As a non-profit association based at Shakespeare & Company, FestivalandCo continues the long-standing literary tradition of our fifty-year-old independent bookstore.
The inaugural Festival, held in 2003, was created to celebrate the history of Shakespeare & Company and its continuation. Following its success, the organisers created FestivalandCo as a bi-annual literary event with each Festival focusing on a different theme.
The most recent edition of FestivalandCo took place 18-20 June in the park René Viviani next to Shakespeare & Company and opposite Notre Dame, attracting authors, actors and spectators from around the world. Over the course of three days we hosted extraordinary readings, panel discussions and book signings around the theme of Storytelling and Politics. There was also music, poetry and storytellers roaming around the park and performing in front of the bookshop. Read the Highlights of the last festival and read articles/listen to media on the Press page.
Participating authors and artists included: Martin Amis, Fatima Bhutto, Gregory L. Blackstock, Breyten Breytenbach, Tjawangwa Dema, Mathias Énard, Petina Gappah, Mark Gevisser, David Hare, Jack Hirschman, Denis Hirson, Ian Jack, Yusef Komunyakaa, Hanif Kureishi, Emma Larkin, Nam Le, Njabulo Ndebele, Porchlight Storytelling with Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte, Olivier Postel-Vinay, Philip Pullman, André Schiffrin, Will Self, Carole Seymour-Jones, Raja Shehadeh and Jeanette Winterson...There were special evening events with Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian at the Bibliothèque National de France, world-renouned cellist Natalie Clein at the 18th century private residency Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre, and 5x15 at the Réfectoire des Cordeliers, a 14th century converted convent, featuring Beth Orton, Alan Riding, Wendell Steavenson and the Paper Cinema.
Interviewers included: Sue Cullinan, Steven Gale, Mark Gevisser, Janine di Giovanni, Heather Hartley, Ian Jack, Natalie Levisalles, Erica Wagner…
Watch a short video on the FestivalandCo 2010.
See the Participants' page for a short biography of each participant and films and photos of each event.
Go the Podcats page to listen to FestivalandCo events.
See the 2010 Programme of events.
FestivalandCo was sponsored by The New York Review of Books, Eurostar, the Mairie de Paris, the French Ministry of Culture (CNL), the Région Ile-de-France, the DRAC, The American Embassy, English PEN, Roederer Champagne, Montblanc, Libération and other associations. See complete list of Partners.
Read an introduction to the 2010 festival by Co-Directors Jemma Birrell, David Delannet and Sylvia Whitman
Read a short essay on the festival by Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times.
Read highlights from each day of FestivalandCo 2010 in The Gazette.
A short film on FestivalandCo, as well as photos and interviews of festival authors can also be seen on the Champagne Louis Roederer website.
The 35 participating authors included Paul Auster, Alain de Botton, Jung Chang, Rachel Cusk, A.C. Grayling, A.M. Homes, Siri Hustvedt, Hermione Lee, Catherine Millet, Amélie Nothomb, Marjane Satrapi, André Schiffrin and Jeanette Winterson. Charlotte Rampling and other actors also participated. See a full list of authors involved, their biographical details and films and photos of each event.
FestivalandCo was sponsored by The New York Review of Books, Eurostar, the Mairie de Paris, the French Ministry of Culture (CNL), the DRAC, Région Ile-de-France, The American Embassy, English PEN, The British Council, Roederer Champagne, Montblanc, the Times Literary Supplement, Time out and other associations.
Read an introduction to the 2008 festival by Sylvia Whitman and the festival staff.
Read a short essay on the theme of the festival by Ian Jack.
Read highlights from each day of last year’s festival in the FestivalandCo Gazette:
The Gazette #1
The Gazette #2
The Gazette #3
The Gazette #4
See the 2008 programme of events.
A short film on FestivalandCo, as well as photos and interviews of festival authors can also be seen on the Champagne Louis Rederer website.
Participants included: William Dalrymple, Geoff Dyer, Barry Lopez, Andreï Makine, Celia Brayfield, Stephen Clarke, Maria D'Arcy, Andrew Eames, Jason Elliot, Noel Riley Fitch, Janine Di Giovanni, Charles Glass, Shusha Guppy, Tony Hawks, Lucinda Holdforth, Ian Jack, Brigid Keenan, Jonathan Lorie, Rory Maclean, Nick Middleton, Dervla Murphy, Ruth Padel, Tim Parks, Jon Ronson, Barnaby Rogerson, Anthony Sattin, Elizabeth Speller, Albert Sonnenfeld, Colin Thubron & Thirza Vallois.
Participants included: Carolyn Cassady, Allan Sillitoe, Frances Stonor Saunders, Jung Chang, Mark Ford, C.K. Williams, René Weis, Victor Erofeyev, Harry Mathews, Claire Messud, Ulick O'Connor, Margo Berdeshevsky, Frank Grimes, Patricia Nolan, Jacques Blot, Chip Martin, Viken Berberian, Susan Fox, Pansy Maurer-Alvarez, Edwin Torres, Kathi Diamant, Wyatt Prunty, Thirza Vallois, Ruth Fainlight, Shusha Guppy, David Applefield, Jeff Allen, Julia Wright, David Amram, Ed Adler, Richard Deakin, Lisa Pasold, Jim Haynes, James Emanuel, Jake Lamar, Micheal Horovitz, Danny Karlin, Gorden Bowker, Guy Livingston, John Kirby Abraham, Gabriella Sheer, Anne Conover, Michael Hastings, Robin E. Gajdusek & Adrian Hornsby.
