Cultural Services of the French Embassy

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, intellectuals and innovators to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop Albertine, it fosters French-American exchange around literature and the arts.

Visit the Cultural Services of the French Embassy Website →


13 Related Articles

Albertine Prize in AP

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Jun. 06, 2018

Not One Day by Anne Garréta, an intimate and sometimes bitter recounting of past lovers written under the strict constraint of producing one chapter per day, has received the 2018 Albertine Prize. The $10,000 prize, chosen by American readers nationwide, honors the favorite French-language fiction title that has been translated into English and distributed in the US in the past year. Check out the exclusive PKPR placed in the AP today.

Permalink | Posted on Jun 06, 2018 at 12:30 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Albertine launches new literary prize

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Jun. 09, 2017

Aiming to introduce the very best of contemporary French-language literature to American audiences, Albertine, the acclaimed bookshop of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, launched the Albertine Prize, an annual $10,000 award honoring the author and the translator of one Francophone novel published in the U.S.  The inaugural winner was Bardo or not Bardo by Antoine Volodine.

PKPR secured coverage of the new prize in wide range of outlets including the Associated Press, Literary Hub, Publishers Weekly, The Culture Trip, The Millions, and Bookforum.

Permalink | Posted on Jun 09, 2017 at 10:06 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Festival Albertine Returns to NYC

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Nov. 20, 2015

For the second year in a row, PKPR handled publicity for Festival Albertine. The New Yorker’s David Remnick, choreographer Yvonne Rainer, graphic novelist Phoebe Gloeckner (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), author Margo Jefferson (Negroland), and Riad Sattouf, a former contributor to Charlie Hebdo whose new book, The Arab of the Future, was published in the U.S. this month to wide acclaim, were among the American and French-speaking authors and artists that headlined the five day festival.

Coverage highlights include a feature in the New York Times’ Weekend Miser (”Lively Debate and Discussion at Festival Albertine”), Time Out New York (”Lit Lovers and Francophiles: Get Excited”), Flavorpill, New York Review of Books, Adweek, and Publishing Perspectives.

Permalink | Posted on Nov 20, 2015 at 9:59 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Night of Philosophy in NY Times, New Yorker, WSJ

By Patrick Kowalczyk

May. 01, 2015

Over 5,000 people waited in line for up to three hours to attend the first-ever Night of Philosophy in New York City last week.

PKPR worked closely with reporters at several major outlets to attend and cover most of the 12-hour event overnight event. The result was in depth stories covering the night as it unfolded hour-by-hour. Highlights included a front-page Arts section story in the New York Times (”12 Hours of a Mental Marathon”), a New Yorker Talk of the Town piece, The Wall Street Journal, Gothamist, Brooklyn Rail, and ArtForum.

Permalink | Posted on May 01, 2015 at 12:30 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

NYC gets ready for all-night philosophy jam

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Apr. 23, 2015

With the help of preview stories in numerous outlets, over 14,000 people have RSVP’d on Facebook to attend the first-ever 12-hour Night of Philosophy in New York City at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the Ukrainian Institute.

Our favorite headline was in Quartz: The French Embassy is about to host the most French event New York has ever seen.

Other preview coverage included: Time Out New York Critics’ Pick, Flavorpill, HyperAllergic, am New York, Art Nerd New York, Untapped Cities, Publishers Weekly, and 6SqFt.

Permalink | Posted on Apr 23, 2015 at 12:15 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

A Philosophy All-Nighter in New York Times

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Mar. 30, 2015

PKPR placed an exclusive with the New York Times (”Ready Thyself for an All-Night Philosophy Jam”) on the announcement of New York City’s first-ever Night of Philosophy on April 24-25.

The 12-hour, nocturnal marathon presented by The Cultural Services of the French Embassy will feature performances, art installations, and round-the-clock lectures by over 60 leading philosophers on topics like “Must Intellectual Life Be So Boring” and “I Think, Therefore I Can.”

Permalink | Posted on Mar 30, 2015 at 7:21 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Albertine in NY Mag’s Best of New York

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Mar. 05, 2015

Albertine Books in French and English is singled out for Shopping in New York Magazine’s annual Best of New York issue.

Permalink | Posted on Mar 05, 2015 at 8:12 AM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Albertine Festival Debuts

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Oct. 17, 2014

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, filmmaker Olivier Assayas, and, Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash were among the leading French and American thinkers that headlined the first-ever Festival Albertine, as part of the opening festivities for the opening of the French Embassy’s new bookshop and cultural space.

Previews of the festival included Time Out New York, Village Voice, New York Observer, Metro, Refinery29, Flavorwire, Untapped Cities, and Electric Literature

Permalink | Posted on Oct 17, 2014 at 11:54 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Full page NY Times feature on Festival Albertine

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Oct. 10, 2014

PKPR placed a full-page feature in today’s New York Times on the opening of Albertine and the kick-off its six-day festival, with reporter William Grimes calling it “a sumptuous, swaddled nest where book lovers can roost.”

Permalink | Posted on Oct 10, 2014 at 2:23 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Albertine in WSJ, Paris Review, Time Out

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Sep. 26, 2014

Bon mot!

In advance of the official September 27th opening of Albertine, the French Embassy’s new bookshop and reading on New York City’s Museum Mile, PKPR secured a flurry of preview stories in national and local media, led by a wonderful piece by Jennifer Maloney in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Other highlights include Publishers Weekly, The Paris Review, Time Out New York, New York MagazineConde Nast Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, CoolHunting, DuJour, Very Short List, Untapped Cities, and Crain’s New York.

Permalink | Posted on Sep 26, 2014 at 11:05 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Albertine in Vogue’s iconic September issue

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Sep. 01, 2014

Inside the pages of the iconic September issue of Vogue: Albertine, the French Embassy’s new bookshop and reading room opening in New York City in late September.

Permalink | Posted on Sep 01, 2014 at 8:44 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Proust Celebration on NY Times Arts Front Page

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Nov. 13, 2013

As part of a year-long celebration of the centennial of Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, dozens of French and American writers, artists, and Proust fans, including Ira Glass, Mike Birbiglia, Dominique Ansel (creator of the cronut and pictured above), and author Edmund White participated in a weeklong live reading of the classic at venues across city last week.

To bring Proust’s world to life, PKPR client Moleskine also curated live drawing events for each reading featuring students and alumni from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay department at the School of Visual Arts.

Coverage highlights included a front page Arts section feature in the New York Times, a pick as one of the five best events of the week by Time Out New York, a behind-the-scenes look at the readings in The New York Observer, and a wonderful photo feature on all of the live sketches in Brain Pickings.

 

Permalink | Posted on Nov 13, 2013 at 10:26 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk

Plans unveiled for NYC’s only French bookshop

By Patrick Kowalczyk

Oct. 04, 2013


Reflecting the French government’s commitment to French-American intellectual exchange, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius last week presented author Philip Roth with the insignia of Commander of the Legion of Honor at a ceremony that culminated with the groundbreaking for a new French bookshop, reading room, and cultural space. Opening in spring 2014, it will be the only bookshop in New York City solely devoted to works in French and in translation, offering more than 14,000 titles in genres ranging from literature, non-fiction, and children’s books to art books and comic books.

Coverage of the ceremony and bookshop groundbreaking included The Wall Street Journal, Time, AFP, New York Daily News, and Mediabistro.

 

Permalink | Posted on Oct 04, 2013 at 9:42 PM by Patrick Kowalczyk


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