Press

Press relations : jemma@festivalandco.com

In 2010, the Festival was advertized in media such as The New York Review of Books (5 full page ads from April to June), Libération (ads in issues of June 5-6, 12-13, 17 & 18, 2010), The Literary Review (May 2010), Books Magazine (May-June 2010), The Times Online (May 14, 2010) Le Monde des Livres (June 18, 2008), Les Inrockuptibles (June 9-15, 2010), En Vue (June/summer 2010), Paris Magazine (May-June 2010), American Way (May 1, 2010), Time Weekly (in China, July 2009) amongst others.

Click on the logos below to read what the Press had to say about the 2010 festival:

 


Russia


Finland


China

Press Extracts From 2008

The Telegraph – Shakespeare & Company literary festival, by JS Rafaeli (23 Jun 2008)
‘Capitalising on Shakespeare and Co's reputation, and on the fact that they happen in a marquee near to Notre Dame, instead of a muddy field in Hay, these events, conducted largely in English, have become by far the biggest literary festival in the French capital. Last week saw the third instalment of this festival. Fittingly for a shop so bound up in literary history and cultural memory, the theme was Real Lives: Exploring Memoir and Biography. One of the joys of festivals like this is the exposure to stories that one would never usually come across (…) All told, this festival was a resounding success. Sylvia Whitman managed to keep the events entirely free through sponsorship, and there was a true spirit of artistic exploration that would have made the original denizens of Shakespeare and Co proud of their legacy..’

The Guardian – Down and Out in Paris, by Jeanette Winterson (7 March 2009)
‘While there are plenty of readers who are not writers, there are no writers who are not readers, and one of the great gifts of this extraordinary bookshop is to keep writers and readers on the same creative continuum. Writers are not reduced to small-time semi-celebrities, and readers are not patronised as consumers. As Sylvia says, “We sell books for a living, but it's the books that are our life.”’

The New York Times / IHT – Escape to Books, not the Beach, by Tara Mulholland (10 June 2008)
‘With a lineup of authors that includes Paul Auster, Jung Chang, Hermione Lee, Amélie Nothomb, Marjane Satrapi and Jeanette Winterson, the festival looks set to embrace the memoir genre while tackling that most ticklish of literary topics: Where does fiction end and non-fiction begin?’

Publisher’s Weekley – Sylvia Whitman, by Claire Kirch (27 July 2008)
‘It was an explosion of energy.’

The Sydney Morning Herald – A Paris Commune, by Angela Bennie (5-6 July 2008)
‘...This year’s Shakespeare and Co literary festival (…) had crowds jostling for entry into the large marquee erected next door to the store and opposite Notre Dame (...) The festival is now the biennial, must-attend event in the Parisian cultural calendar.’

Time Out – Shakespeare and Company, A Left Bank literary institution (2009)
'In recent years Sylvia and her team have pulled off something of a coup by setting up the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival. The biennial four day event (next edition set for Juin 2010) is no small-time affair: at last count attracted over 5,000 visitors.'

Le Figaro Magazine – The Great Story of a Small Bookstore, by Nicolas Ungemuth (19 July 2008)
‘The other day Paul Auster was invited here for one of the many readings that animate this Ali Baba’s cave for readers and bibliophiles (…) Anglophones are so lucky. Who would not secretly dream of a French version of Shakespeare and Company as beautiful, as lively and as convivial?’

Livres Hebdo (the French version of The Bookseller/Publisher’s Weekly) by Mylène Moulin (20 June 2008)
‘The festival was a genuine success (...) The programme for this series of bilingual and free events would have made the organisers of the world’s largest literary festivals envious (...) Each event was met with real enthusiasm. The very lively public didn’t hesitate to debate with the authors on stage, notably during the roundtable talk on Barack Obama.’

Click on the logos below for full articles on 2008 festival: