Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light

David Burke is a writer and documentary filmmaker, who went to Paris in 1986 for what he thought would be a stay for one year, but it turned into more than twenty. He now divides his time between Paris and New York.

No City has attracted so much literary talent, launched so many illustrious careers, or produced such a wealth of enduring literature as Paris. From the fifteenth century through the twentieth, poets, novelists, and playwrights, famed for both their work and their lives, were shaped by this enchanting place. From the natives such as Moliere, Genet, and Anais Nin to expats like Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, and Gertrude Stein, author David Burke follows hundreds of writers through Paris's labyrinthine streets, inviting readers on his grand tour. Unique in scope and approach, Writers in Paris crosses from the Right bank to the Left and on to the Ille de la Cité as it explores the alleyways and haunts frequented by the world's most storied writers. Burke focuses not only on their writing, but on their passions, ecstasies, obsessions, and betrayals. Equally appealing to Francophiles and serious readers, this engaging book includes maps and more than one hundred evocative photographs.