It’s been 10 years since the Albertine bookstore opened its doors, in a magnificent mansion on 5th Avenue, former property of businessman and philanthropist heir Payne Whitney, bought by the French government in 1952. The bookstore is worth the detour as much for its beautiful collection of books in French (more than 14,000 titles) as well as for its sumptuous ceiling covered with stars, Renaissance style painting.
© Albertine
“A space for Franco-American exchange and dialogue”
The Albertine bookstore is “ a place for selling and promoting French-speaking literature, but also a space for Franco-American exchange and dialogue on literature and the human and social sciences », explains Vincent Mano, book attaché and director of the Books & Ideas department at the Villa Albertine. The annual festival, paused during the pandemic, has not been relaunched since, but the Albertine teams are thinking about “ recreate in the coming years a recurring moment, included in the New York calendar, to present to the American public and publishers the strength of French literary and intellectual life. »
While waiting for this new moment, the bookstore continues to award three literary prizes each year: the first crowns the best translation from French to English; the second awards the Goncourt United States Prize. For its 4th edition in 2025, French students from around ten American universities will choose, among the 4 finalists for the Goncourt Prize, their favorite book. Finally, the Albertine Jeunesse prize works with 750 primary school classes and 17,000 students to reward a work for 3 to 12 year olds each year.
Celebrating literature in all its forms
From Thursday November 14 to Sunday November 17, Albertine’s birthday gives pride of place to French and Francophone authors, notably the Creole writer Patrick Chamoiseau (Texaco), Hervé Le Tellier (The Anomaly), both winners of the Prix Goncourt, and to New Yorker Marc Lévy who will talk about censorship and banned books. Comics and illustrated novels will also be represented, with the presence of Catherine Meurisse (first illustrator to enter the Academy of Fine Arts and survivor of the Charlie Hebdo attack), and the author of children’s books Anne -Lise Boutin, who will lead a drawing workshop for children aged 6-12 on Sunday, November 17 from 11am.
New York novelist par excellence, Paul Auster, who died last April, will be in the spotlight Friday evening, in the presence of his widow, the novelist Siri Hustvedt. Also on the program, a conversation between the former Minister of Culture and former director of Acte Sud Editions Françoise Nyssen and the journalist Laure Adler.
The Nobel Prize winner in economics Esther Duflo closes the anniversary festivities. © MIT
And since it is not only a question of presenting books in French, but also of creating a dialogue and a debate of ideas, foreign writers will also be in the spotlight, such as the committed Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany (The Yacoubian building, Chicago), the Irishman Colum McCann (American Mother), or the American Katie Kitamura (Intimacies, A Separation).
On the social sciences side, the celebrations will end on Sunday afternoon with a speech by the economist and Nobel Prize winner (2019) Esther Duflo, professor at MIT and specialist in issues of development and poverty.
