French Book Tour! Part Two
Cassandra Clare, Damsel, and me at the Paris Book Festival
Hello, lovelies!
It’s time for Part Two of my French book tour! (If you missed Part One, it’s here.) Today is alllllll about le Festival du Livre de Paris a.k.a. The Paris Book Festival. Ooh la la!
(The festival spanned three days. I’m going to squeeze it all into this post, but if you’re reading via email (instead of on Substack), you might need to click on whatever little link your email provider puts at the bottom of long emails to expand the post to read the whole thing.)
It began with bananas, as all good stories do
(Do they, though?)
When I travel, I like to make sure I have enough fruits and veggies in my diet, because it’s really easy (if I’m not paying attention) to only eat bread and pastries, especially in France. So I often pop into a market to stock my hotel room with fruit.
After my literary walking tour of Paris, though, I was really tired, so I just ordered some bananas through a grocery delivery app. Silly American that I am, though, my jet lag-addled brain didn’t convert kilograms to pounds… So I ended up with a lot of bananas. (Tom suggested that I throw them into the audience as author gifts during the Festival du Livre. I wasn’t sure that would go over well…)
Social media in my publisher’s office
The next morning, before heading to the book festival, I visited my French publisher Hugo et Cie’s office. I got a tour of their gorgeous space, and then I did a podcast interview with a Paris-based journalist. My editor acted as our translator.
Afterward, I filmed a bunch of fun videos for my publisher’s Instagram and TikTok. I was wearing French colors that day (bonus points for me!)
Lunch with my editor and my French agents
Then we jetted off to a lovely Italian restaurant for lunch with my French literary agents, Megan and Sarah. I got to learn all about how American books get scouted and how those rights get acquired by overseas publishers for translation. Such a cool, exciting job these agents have, always looking out for new talent and new books to snag before anyone else!
The Grand Palais Éphémère
Happy and full of pasta, we walked a few blocks over to the Festival du Livre, which was held at the Grand Palais Éphémère. It’s right next to the Eiffel Tower. Check out this incredible view from the second floor of the Grand Palais Éphémère! (For some inexplicable reason, there was a grammar “game show” going on outside that day. But that actual sounds fun for a word nerd like me.)
Inside the Grand Palais Éphémère were books and books and more books. Every French publisher and some from other countries had set up booths with books to sell and guest appearances from authors for book signings. This photo is just the edge of the expo floor—it was a book lover’s dream come true.
The Fantasy of Evelyn Skye and Cassandra Clare
My first event at the Festival of Books was on their big stage: “The Fantasy of Evelyn Skye and Cassandra Clare.” We were interviewed by a French journalist (with an English interpreter to help), although both Cassie and I surprised the audience by speaking a little bit of French to begin the event. (I studied for this moment!)
We talked about building fantasy worlds, as well as whether seeing actors playing our book’s characters changed the way we thought of our work. (For me, it doesn’t really, because I have aphantasia, so I don’t remember the actors’ faces after I watch the movie and can revert back to the way I wrote them.)
Afterward, Cassie and I snapped a selfie to send to our editor, Anne Groell. Anne is the editor of Cassie’s adult novel, Sword Catcher, and my books The Hundred Loves of Juliet and One Year Ago in Spain (out this July 30th). Anne is also the editor for George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and Naomi Novik (Scholomance).
The actress who is the voice of MBB
Guess who was first in line for my first book signing at the Paris Book Festival? Clara Soares, the actress who is the French dubbed voice for Millie Bobby Brown in the Damsel film (and other of Millie’s work). Clara also narrated the French audiobook version of Damsel! She is such a sweetheart (she offered to bring me anything I needed over the weekend while I was at the book festival). I’m thrilled I got to meet her!
Interview with BookTok & Bookstagram influencer
There were a ton of BookTok and Bookstagram influencers at the Paris Book Festival. (If you don’t know what that is, there are incredibly passionate communities of readers on TikTok and Instagram, which have been nicknamed “BookTok” and “Bookstagram.”)
I met a bunch of them in my signing lines, but I also got to sit down for a “official” interview with Bouchra, an influential French BookTokker and Bookstagrammer. Très cool!
Est-ce que tu veux une dédicace?
Over the course of my book tour (from the bookstore in Lyon to the last evening in Paris), I had over 15 hours of book signing! I loved this opportunity to meet with French readers in person and to hear all their beautiful names. Here is a small sample (I asked people to write their names on a piece of paper so I could make out the dedication correctly.) Maybe I’ll use one of these names in a future novel.
I also took lots of photos with readers. One reader had a gorgeous white Instax camera, so she snapped two shots and let me keep one.
And just like in Lyon, the readers in Paris also brought gifts, like these Damsel bracelets made just for me!
And then, finally (and sadly), my French book tour wrapped up… It was an experience of a lifetime. Thank you to Dorothy, Myriam, Cybelle, Marie, and the rest of the Hugo et Cie team for bringing me to France!
Postcards - Exclusive for Newsletter Subscribers
Many of you took me up on the offer to send you a postcard from Paris. I had such a great time poking into different shops to find just the right ones, and I knew I’d found them when I came across a rack of vintage-style cards. Sure, I could’ve bought cheaper, generic photo postcards, but these were stunning and unique. Plus, you deserve pretty things!
I bought a massive, massive stack of them, and the guy at the register laughed and said, “You have a lot of friends!”
Our WORDPLAY community spans the globe! I mailed postcards to Austria, Portugal, Australia, United Kingdom, and all across the U.S. I really do have a lot of friends, and I appreciate every single one of you!
The best way to support me is buying my books!
Thank you for your love and enthusiasm, and for supporting the arts. :)
@Evelyn Skye, Hi 👋 I just received my Paris postcard. It's lovely 🥰. Thank you so very much for sending me one. I will treasure it.
What an amazing experience! Thanks for sharing all of the fun behind-the-scenes moments. I'm a huge fan of Cassandra Claire's books as well, so that was pretty cool! I hope your success continues!