Krista Halverson:
Shakespeare and Company, Paris

An English-language bookshop founded by George Whitman on the banks of the Seine in Paris has been hosting writers and selling the occasional book for 65 years. Krista Halverson explores the history of a countercultural institution and the legacy of Sylvia Beach.

Drawing on a century’s worth of never-before-seen archives, this first history of the bookstore features more than 300 images and 70 editorial contributions from shop visitors such as Allen Ginsberg, Anaïs Nin, Kate Tempest, and Ethan Hawke. With a foreword by Jeanette Winterson and an epilogue by Sylvia Whitman, the 400-page book is fully illustrated with color throughout.

“I created this bookstore like a man would write a novel, building each room like a chapter, and I like people to open the door the way they open a book, a book that leads into a magic world in their imaginations.” —George Whitman, founder

Kristina Halverson: Shakespeare and Company, Paris
Colour and black & white illustr. throughout
384 page, Hardcover
Thames & Hudson
9791096101009
CHF 44.90

Krista Halverson is the director of Shakespeare and Company bookstore’s publishing venture. Previously, she was the managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story, the art and literary quarterly published by Francis Ford Coppola, which has won several National Magazine Awards for Fiction and numerous design prizes. She was responsible for the magazine’s art direction, working with guest designers including Lou Reed, Kara Walker, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Zaha Hadid, Wim Wenders and Tom Waits, among others.