For as long as Americans, Britons and other English-speakers have been coming to Europe, Paris has been recognised as the city where your artistic or literary talent had the best chance of flowering to its fullest.

In particular, the hilltop community of Montparnasse became a cauldron of creativity. In its great cafes and tiny art galleries,Ernest Hemingway and Man Ray, Scott Fitzgerald and Kiki of Montparnasse, Henry Miller and Anais Nin, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas worked, loved, socialised, bickered, but, above all, created.

For twenty years, the Paris Writers Workshop has given new authors their first foothold on literary immortality by exposing them to the cultural atmosphere of the City of Light.  Held from 1st to 11th July,it remains the premier literary event in France for writers in English, both for those  who want to break into print and also for established authors seeking a new direction in their work, or simply wanting to enjoy Paris.

Over ten days, subscribers enjoy tuition on a variety of subjects in the heart of historic Montparnasse. PWW 2008 is offering classes and Master Classes in The Novel, Poetry, Creative Non Fiction, Writing a Cookbook, Screenplay Writing, Celebrity Biography, Fantasy, Romance and Crime Fiction, Business Writing and much more. The directors are American poet Marcia Lebre, joined this year, for the first time, by Paris Through Expatriate Eyes’ own John  Baxter.

By restricting classes to no more than ten people, PWW ensures that classes are intimate, allowing each person maximum access to the tutor. Ample free time is allowed for side-bar events that include readings, art shows, literary walks, and a final Surrealist Dinner.
In 2008, for the first time, the Workshop also will present a $5000 prize to a piece of fiction by someone who has not previously been published in book form. Entry is open to all writers, not simply to Workshop subscribers.
For more details on the prize and on the Paris Writers Workshop 2008, see   www.pariswritersworkshop.org