18 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Why does poverty persist in the richest nation on earth? Acclaimed sociologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted, Matthew Desmond returns with Poverty, by America, a searing indictment of how the wealthiest Americans sustain inequality at the expense of the poor. Through history, research, and original reporting, Desmond exposes the systems that exploit and exclude, while offering a bold vision for poverty abolition and collective belonging.
The conversation will be moderated by Lauren Collins.
About the speaker:
Dr. Matthew Desmond is a Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Founder of The Eviction Lab, which created the first national dataset on evictions in America. He is the author of five books, including Poverty, by America (2023) and Evicted (2016). His work, praised by The New Yorker and Esquire, examines why poverty persists in America. Desmond writes for The New York Times Magazine and other outlets. A past MacArthur Fellow, his research focuses on urban sociology, poverty, race, and ethnography.
Lauren Collins began contributing to the New Yorker in 2003 and became a staff writer in 2008. Her subjects have included Michelle Obama, Donatella Versace, the graffiti artist Banksy, Emmanuel Macron, the refugee crisis, and equal pay. Since 2015 she has been based in Paris, covering stories mainly from France. She is the author of When in French: Love in a Second Language, which the Times named as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2016. She is working on a second book, about a coup d’état perpetrated by white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898, and its effects over the past hundred and twenty years. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon on Leonardo da Vinci
2025-03-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Cinéma Le Champo, 51 Rue des Écoles, Paris, 75005, France
This event is currently sold out – join the waitlist here. This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more →
Join us for an exclusive screening of a highlight reel from the recent PBS documentary Leonardo da Vinci, directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon.
This intimate portrait explores the life of the fifteenth-century polymath, delving into his masterpieces, groundbreaking scientific pursuits, and complex personality.
After the screening, stay for a conversation with the acclaimed directors as they discuss the making of the film and the lasting impact of Leonardo’s genius.
About Leonardo da Vinci:
A 15th century polymath of soaring imagination and profound intellect, Leonardo da Vinci created some of the most revered works of art of all time, but his artistic endeavors often seemed peripheral to his pursuits in science and engineering. Through his paintings and thousands of pages of drawings and writings, Leonardo da Vinci explores one of humankind’s most curious and innovative minds.
Directed and produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, written by David McMahon and Sarah Burns, and executive produced by Ken Burns. Important information: This is an offsite, ticketed event at Cinéma Le Champo (51 Rue des Écoles, 75005 Paris).

19:15 – Doors Open
19:30 – Introductions
19:35 – Screening Begins
20:10 – Q&A with filmmakers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon

Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.

Les Années Folles at La Coupole
2025-03-20 20:30 - 23:00 | La Coupole, 102 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris, 75014, France
Enter the iconic La Coupole dance hall in Paris’s 14th arrondissement and be transported back to the 1920s with a live jazz quartet, dance demonstrations, and a guest list of writers, artists, and friends of the Library. Last year’s inaugural event was a roaring success and the limited number of tickets will sell out quickly.
Les Années Folles at La Coupole!
Thursday 20 March 2025 at 20h30
La Coupole – 102, boulevard de Montparnasse 75014 Paris
Your 100€ ticket includes hors d’oeuvres, champagne, wine, and dessert.
Costumes are highly encouraged!

Seeking Pleasure in a Dying World with C Pam Zhang and Ayşegül Savaş
2025-03-26 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
In C Pam Zhang‘s Land of Milk and Honey, a smog has spread across the world, blocking out the sun. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.
In the conversation, moderated by novelist Ayşegül Savaş, Zhang will explore the themes of pleasure, food, and identity, offering insights into the novel’s exploration of human desire and survival in the face of societal upheaval.
About the speaker:
C Pam Zhang is the author of two bestselling novels, How Much of These Hills Is Gold and Land of Milk and Honey. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree, a Booker Prize nominee, and the winner of the Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Award, the Asian/Pacific Award for Literature, and the California Book Award. She has been a finalist for awards from PEN America, the National Book Critics Circle, and the Center for Fiction. Zhang’s writing appears in Best American Short Stories, The Cut, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. She is a 2024-25 American Library in Paris Visiting Fellow.
Ayşegül Savaş is the author of the novels Walking on the Ceiling, White on White, and most recently The Anthropologists which was longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named one of TIME magazine‘s top 10 books of 2024, New York Magazine‘s #1 book of the year, and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year, among others. Savaş has also written the nonfiction work The Wilderness, and the short story collection Long Distance which will be published this year. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Jhumpa Lahiri
2025-04-02 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
This event is currently sold out – join the waitlist here. This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more →
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and translator Jhumpa Lahiri discusses her new work for The Cahiers Series, Bone Into Stone.
In this exploration of translation-as-metamorphosis, written after three years collaborating with her friend the classicist Yelena Baraz on a translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses into English, Lahiri focuses on the theme of stones and human transformation. The text of this work resonates alongside the dynamic and colourful paintings of celebrated artist Jamie Nares.
About the speaker:
Jhumpa Lahiri, a bilingual writer and translator, is the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College (Columbia University). She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection. She is also the author of The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland, which was a finalist for both the Man Booker prize and the National Book Award in fiction. Since 2015, Lahiri has been writing fiction, essays, and poetry in Italian: In Altre Parole (In Other Words), Il vestito dei libri (The Clothing of Books), Dove mi trovo (self-translated as Whereabouts), Il quaderno di Nerina, and Racconti romani (Roman Stories). She has translated three novels by Domenico Starnone and is the editor of The Penguin Classics Book of Italian Short Stories. Lahiri received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2014, and in 2019 she was named Commendatore of the Italian Republic by President Sergio Mattarerlla. Her most recent book in English, a collection of essays entitled Translating Myself and Others, was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
About The Cahiers Series:
The Cahiers Series is published by Sylph Editions in collaboration with The American University of Paris. The goal of this series is to make available new explorations in writing, in translating, and in the areas linking these two activities. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Writing Characters from Family with Sheila Kohler
2025-04-08 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Delve into the intricate process of crafting characters inspired by life and family with Sheila Kohler, author of Once We Were Sisters. Drawing from her poignant memoir about the bond with her late sister and their turbulent family history, Kohler will lecture on the ethics, challenges, and transformative potential of writing from personal experience. Kohler will share insights into evoking vivid, complex characters from family relationships and histories, blending storytelling with an exploration of memory and imagination.
About the speakers:
Sheila Kohler is the author of eleven novels, three collections of short stories and a memoir. Her work has been translated widely abroad and has been awarded many prizes including the O.Henry twice. She has taught creative writing at Princeton since 2007. She was a fellow at the Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers and a frequent visiting writer at the American Academy of Rome. Her novel Cracks has been filmed with Jordan Scott and Ridley Scott as directors and was recently reissued by Open Road. Important information: Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

The Crisis of Culture with Olivier Roy
2025-04-09 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
In his latest book, The Crisis of Culture, Olivier Roy argues that the lack of shared cultural understanding in the modern world has resulted in everything becoming explicit codes of behavior, often manifested online. Identities are now defined by personal traits, leading to fragmented sub-cultures seeking safe spaces. The author suggests that the increased focus on identity in political discourse fails to address the underlying crisis of culture and community and proposes that the solution lies in rebuilding social bonds at the grassroots level.
This conversation will be moderated by American Library in Paris 2024-25 Visiting Fellow, David A. Bell.
About the speakers:
Olivier Roy is Professor at the European University Institute (Florence) where he headed the ReligioWest research project (funded by the European Research Council). Mr. Roy received an “Agrégation de Philosophie” and a Ph.D. in Political Sciences. He is the author of The failure of political Islam (Harvard UP 1994), Globalized Islam (Columbia University Press, 2004), Holy Ignorance (Hurst/ Oxford UP, 2010), Jihad and Death (Hurst 2017), In Search of the Lost Orient (Columbia UP 2017), The Crisis of Culture (Hurst/ Oxford UP 2024).
David A. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Department of History at Princeton where he recently served as director of Princeton’s Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies. Born in New York in 1961, he was educated at Harvard and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris before completing his doctorate at Princeton in 1991. Before returning to Princeton in 2010 he taught at Yale and Johns Hopkins, where he also served as Dean of Faculty. A specialist in the history of France, he is the author of seven books, including The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680-1800, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It, and most recently Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

The End Of Enlightenment with Visiting Fellow David A. Bell
2025-04-16 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
People once believed in a thing called progress. The philosophers of the Enlightenment were the first to formulate this belief systematically, and to predict that science, technology, and wise policy would combine to improve human life. For centuries, despite violent setbacks, the general pattern held. Diseases were conquered, lifespans grew, technology brought countless improvements. Governments provided social safety nets and education for all. Social movements fought for equal rights for everyone. Wealth increased prodigiously, especially in the West.
Today, this belief is broken. Most people have little hope that human life will continue to improve, and they fear the future. The idea that reforms or revolutions can make progress happen is fading. The most successful social and political movements of our day channel resentment, hold out illusory dreams of returning to a lost golden age, and build walls against unwanted outsiders. What happened?
In this special lecture, historian David A. Bell, a 2025 Visiting Fellow at the Library, will trace the idea of progress back to its Enlightenment origins, examine the forms it has taken over time, and explore its relationship to our present predicaments.
About the speaker:
David A. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Department of History at Princeton where he recently served as director of Princeton’s Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies. Born in New York in 1961, he was educated at Harvard and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris before completing his doctorate at Princeton in 1991. Before returning to Princeton in 2010 he taught at Yale and Johns Hopkins, where he also served as Dean of Faculty. A specialist in the history of France, he is the author of seven books, including The Cult of the Nation in France: Inventing Nationalism, 1680-1800, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It, and most recently Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution.
David A. Bell is an American Library in Paris 2024-25 Visiting Fellow. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Ways of Seeing with Maira Kalman
2025-04-30 19:30 - 20:30 | Maison de la Poésie, 157 Rue Saint-Martin, Paris, 75003, France
Join celebrated artist and writer Maira Kalman, the Library’s Spring 2025 Cultural Fellow, for an evening of art, words, and wit. She’ll share insights into her singular career spanning illustration, storytelling, and design, present her latest book, Still Life with Remorse, and screen her short film on Alice B. Toklas.
In conversation with American Library in Paris Curator of Cultural Programs, Rachel Donadio.
This offsite, ticketed event will take place at Maison de la Poésie (157 Rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris).
About the speaker:
Maira Kalman was born in Tel Aviv and moved to New York City with her family at the age of four. She was raised in bucolic Riverdale, the Bronx. She now lives in Manhattan.
Kalman has written/illustrated over 30 books for adults and children. She has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times and the New Yorker. She has created textiles for Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade and sets for Mark Morris. Other collaborations have been with Nico Muhly, Alex Kalman, Michael Pollan, David Byrne, John Heginbotham and Gertrude Stein. Her watch and clock designs appear under the M&Co label, the design studio created by her late husband Tibor Kalman.
She has won many awards and given numerous talks, including several TED talks. Her art has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.
Maira Kalman is the American Library in Paris Spring 2025 Cultural Fellow. Important information: This is an offsite, ticketed event at Maison de la Poésie (157 Rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris).
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.

Ways of Seeing with Michael Pollan
2025-05-06 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join us for a deep dive into Michael Pollan‘s How to Change Your Mind, a #1 New York Times Bestseller that blends memoir, science, and history to examine the powerful potential of psychedelic substances.
In conversation with Curator of Cultural Programs, Rachel Donadio, Pollan will explore how these drugs are revolutionizing mental health treatment and reshaping our understanding of consciousness. We’ll also discuss Pollan’s broader body of work, which spans topics from food to nature, offering insight into his unique perspective on the intersection of science, society, and the human experience.
About the speaker:
Michael Pollan is the author of nine books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Made the Modern World. A longtime contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan teaches writing at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

This event is made possible with the support of Résidence Tallard, a program by Kadist dedicated to hosting individuals from around the world who are recognized for their innovative ideas and impactful contributions to society.
Important information: This event will be in-person only.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Joan Didion and the Myths of Hollywood with Alissa Wilkinson and Joanna Scutts
2025-05-13 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson explores Joan Didion’s complex relationship with Hollywood, from her early fascination with Western myths to her time as a screenwriter at the twilight of the studio era. In We Tell Ourselves Stories, Wilkinson examines how Didion’s writing dissected the fears, fantasies, and fabrications that define American storytelling—on and off the screen.
This conversation will be moderated by writer and literary critic Joanna Scutts.
About the speakers:
Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic at the New York Times and was formerly a senior correspondent and critic at Vox. Her previous book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, was published in 2022. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Joanna Scutts is a writer and literary critic based in Paris. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review and her work has appeared in the Guardian, New Republic, Times Literary Supplement and New Yorker. Her books focus on overlooked women’s histories of the early 20th century and include Firebrands: 25 Women Writers to Enrich Your Reading Life, and Hotbed: Bohemian New York and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism. Her new project explores the history of American women in Paris. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal
2025-05-20 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more →
As surveillance technologies become ever more pervasive, how can we protect our privacy and resist corporate and state control? Join Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal and a leading voice on tech ethics, for a crucial conversation on the rise of surveillance, the power of AI, and what we can do to fight back.
The conversation will be moderated by Stéphan-Eloïse Gras and Rachel Donadio.
About the speakers:
Meredith Whittaker is Signal’s President and a member of the Signal Foundation Board of Directors. She has over 17 years of experience in tech, spanning industry, academia, and government. Before joining Signal as President, she was the Minderoo Research Professor at NYU, and served as the Faculty Director of the AI Now Institute which she co-founded. Her research and scholarly work helped shape global AI policy and shift the public narrative on AI to better recognize the surveillance business practices and concentration of industrial resources that modern AI requires. Prior to NYU, she worked at Google for over a decade, where she led product and engineering teams, founded Google’s Open Research Group, and co-founded M-Lab, a globally distributed network measurement platform that now provides the world’s largest source of open data on internet performance. She also helped lead organizing at Google. She was one of the core organizers pushing back against the company’s insufficient response to concerns about AI and its harms, and was a central organizer of the Google Walkout. She has advised the White House, the FCC, the City of New York, the European Parliament, and many other governments and civil society organizations on privacy, security, artificial intelligence, internet policy, and measurement. She recently completed a term as Senior Advisor on AI to the Chair at the US Federal Trade Commission.
Stéphan-Eloïse Gras is a researcher and entrepreneur specializing in the geoeconomics of AI. An assistant professor at CNAM-Paris, she explores AI technologies through the lens of software & critical data studies. She also serves on the board of Probabl, an AI company built around the popular open-source library scikit-learn. With 15+ years in the digital sector, she has led initiatives at the intersection of innovation, research, education, and emerging markets. As CEO of Digital Africa, she oversaw a €130M initiative supporting African startups. She also co-founded Africa 4 Tech and led OpenClassrooms’ strategic expansion in Africa. Her doctoral research traced the rise of AI through a music recommendation algorithm acquired by Spotify. She teaches at CNAM, Sciences Po, NYU, and Sorbonne and is currently writing a book on the geoeconomics of AI, describing LLMs as “belief-making machines.”
Rachel Donadio, the Library’s Curator of Cultural Programs, is a Paris-based writer, journalist and critic, a contributing writer for the Atlantic, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former European Culture Correspondent and Rome Bureau Chief of the New York Times.

Jeremy Eichler on Music, Memory, and the Second World War
2025-05-27 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
In Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance, award-winning critic and historian Jeremy Eichler explores music as a vessel for memory, revealing how composers like Strauss, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, and Britten inscribed the legacies of war and loss into their scores. With a scholar’s insight and a storyteller’s grace, Eichler uncovers how the sounds of the past continue to shape our present.
This event will be moderated by author and former New York Times correspondent Alan Riding.
About the speakers:
Jeremy Eichler is an award-winning writer, critic and cultural historian who served for 18 years as chief classical music critic of The Boston Globe. His recent book Time’s Echo — named “History Book of the Year” by The Sunday Times — won the 2024 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award as well as three National Jewish Book Awards. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Radcliffe Institute, he currently teaches at Tufts University and serves as the first Writer-in-Residence of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Alan Riding is a former correspondent of the New York Times, having been variously based in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Paris, most recently as the paper’s European arts correspondent. He is author of books on Mexico, Shakespeare, Opera and the cultural life of Paris during the Nazi occupation. He lives in Paris with his journalist wife, Marlise Simons. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Americans in Paris with Debra Bricker Balken and Éric de Chassey
2025-06-03 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more →
Curator Debra Bricker Balken and art historian Éric de Chassey discuss the key artists featured in the exhibit “Americans in Paris” about American artists in postwar Paris, whose catalog was on the American Library in Paris 2023 Book Award short list. This groundbreaking volume explores the American creative community in postwar Paris, uncovering the academies, galleries, and artistic exchanges that defined their experience. Featuring never-before-published interviews and new scholarship, Americans in Paris examines how the city influenced a pivotal moment in American art between 1946 and 1962.
About the speakers:
Debra Bricker Balken is an award-winning independent curator, scholar, and writer who has assembled numerous exhibitions internationally for major museums on subjects relating to American modernism and contemporary art. Most recently, she authored Harold Rosenberg: A Critic’s Life (University of Chicago Press, 2021), and Arthur Dove: A Catalogue of Paintings and Things (Yale University Press, 2021). In 2017, she curated Mark Tobey: Threading the Light, which was organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art, and opened at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection with that year’s Venice Biennale.
Éric de Chassey, art historian, has been Director of the French National Institute for Art History since 2016 and Professor of Contemporary Art History at the ENS de Lyon since 2012. He is Honorary Director of the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis, which he directed for six years (2009-2015). He has published́, in French, English, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish, articles, essays, catalogs and books on art. He has also curated some forty exhibitions. Since 2022, he has chaired the RIHA, leading its project to compile a history of the visual arts in Europe. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

David Chaffetz on Raiders, Rulers, and Traders
2025-06-11 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
In Raiders, Rulers, and Traders, scholar David Chaffetz delves into how horses were not just a means of transportation, but a transformative force that enabled empires to rise, trade routes to form, and cultures to connect from Iran and Afghanistan to China, India, and Russia. By drawing on primary sources in Persian, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese, he presents a comprehensive narrative of how horse-based societies shaped human history from the Bronze Age through the twentieth century.
About the speakers:
David Chaffetz is an independent scholar with a lifelong passion for Middle Eastern and Asian history. His first book, A Journey through Afghanistan, earned critical praise from Owen Latimore, the doyen of Inner Asian studies. Chaffetz has contributed to the Asian Review of Books, the South China Morning Post, the Nikkei Asian Review, and Fortune. He belongs to the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong), the Gremio Literario (Lisbon), and the Explorers’ Club (New York). He serves on the Advisory Committee to the American Library. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Adventures in the Louvre with Elaine Sciolino
2025-06-17 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more →
Elaine Sciolino‘s Adventures in the Louvre is the perfect travel companion for those who aim to forge an intimate connection with the museum that houses masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and other magnificent works of art that are icons of human achievement. In the book, Sciolino demystifies the Louvre by introducing readers to her favorite artworks and the people who bring the museum to life, while revealing unexpected mysteries, delights, and frustrations within the museum’s walls.
This event will be moderated by Sophie-Caroline de Margerie.
About the speakers:
Elaine Sciolino is a contributing writer and former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times. She is the author of six books, including the bestsellers, The Only Street in Paris, The Seine and La Seduction. A chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, she serves on the executive board of Reporters Without Borders. She has a M.A. degree in French history from New York University and has been awarded multiple honorary doctorate degrees. She has lived in Paris since 2002.
Sophie-Caroline de Margerie is a judge at the Conseil d’Etat. A graduate of Sciences Po. and ENA, she holds an M.A. in English literature. As a career diplomat, she served at the Presidency of the Republic for several years. A former trustee of the American Library in Paris, she is on the board of various cultural institutions and think-tanks. She is the author of two biographies: Edmond Rostand ou le Baiser de la Gloire (Paris, Grasset, 1997) and American Lady – The Life of Susan Mary Alsop (Paris, Robert Laffont, 2011 and New York, Viking, 2012). Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Unexpected Endings with B.J. Novak
2025-06-25 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join writer, actor, and comedian B.J. Novak for a special reading from his celebrated collection One More Thing– and maybe some new stories! Best known for his work on The Office, Novak shares sharp, funny, and offbeat stories in an evening designed for young writers and anyone who loves unpredictable fiction.
About the speaker:
B.J. Novak is a writer, actor, director and comedian well known for his work on the popular television series “The Office,” in which he starred as Ryan Howard, “the temp,” and served as Executive Producer and a writer of several of its most memorable episodes. As an actor, he is also known for his roles in films such as Inglorious Basterds, The Founder, and his 2022 screenwriting and directorial debut, Vengeance. As a writer, he is also the author of the acclaimed collection One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories and the children’s blockbuster The Book With No Pictures, which has sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. Important information: This event will be in-person only.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten of GRoW @ Annenberg.

The Art of Seeing with Thomas Schlesser and Alexandra Suich Bass
2025-09-10 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join author Thomas Schlesser and The Economist’s culture editor Alexandra Suich Bass for a conversation on Mona’s Eyes, the international bestseller about a young girl’s final year of sight. For one year, Mona and her grandfather visit a different masterpiece each week—from Botticelli to Basquiat—learning how art helps us see the world and ourselves. This event invites audiences to reflect on the role of beauty in times of uncertainty, the bonds between generations, and how art shapes the way we understand life, memory, and loss.
About the speakers:
Thomas Schlesser is the director of the Hartung-Bergman Foundation in Antibes, France. He teaches Art History at the École Polytechnique in Paris and is the author of several works of nonfiction about art, artists, and the relationship between art and politics in the 20th century. He is the grandson of André Schlesser, known as Dadé, a singer and cabaret performer who founded the Cabaret L ’Écluse. Mona’s Eyes is Schlesser’s second novel and his American debut. It has been translated into thirty-eight languages, including Braille. Schlesser was awarded 2025’s Author of the Year by Livres Hebdo.
Alexandra Suich Bass is The Economist’s Culture editor, overseeing the paper’s books, arts and entertainment coverage. Until 2024 the position was based in London; she moved the role to Paris to bring more attention to the city’s cultural offerings and status as a global arts hub.Previously, she served as senior correspondent for politics, technology and society, covering a range of political and public-policy topics. She is author of a cover story on the “Disunited States of America” and a special report arguing that America’s future can be understood by studying California and Texas. Alexandra has also served as The Economist’s finance correspondent and wrote about hedge funds, private equity and insurance. Alexandra was named Britain’s Young Financial Journalist of the Year by the Wincott Foundation. She graduated from Yale, where she double-majored in history and African studies.
This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more → Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Ukraine's Past, Present, and Future
2025-09-16 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join the Wall Street Journal’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Yaroslav Trofimov, and senior Le Figaro reporter and filmmaker Margaux Benn for a conversation on the war in Ukraine. Where does the conflict stand now, how is it evolving, and why does it matter to the world?
Drawing from Trofimov’s frontline reporting and his acclaimed book Our Enemies Will Vanish, alongside Benn’s extensive international reporting, the discussion will explore the realities of life under siege, the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the global implications of the ongoing fight for democracy and sovereignty. This conversation will be moderated by veteran journalist and Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford, Renée Kaplan.
About the speakers:
Yaroslav Trofimov is the author of three books of narrative non-fiction and one novel. He has worked around the world as a foreign correspondent of The Wall Street Journal since 1999, and has served as the newspaper’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent since 2018. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in 2023, for his work on Ukraine, and in 2022, for his work on Afghanistan, and won the National Press Club award for political analysis in 2024. His latest non-fiction book, Our Enemies Will Vanish, was a finalist of the 2024 Orwell Prize and won the 2024 Peterson Literary Prize. Yaroslav’s novel, No Country for Love, based on his family’s history in 20th century Ukraine, has been published in five languages, including French. Yaroslav holds an MA from New York University.
Margaux Benn is a senior reporter with Le Figaro and a documentary filmmaker. She has reported from a dozen countries, and lived in Sudan, Kenya, the Central African Republic, Cyprus and Afghanistan – a country which she has been covering for nearly a decade. Her work in Afghanistan and Ukraine has received several French and international awards, including the Albert Londres Prize and the Bayeux Prize for War Reporters. She is active in various initiatives to promote media literacy and is co-secretary general of France’s feminist journalists association Prenons la Une.
Renée Kaplan is a veteran journalist and news leader, with experience across public broadcasting, news networks, and legacy newspapers in France, the UK and the US. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford. Before joining the Institute, Kaplan was the Head of News for ARTE, and previously the Head of digital editorial development at the Financial Times. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

How To Write About Africa: Celebrating the Legacy of Binyavanga Wainaina
2025-09-17 19:30 - 20:30 | https://americanlibraryinparis.org/event/wainaina25/
Binyavanga Wainaina (1971–2019) was a pioneering voice in African literature, a memoirist and essayist remembered as one of the most vital chroniclers of contemporary African life. His posthumous collection How to Write About Africa brings together his groundbreaking essays and stories, including the viral satirical classic of the same name first published in Granta.
This panel brings together Achal Prabhala, editor of the collection, novelist Hemley Boum, and critic Jeremy Harding for a wide-ranging conversation on Wainaina’s art, activism, and global legacy. Together they will reflect on how his words continue to shape literature, culture, and the ways we see Africa today. This conversation will be moderated by Rachel Donadio, Curator of Cultural Programs.
About the speakers:
Achal Prabhala is a public health activist, filmmaker and writer based in Bangalore, India. He has written for small literary magazines around the world, including Transition, Bidoun and Chimurenga, and edited collections of Indian writing (The Best of Quest, 2011 and Civil Lines 6, 2012). He is the editor of How to Write About Africa, the first instalment of the collected work of Binyavanga Wainaina, published posthumously after the writer’s death in 2019.
Hemley Boum is a novelist, poet, and essayist. Born in Cameroon, she studied anthropology before continuing her studies in international business in Lille. After her first job in Paris, she lived in several African countries before settling in France to write. Hemley Boum’s novels depict urbanity, tradition, and history as captured in the everyday life of intimate relationships.
Jeremy Harding is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books. His books include Border Vigils: Keeping Migrants Out of the Rich World and Mother Country, a memoir. His essay collection, Analogue Africa: Notes on the Anti-Colonial Imagination, is due next year.
About Binyavanga Wainaina:
Binyavanga Wainaina was the founding editor of Kwani?, a leading African literary magazine. He won the 2002 Caine Prize for African writing, and has written for Vanity Fair, Granta and the New York Times. He passed away in 2019 in Nairobi at the age of 48. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

The Poetry of Becoming
2025-09-23 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Celebrate the debut collections of poets Sasha Debevec-McKenney and Oluwaseun Olayiwola in a reading and craft conversation moderated by Emma Gomis.
Debevec-McKenney’s Joy Is My Middle Name captures the messy, intimate journey from one decade of life to the next, while Olayiwola’s Strange Beach reimagines the body and the self as shifting landscapes of desire, memory, and change. Together, their work invites audiences to consider how poetry can reshape how we move through the world.
About the speakers:
Sasha Debevec-McKenney‘s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books and the Yale Review. She was the 2020-2021 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and is currently a creative writing fellow at Emory University.
Oluwaseun Olayiwola is a poet, critic, choreographer and performer. He has been published by the Guardian, The Poetry Review, PN Review, Oxford Poetry, the Telegraph and the Times Literary Supplement. His choreographic work has been presented at the V&A, The Place, The Central School of Ballet, and Studio Voltaire. Seun has an MFA in Choreography from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He lectures in dance at the Kingston School of Art.
Emma Gomis is a Catalan American writer and researcher. Her book, Recupera, was published by the87Press in February. She has published four pamphlets of poetry, two of which were cowritten with Anne Waldman. She is a coeditor of New Weathers (Nightboat Books) and Manifold, a journal of experimental criticism. In 2020, she was selected by Patricia Spears as The Poetry Project’s Brannan Prize winner. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in contemporary feminist art writing. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Lessons in Looking with Lilly Dancyger
2025-09-24 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join American Library in Paris Scholar of Note Lilly Dancyger for a craft talk on how visual art can deepen and expand a writer’s practice. From the way portraiture reveals character to how sketching can inspire more playful drafting, this interactive lecture will explore the parallels between painting and prose.
About the speaker:
Lilly Dancyger is the author of First Love: Essays on Friendship, and Negative Space. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Atlantic, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Guernica, Literary Hub, and more. Dancyger is the recipient of the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award, the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from Sewanee, the Indiana Review Creative Nonfiction Prize, and an Artist Fellowship in nonfiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She lives in New York City and teaches at the Randolph College low-residency MFA program.
Lilly is working on a book-length three-part essay about ballet as an artform and a physical practice, chronic pain, and the mind/body connection.
This event is part of Ways of Seeing, a special series exploring the connections between storytelling, creativity, and the visual world. Join the conversation and attend events featuring cultural luminaries. Learn more → Important information: The discussion will be available in-person only and will not be recorded.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Sam Tanenhaus on William F. Buckley, Jr.
2025-09-30 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join biographer Sam Tanenhaus for a lecture on Buckley, his sweeping new portrait of William F. Buckley, Jr., the writer, commentator, and provocateur who helped launch the modern conservative movement. Drawing from exclusive interviews and never-before-seen papers, Tanenhaus traces Buckley’s influence from the Cold War to the culture wars, revealing both his public legacy and the private contradictions behind the persona.
About the speaker:
Sam Tanenhaus, the former editor of The New York Times Book Review, is the author of the national bestsellers Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize) and The Death of Conservatism. His feature articles and essays have appeared in the Atlantic, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, New York Review of Books,Vanity Fair, and many other publications in the United States and abroad. His new book, Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, was published to wide acclaim in 2025. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Inside the CIA with Tim Weiner and Pierre Haski
2025-10-07 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner and distinguished journalist Pierre Haski for a revealing conversation about Weiner’s new book The Mission, a definitive account of the CIA’s evolution since 9/11. Drawing on exclusive interviews with former CIA Directors, operations officers, and the top spymaster, Weiner uncovers how the agency adapted to the challenges of the war on terror, rebuilt its espionage capabilities, and now faces unprecedented global threats in a complex and shifting world.
About the speakers:
Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on American national security and the National Book Award for Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. At the New York Times, he covered the CIA in Washington and conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other nations. Legacy of Ashes was acclaimed as one of the year’s best books by The New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, Time, and many other publications. His new book, The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century, was ranked #3 on the New York Times bestseller list upon its publication. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Kate Doyle, an expert in human rights and freedom of information.
Pierre Haski has worked as a journalist for over five decades, first at Agence France-Presse and later at the French daily Libération. He was a foreign correspondent posted in Johannesburg, Jerusalem and Beijing. In 2007 he cofounded the news website Rue89.com. He has a daily Geopolitics column on France Inter, France’s number one radio. Since 2017, he is President of Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a Paris-based international NGO. He is the author of several books as well as documentaries for Arte, including L’Amérique en guerre (2025). Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Berthe Weill and the Parisian Avant-Garde with Curators Lynn Gumpert and Sophie Eloy
2025-10-15 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Join curators Lynn Gumpert and Sophie Eloy for an insightful conversation about the Musée de l’Orangerie’s current exhibition “Berthe Weill. Galeriste d’avant-garde,” which traces the story of one of the first female art dealers in Paris. A pioneering figure of the early 20th century, Weill championed avant-garde artists such as Picasso and Modigliani, helping to shape the course of modern art.
This event offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition and the curatorial vision that brings Weill’s remarkable influence to life at one of Paris’s most celebrated museums.
This event is in partnership with the American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie.
About the speakers:
Lynn Gumpert has organized exhibitions on four continents. For 28 years, she served as Director of New York University’s Grey Art Museum. There she oversaw over 80 exhibitions, including Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde (2024–25) and The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984 (2006). From 1980–88, she worked at the New Museum, NY, and, in 1992, authored a monograph on Christian Boltanski (Flammarion). In 1999, the French government named her Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Sophie Eloy is an art historian. She has held positions at the National Contemporary Art Fund, the Louvre Museum’s Department of Paintings, and the Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris, where she was deputy director from 2011 to 2018. Since 2018, she has been part of the conservation team at the Musée de l’Orangerie, where she works as a collection curator, with particular responsibility for the Contemporary Counterpoints program. She has curated exhibitions by Philippe Cognée, Amélie Bertrand, David Claerbout, Wolfgang Laib, and Isabelle Cornaro. She has also curated a number of exhibitions, including “Sam Szafran. Obsessions d’un peintre“ with Julia Drost and ”Berthe Weill, galeriste d’avant-garde” alongside Anne Grace, Lynn Gumpert, and Marianne Le Morvan in the fall of 2025.
Rachel Donadio, the Library’s Curator of Cultural Programs, is a Paris-based writer, journalist and critic, a contributing writer for the Atlantic, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former European Culture Correspondent and Rome Bureau Chief of the New York Times.

About the American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie:
American Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie (AFMO) is a non-profit organization with a mission to raise public awareness and financial support for the Musée d’Orsay and its sister institution, the Musée de l’Orangerie. AFMO provides critical support for the museums’ special exhibitions, education programs, conservation efforts, and gallery improvements. Since its founding in 2009, AFMO has nurtured French-American friendship and partnerships in the arts on behalf of the two museums. Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Art Without Borders with novelist R. O. Kwon and artist Chloé Quenum
2025-10-28 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Can an object have a nationality? How do artworks change when removed from their context—and what new meanings can displacement create? Novelist R. O. Kwon and visual artist Chloé Quenum join Curator of Cultural Programs Rachel Donadio for a cross-disciplinary conversation on how artists inspire one another, and how movement, theft, and exchange reshape not only objects, but the stories we tell about art itself.
About the Speakers:
R. O. Kwon is the author of the nationally bestselling novel Exhibit, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Kwon’s bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize. Kwon coedited the bestselling Kink, a New York Times Notable Book. Her books have been translated into seven languages and named a best book of the year by over forty publications. Other writing has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.
As a 2025-26 American Library Visiting Fellow, Kwon is working on her third novel, which is about a Korean American woman who plans a heist of historically significant art.
Chloé Quenum manipulates visual and linguistic elements from different cultures, removing them from their original context and transforming them into decorative works with uncertain origins, inviting audiences to consider how displacement has the power to generate new narratives. Her work has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions, including at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Pau (2023), the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021, 2014), the Fondation Pernod Ricard (2021, 2014, 2013), the Centre Pompidou (2019) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton (2015). Her work can be found in several public and private collections, including the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou (Paris), the FRAC Alsace, Île-de-France, Grand Large and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, as well as the Crédit municipal de Paris, the Fondation Kadist and the Fondation Lafayette Anticipations. In 2024, Quenum represented Benin at the 60th Venice Biennale. Important information: Please note, this conversation will be in both French and English. The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Stirring the Pot: Paris Dining Today
2025-10-29 19:30 - 20:30 | The American Library in Paris
Panelists Lindsey Tramuta, Carina Soto Velasquez, and Nora Bouazzouni explore the evolution of Paris dining—from emerging cuisines to the challenges women face in the industry and the voices shaping the city’s culinary future.
About the speakers:
Lindsey Tramuta has been based in Paris since 2006. She is a bilingual French-English culture and travel journalist, bestselling author, podcaster, and editorial consultant. Since 2012, her work has appeared in T: The New York Times Style Magazine, the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Fortune Magazine, Afar Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Eater, Bloomberg, Elle, and Vogue, among other international publications.
Carina Soto Velasquez grew up in Medellín, Colombia, and moved to Paris in 2004 to study sociology, supporting herself through restaurant work and discovering a passion for hospitality. She began bartending in 2007, embracing the craft cocktail movement, and her love of agave spirits inspired Candelaria, a taqueria-bar she co-founded in 2011 with Quixotic Projects, followed by Le Mary Celeste in 2013. From 2011 to 2020, Quixotic Projects opened several venues, including Glass, Hero, and Les Grands Verres, and in September 2025 opened À La Renaissance, a Parisian café-bistrot. Carina now consults globally on food and beverage, and has been named among Drinks International’s Bar World 100 Most Influential four times.
Nora Bouazzouni is a French freelance journalist, author and translator. She works for various outlets on food, gender, TV shows and pop culture. She has published four books: Violences en cuisine, une omerta à la française (Stock, 2025), Mangez les riches, la lutte des classes passe par l’assiette (2023), Steaksisme, en finir avec le mythe de la végé et du viandard (2021) and Faiminisme, quand le sexisme passe à table (2017). Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.
Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.
Evenings with an Author are free and open to the public (with a 10€ suggested donation)
thanks to the generous support of GRoW @ Annenberg.

Tricks & Treats in the Stacks - Halloween at the Library (18+)
2025-10-31 19:30 - 22:30 | The American Library in Paris
🎭 Costume Contest Alert! 🎭
Show off your creativity and win big! This year’s contest features four thrilling categories:
Literary – Bring your favorite book characters to life
Sexy – Flaunt your boldest, most daring looks
Group/Duo – Grab a friend and coordinate an unforgettable ensemble
Scary – Spook, shock, and awe with your creepiest creations
💥 Prizes for the best in each category! 💥
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