4 sessions, Saturday August 8 to 29th, 12-2pm Eastern Time
online
$60 per session; $200 for all four sessions (save $40!)
Please note: books not included, but some PDFs of complete works and excerpts will be provided
Enroll in the entire month-long program.
Or enroll session-by-session:
August 8: A Century Ago — Paris in the 1920s
August 15: Walking in Paris — Notes on Wandering the City
August 22: Paris in Color — Dispatches from BIPOC Writers
August 29: A Century Later — Paris in the 2020s
If you’re dreaming of a season spent in Paris, the European capital of literature and art that has enamored people all over the world since time immemorial, look no further. This summer, we’re traveling from our armchairs—and couches, beds, hammocks, and wherever you love to tuck into your favorite books—with a reading club led by Paris-based travel writer, magazine editor, and Writing Co-Lab instructor Matt Ortile. Through a curated selection of essays, short stories, novels, and memoirs (complete works as well as excerpts) that will transport us to the City of Light.
In this reading club focused on English-language works about Paris, we will read classic 20th-century expatriate authors like Hemingway and Baldwin, but also contemporary chroniclers of life in the French capital, from French-born novelist Sanaë Lemoine to American immigrant Sutanya Dacres. Together, we will examine the ways these writers paint their pictures of Paris, some of which pierce the veil of francophile fantasies (no Emily in Paris scripts here) to depict this often romanticized city in all its practical—and enchanting—realities.
This is a group for both readers and writers: Discussions will revolve not only around content and plot but also narrative techniques and literary craft. Additionally, there will be potential author visits, should the authors’ schedules allow. Furthermore, we will collaborate and build a library of recommendations for more of our favorite writing about Paris. And perhaps most excitingly, participants in this Reading Club will receive priority access to spots in a potential Writing Co-Lab retreat and workshop to take place in Paris next year.
Session Dates, Topics, and Reading List
Session 1, August 8: A Century Ago — Paris in the 1920s
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (1964)
Janet Flanner, “The Greatest Refreshment,” The New Yorker (1972)
Session 2, August 15: Walking in Paris — Notes on Wandering the City
Edmund White, The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris (2001)
Excerpts from Lauren Elkin, Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London (2016)
Session 3, August 22: Paris in Color — Dispatches from BIPOC Writers, **with a potential author visit
James Baldwin, “Equal in Paris” (1955)
R.O. Kwon, “Paris Pour Tous,” Condé Nast Traveler (2023)
Sutanya Dacres, Dinner for One: How Cooking in Paris Saved Me (2024)
Session 4, August 29: A Century Later — Paris in the 2020s, **with a potential author visit
Caity Weaver, “An Innocent Abroad in Mark Twain’s Paris” (2025)
Sanaë Lemoine, The Margot Affair (2020)
Enroll in the entire month-long program.
Or enroll session-by-session:
August 8: A Century Ago — Paris in the 1920s
August 15: Walking in Paris — Notes on Wandering the City
August 22: Paris in Color — Dispatches from BIPOC Writers
August 29: A Century Later — Paris in the 2020s
About the Instructor
Matt Ortile is an editor and writer who has taught creative writing seminars for the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Tin House, Kundiman, Poets & Writers, PEN America, and elsewhere. He is the author of the essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name and a co-editor of the essay anthology Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves. He is also an editor for print and digital at Condé Nast Traveler, and was previously the executive editor of the literary magazine Catapult prior to its closure.
Student Testimonials from Previous Co-Lab Classes with Matt
“Matt’s a wonderful, engaging and supportive teacher!”
“Matt Ortile’s instruction was very practical and informative. I appreciated the structure but also that he supported the direction of the conversation as it flowed. The readings were helpful and Matt’s guidance provided the information I was hoping to gain. I will definitely take more courses with Writing Co-Lab and especially with Matt.”
"Thoughtfully designed and informative course. Pacing, readings, and generative writing exercises were excellent."
"I was shocked when I saw that 2 hours had gone by … I would take a class with Matt every day/week/hour … very excited to take another one with him and also VERY inspired … thank you thank you … exactly what I needed!"
"Absolutely incredible class! Matt is a wonderful teacher – I learned so much and left feeling inspired."
"This class was awesome. Direct and to the point, but with time for generative thought and exercises. I left with two pages full of ideas and I’m searching for my next class to take with Matt."