The American Library in Paris Established 1920

Six titles shortlisted for the fifth annual American Library in Paris Book Award

For immediate release 1 July 2017

PARIS. The finalists for the 2017 American Library in Paris Book Award, recognizing the most distinguished English-language book of the year about France, have been announced by the Library. The books are: Duck Season: Eating, Drinking, and Other Misadventures in Gascony, France's Last Best Place, by David McAninch. (HarperCollins) The Inquisitor’s Tale: or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, by Adam Gidwitz. (Dutton) Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies, by Ross King. (Bloomsbury) I’m Supposed to Protect You from All This: A Memoir, by Nadja Spiegelman. (Riverhead) The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables, by David Bellos. (Particular Books) The Némirovsky Question: The Life, Death, and Legacy of a Jewish Writer in Twentieth-Century France. By Susan Rubin Suleiman. (Yale University Press) The fifth annual Book Award, which carries a prize of $5,000, will be presented to the winning author at a ceremony in Paris in November. The choice of the winning book will be made by the award jury, drawn from the Library’s Writers Council, this year consisting of Adam Gopnik, Bruno Racine, and Stacy Schiff. The American Library in Paris Book Award is supported by generous funding from the Florence Gould Foundation.

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The Library received 76 eligible submissions this year. Booklength prose works originally written in English, including but not limited to fiction, history, biography, travel, politics, food, and art, are eligible for the award. The 2017 award was restricted to books originally published between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017. “The screening committee again had a wealth of fine writing to choose from, and many excellent books in many genres surfaced in the deliberations,” said Charles Trueheart, director of the American Library, who headed the Paris-based screening committee. “We were especially pleased this year to include on the shortlist for the first time a book for young people, The Inquisitor’s Tale, and a memoir, I’m Supposed to Protect You From All This.” The American Library in Paris was established in 1920 with books sent by American libraries to United States personnel serving in World War I. It has since grown to more than 100,000 volumes, making it the largest English-language library on the European continent, and perhaps in any non-English-speaking country in the world. The Library’s international membership enjoys reading rooms, research facilities, book groups, children’s programming, art workshops, film screenings, community events, and the city’s best-known stage for appearances by distinguished authors. A major renovation of the Library’s premises near the Eiffel Tower was under way during the summer of 2016. Details about the award are available on the Library’s website. For inquiries about the award, please contact Alexandra Vangsnes at [email protected]. Media inquiries should be directed to Charles Trueheart, the award administrator, at [email protected].