ALP Book Award

PROPOSED COLLABORATION BETWEEN ALP AND AFUSA: RECOMMENDED LIST OF NEW ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BOOKS ABOUT FRANCE

The American Library in Paris (ALP) has the following mission:

• Showcase a varied, curated, and enduring collection of the best English-language print and digital books, periodicals, and other materials.
• Bring together writers, readers, thinkers, and creators of all ages for meaningful conversations through programming, workshops, and cultural events.
• Create a welcoming space that encourages reading, writing, and thinking in English to support the pursuit of scholarship, lifelong learning, and personal growth.
• Encourage engagement and interaction within our local and global community and honor our century-old heritage of multicultural understanding.

What distinguishes the ALP from other libraries is that it is in Paris. It is, therefore, uniquely placed to track English-language books about Paris and France that would be of particular interest to the English-speaking community living in Paris and beyond.

 

One way that the ALP leverages its unique situation is by giving the annual ALP Book Award “to the title originally published in English that best realizes new and intellectually significant ideas about France, the French people, or encounters with French culture.”  The ALP’s Writers Council appoints an independent jury who selects the winner. The jury starts with a longlist of 10 books, which is then shortened to a shortlist of five finalists. The winner is announced at a ceremony in November. Authors submit their books for consideration.  In 2023 there were a total of 63 submissions. The ALP announced the 2024 longlist of 10 titles by email to its members and friends on June 18.

 

Proposal: As a first step, it is proposed that the ALP share its annual longlist, shortlist, and  winner with the Francophile community in the United States who are members and friends of the more than 100 chapters of the Federation of Alliances Française USA.  The Federation can itself promote the list through a link on its website, and individual chapters can pick up the link and promote the list to their members and friends. This first step would require little additional work by the ALP, perhaps creating a new webpage to make the above information for current and past years readily accessible to readers. For example, the email of June 18 announcing the 2024 longlist could be revised to start with an explanation of the ALP Book Award and how the winner is determined, as described in the previous paragraph. AF chapters in the USA could then forward a link to the announcement to their members and friends, and post it on their websites.

 

As a second, more labor-intensive step, the ALP might consider actively scouting out English-language books about Paris and France not only for its English-speaking community in Paris but for Francophiles everywhere, by posting a curated list of recommended new English-language books about Paris and France – and books in English by authors living in France – on its website. This list could be complemented by book reviews published by members of the ALP, after vetting by an ALP committee created by the Writers Council.

 

The above proposal would be an excellent way for the ALP to further the fourth point in its mission by reaching an English-speaking Francophile community beyond Paris, and for the AF chapters in the United States to provide a useful service to their Francophile and bibliophile members and friends.