Paris launch for Left Bank Waltz
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The wheel has turned full circle for Elaine Lewis who, at sixty years of age, opened the Australian Bookshop on the Quai des Grands Augustins Paris in 1996. Ten years later she returned to Paris for the launch of her book “Left Bank Waltz: the Australian Bookshop in Paris (Vintage, April 2006).
And yes, the launch was on the Left Bank hosted by Brian Spence of the Abbey Bookshop, rue de la Parcheminerie. The Abbey Booksop was built in the 1730’s under the shadow of Saint Severin and it was said that it was a stopping-off place for mediaeval pilgrims setting out for Compostella in northern Spain - the cockle shell over the door is a symbol of Saint James whose tomb was the pilgrims’ destination. Similar shell designs line the path to Compostella. Normally there is a large Canadian flag flying above the ancient doorway but on June Brian has found a large Australian flag to replace it temporarily. On a showery Spring evening about 65 friends and former customers lined the cobbled street in front of the bookshop and most were armed with colourful umbrellas. Fortunately the rain held off until Jeanne Ryckmans (commissioning editor of Random House Australia) and Brian Spence introduced the author and spoke warmly about the Australian Bookshop and the book “Left Bank Waltz”. Elaine Lewis said that this occasion would be a treasured memory for her, not only because of the presence of friends of the Australian Bookshop and her French family, but because the words spoken that evening emphasised yet again the value of promoting and displaying Australian books in both French and English to the French public. “The dream is over but the need still exists.” |
