Begins with a sunset on the Pont Marie next to our pied-à-terre in the Île Saint-Louis, one of two natural islands in Paris.

The next evening we invited some folks over for a small fête to kick of the week of events planned for the Henry Miller Memorial Library’s Aller Retour Paris literary festival. Naturally this involved much wine, bread and cheese. The calm before the storm:

Pont Marie Gang at Sunset (not featured, our photographer and pal: Debi Lorenc)

I wanted to only eat bread, cheese and butter the whole time in Paris, but after two days, I had to add some roughage. That’s all I’m saying. I made everyone go out to the bridge at sunset where we drank German sekt (sorry France) and ate petite madeleine from Combray and talked about Proust, yes, I am serious. Reading the new translation of Swann’s Way right now. Read More >

Dorothy’s Gallery, American Center for the Arts, is co sponsoring « Aller Retour Paris, an exhibition,  May 6 to 10, and a festive evening, May 7, dedicated to the legendary American writer  Henry Miller.

The Henry Miller festival is organised in collaboration with :

– The Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, California.
– Shakespeare and Company,the historic parisien english language bookstore
– Mary Duncan, Director of the Paris Writers Group and Paris Writers Press

Special Evening – MAY 7 at 7pm
Join us at Dorothy’s Gallery for a reception/celebration with talks by speakers from three countries with a film, food and wine on May 7 at 19:00.

Poetry readings with: Maria Garcia Teutsch and J. Hope Stein

Music, Al Rose

Mary Duncan will give a talk on the live recording of Henry Miller.

Well, almost. The Henry Miller Memorial Library’s journal of literature and art will host an evening of poetry, music and wine at the world renown bookstore, Shakespeare and Company in Henry’s old stomping grounds, Paris, France.

Featured Readers:

J Hope Stein is the author of the chapbooks: Talking Doll (Dancing Girl Press), Mary (Hyacinth Girl Press) and Corner Office (H_ngm_n). Her poems are published or forthcoming in Verse, HTML Giant, Tarpaulin Sky, Everyday Genius, Ping Pong, Talisman, and Poetry International. She is also the editor ofpoetrycrush.com and the author of the poetry/humor site eecattings.com.

 
Jean-Noël Chazelle is a Paris-based painter who will read French poetry from Ping-Pong, as well as some of his own work.

 
Maria Garcia Teutsch will be reading from the new bilingual (French and English) edition of Pussy/Chatte, as well as from her new manuscript: Whore-son, poems written in response to the underlined sections of Jean Genet’s The Balcony. She has or will be published in: Otoliths, The South Carolina Review, Prairie Schooner, The Lullwater Review, The Cold Mountain Review, The Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, The Sierra Nevada Review, Women’s Arts Quarterly, and Whole Beast Rag.

Shelley Marlow wrote the lyrics to UnKnot Turandot, performed at La Mama Theater NYC. Marlow presented International Witch Stories at the 48th Venice Biennial. Her writing and visual art is published in the St. Petersburg Review; LTTR (Lesbians to the Rescue); Drunken Boat; as a cover of The Literary Review; saint-lucy.com; zingmagazine; Girlfriends Magazine; Sandbox Magazine; Log Illustrated; New Observations; and in various art catalogues.  Marlow collaborates with performance artists, exhibits paintings and drawings, and writes fiction. Marlow resides in Brooklyn.

Aller Retour Paris (May 4-12, 2014): a week of art, poetry, film, and music celebrating the city’s role in shaping Henry Miller as a writer and raconteur, hosted by yours truly,

The festival will be anchored by a pop-up bookstore at the legendary Shakespeare & Company that will include an exhibit of rare manuscripts, letters, and books. We’ve already lined up some amazing events including a screening of Michael Polish‘s acclaimed film “Big Sur,” the “best of” the Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series, dinner parties, an opening nighty party hosted by Ping-Pong, our literary magazine!

more details to come . . .