World Writers' Festival

Initiated by Paul LeClerc, Director of Columbia Global Centers l Paris, the Festival was organized by Caro Lewellyn, director of the Sydney Writers' Festival from 2002 to 2006, then director of the PEN World Voices Festival from 2006 to 2012.

Since 1964, those who knew about Reid Hall were mainly the American students who had spent a semester or year studying there, their French professors, and a few Columbia faculty members. Within the broad French public, very few were aware that one of the world’s premiere universities had a significant outpost in the heart of their capital city. 

In order to remedy that situation, and with the advice and consent of the University’s President, the EVP for Global Centers, and the Paris Center’s Faculty Steering Committee, a decision was made to create a global writers’ festival in Paris and to do so in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). In addition to the BnF, other partners included: The Louvre, Maison de la Poésie, Théâtre de la Ville, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Le Monde, the Villa Gillet in Lyon, The New York Review of Books, Le Point, Les Inrockuptibles.

Concentrating on a large-scale public event on writers was motivated by three factors: first, creative writing ranks in France as the highest form of artistic production; second, by making this a world writers festival we could promote Columbia’s drive to be, and be seen as, a globally-focused university; third, by partnering with the BnF Columbia became associated with France’s oldest and most venerable cultural organization.

Each Festival ran over a September weekend in three successive years: 2013, 2014, and 2015. A total of 10,000 audience members attended Festival sessions held at Reid Hall and different venues in Paris. In 2013, another 1,000 attended the Festival in Lyon at the Villa Gillet. In the Fall of 2015, an on-campus version of the Festival in Miller Theater attracted an audience of 120. 

The three editions of the Festival were underwritten by generous gifts from the individuals, foundations, and corporations below, as well as by the Paris Center and the Office of Global Programs.

All told, the Festivals presented fifty-nine writers representing over forty countries. The festivals featured renowned authors such as Richard Ford, Kiran Desai, and Salman Rushdie, A.S. Byatt, Edna O'Brien, Gary Shteyngart, Less Murray, Amit Chaudhuri, Dany Laferrière, Ismael Beah. In 2015, the Festival commissioned a play by Sulayman Al Bassam (Kuwait), an internationally acclaimed playwright. His work, UR, inspired by the Sumerian 'Lamentation for the Destruction of the City of Ur', was performed at Reid Hall, at the close of the festival.

In addition to French journalists, scholars, and editors, ten members of the Columbia faculty participated either as panelists or moderators. Students from several suburban "lycées" were invited to participate in the first festival. Five Columbia MFA students in creative writing attended the second Festival together with five emerging writers from India.

Media coverage of each of the three Festivals was extensive.

A report drawn up by Edelman Berland gave convincing proof that the Festival had accomplished its main objectives: raising Columbia’s profile dramatically and in a culturally significant way in Paris, demonstrating that Columbia had contributed to the cultural life of its host nation, one that places an exceptionally high value on culture. Given that the Festival had accomplished its original mission, we decided to conclude this exceptional chapter in Reid Hall’s history and to begin investing the resources raised for the Festival in our facility and its various programs. 

WRITERS' WEEKEND

Because the three festivals inspired so many editors, bookstore owners, and book lovers, yes another writers' weekend was organized in June 2017. “RÉSONANCES AFRIQUE CARAÏBES,” benefited from the generous individual support of Scott and Laura Malkin as well as from the wonderfully gracious corporate backing of La Vallée Village, a major retail complex outside of Paris. La Vallée hosted our event “Morocco Otherwise” (“Le Maroc autrement”) in its VIP lounge. Our partners included: La Bibliothèque nationale de France; La Vallée Village; Afrolivresque; Collectif James Baldwin Paris; l’Arlequin Cinéma. Alina Gurdiel & Associates served as Artistic directors of the Weekend.

The World Writers’ Weekend sought to showcase and promote the vibrancy of African and Caribbean writing in the European context. Fourteen writers from seven African and Caribbean countries were represented (Africa: 3 from Cameroon; 1 from Djibouti; 3 from Morocco; 1 from Senegal; 2 from Republic of the Congo; The Caribbean: 1 from Haiti; 1 from French Guiana). Journalists and free-lance journalists with important French media were selected as the interlocutors (Elle, Le Monde, France Culture, les Inrockuptibles, Afrolivresque …). Genres included fiction, non-fiction, music, and film reflecting work in the following disciplines: literature, philosophy, economics, political science, and history. 


All programs were free to the public. Videos of sessions were made available on the web. 
Languages represented were: English, French, and Arabic. A total of 780 persons attended the Weekend. 
Below is the audience count by Session:

1. Le monde est mon langage: 171
2. Lecture musicale: 45
3. Penser l'Afrique de demain: 176
4. L'énigme du retour: 93
5. Littérature et justice: 207
6. Film: 70
7. Le Maroc autrement: 18