VINGT Paris Magazine

HEEZA Flipbook Store

Text and image: Scott Blake

HEEZA is a small store in Paris dedicated to flipbooks. Don't be fooled by tight space, this is the biggest collection of artist books and optical toys I have ever seen. Pierre-François Maquaire runs the mail order firm and has very impressive catalog of folioscopes (French for flipbooks).

His amazing collection includes videos, graphic novels, and super cool zoetropes. You can order online in French and English, but it is a real treat to flip through hundreds of examples in the store. To avoid disappointment I suggest calling ahead 06 98 06 90 92 or email Pierre heeza[at]heeza.fr.

HEEZA

9, Avenue de la République

75011 Paris.

Festival & Co - Shakespeare & Company THIS WEEKEND

 Text: Brendan Seibel

An international collection of authors, poets, essayists and dramatists are converging on Paris. Shakespeare & Co. is holding their fourth bi-annual literary festival packing readings, panel discussions and performances into a three day weekend. VINGT Paris is proud to partner Festival & Co for the first time this year as the event promises to be a highlight of the summer season. 

This year's theme, Storytelling and Politics, explores the relationship between writers and the world around them. Discussions on the responsibilities of authors as commentators on society, the role of literature as escapism, and the poignancy of the contemporary literary scene will bring together some of the most respected wordsmiths on either side of the fiction line.

In addition to the festival taking place at Parc René Viviani, across the Seine from Notre Dame, special events are spread throughout town once the sun goes down. 

The Lazy Dog: Urban Culture Reference in the Capital

Text: Rooksana Hossenally

In the back streets of Bastille is a small hideaway that will shake your senses as soon as you cross the threshold.  Contrary to its name, The Lazy Dog is a multifaceted hang out for dynamic creative types, a bookshop, boutique, and "concept store" all rolled into one.

English-speakers will soon become addicted to this little cave of books, magazines, posters, postcards, stickers, t-shirts, gadgets and designer toys. Most of the stock is in English so for you arty types out there, no more having to brave the Centre Pompidou bookshop and its mounds of books (although The Lazy Dog does not pretend to rival Beaubourg). Tor the most part the inventory is dedicated to contemporary art, illustration, graffiti, music, photography, fashion and design.

Shakespeare & Company Bookstore

Text by Philippa Brangam, photo courtesy of Christina Douzmanian

Henry Miller aptly described Shakespeare & Co as a Wonderland of books. On stepping through the door out of the hustle and bustle of the busy Latin Quarter it is easy to see what he meant. The piles of books over two floors almost insulate the outside noise from coming through, and provide a literary sanctuary. The manner in which a particular book may catch your eye seems to come from an almost cosmic destiny. Many a love affair between author and reader has begun inside these walls. Here books are king. Painted over the doorway at the top of the staircase is the slogan ‘Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise’. For those who have visited will know that Shakespeare & Co is much more than just a bookshop, it is an institution which has been upheld for almost a hundred years. 

0fr. Librarie, galerie... criminally left off our 20 art bookstore list.

At least that's what they said:

From: <info@ofrpublications.com>
Date: 2009/3/18
Subject: 
To: info [AT] ivyparis.com

Hi
For your information 0fr is one of the best boostore in Paris (Fashion, photo, graphism design, interior design and more than 200 magazines like self service, frame, id ...)
Hope you come to visit us
kinds regards
marie

0fr 20 rue Dupetit-Thouars 75003 Paris
www.ofrsystem.com
0033142457288

And we agree, it is at least the fourth best art bookstore in the 3eme.

20 Art Bookstores

1. Artazart, 10e
2. Librairie des Archives, 3e
3. Artcurial, 8e
4. Iconofolio / Le Livre d’art, 12e
5. Art et Littérature, 14e
6. Librairie Ambiphoque, 5e
7. Courant d’Art, 6e
8. Bookstorming, 3e
9. La Hune, 6e
10. Violette & Co, 11e
11. Les Mots à la bouche, 4e
12. Assouline, 6th
13. Librairie Flammarion Centre (in the Centre Pompidou), 4e
14. Librairie du Palais de Tokyo, 16e
15. La Monté en l’air, 20e
16. Jean Touzot Librairie Internationale, 6e
17. Librairie Leks, 1er
18. Librairie Olivier de Serres, 15e
19. Librairie Fischbacher, 6e
20. Yellow Korner 3e

Photo features Artazart off the Quai de Jemmapes and Canal St Martin, Bookstoreguide.org.

Kitchen 93

This publishing house prints high quality books essential to the urban art scene. They also hold an exhibition space dedicated to photography, graffiti, and graphic arts. The Kitchen 93 gallery has featured artists such as Scien and Klor from 123 Klan, Gilbert and Luis, and le 9e Concept.

Check out the Kitchen 93 site for upcoming exhibitions and publications. We recommend their book "Une Nuit" that binds dozens of photographed graffs initially posted on billboards and street signs.

Paris BD Shop Profile: Librairie Super Héros

Adrian K Sanders writing for I V Y paris

There may not be a better place to buy bande dessinée in Paris than Librarie Super Héros. It is situated smack dab in the middle of the city (about 30 meters north of Centre Pompidou) on Rue St. Martin.

Easy to get to and super friendly, Librarie Super Heros boasts one of the larger (and better organized) collections of alternative, import and quality BD. Like many book and BD shops, Librarie Super Héros has a staff selection, called Les coups de coeur, but unlike many book and BD shops, these selections feel personal and don't feel like push new releases or old stock.

Shakespeare and Co. Announce Lineup of 2008 Literary Festival

In cooperation with Shakespeare and Company, FestivalandCo is pleased to announce its third literary festival, "Real Lives:Exploring Memoir and Biography".

This year's theme is inspired by the increasing popularity of memoirs and biographies and by the questions these genres never fail to provoke, namely: Where is the frontier between fact and fiction, truth and interpretation? How does one construct a perspective without constructing a 'lie'?

The internationally acclaimed author line-up for this year's festival includes Paul Auster, John Baxter, Alain de Botton, Veronica Buckley, Carolyn Burke, Jung Chang, Susannah Clapp, Béatrice Commengé, Rachel Cusk, Antonia Fraser, Victoria Glendinning, Richard E. Grant, A.C. Grayling, Anton Gill, A.M. Homes, Alistair Horne, Siri Hustvedt, Ian Jack, Tété-Michel Kpomassie, Hermione Lee, Daniel Mendelsohn, Catherine Millet, Amélie Nothomb, Darryl Pinckney, Marjane Satrapi, André Schiffrin, Diana Souhami, and Jeanette Winterson.

Shakespeare and Company, recommendations and upcoming readings for April

George Whitman and Sylvia Beach Whitman photograph by Pascal Gely.

Owned and operated by the Whitman family since 1951, the Parisian institution Shakespeare and Company has been providing Anglophones a literary haven for decades. At 91 years of age, owner and founder George Whitman still keeps an eye on the shop with his daughter Sylvia Beach Whitman.

The shop is packed with books in every corner, nook and cranny. In addition to a great selection, they have monthly readings and the line up is very impressive.