London launch for A Town Like Paris

Hello? Is anyone out there? It's been so long between blog postings, there's a very good chance I am shouting into a vacuum with this posting -- but in the event there are a couple of London-based or London-bound ATLP fans, this one's for you.
'A Town Like Paris' is finally being published in the UK and should be available in bookstores from mid-January.

To mark this most auspicious occasion, the Showgirl and I are popping across the Channel for a special launch event.
Australian author in London, Kathy Lette, has kindly agreed to perform the honours and give ATLP its official UK launch at a soirée in the venerable Marylebone bookstore, Daunt Books.
There will be Aussie wine (thanks to Thompson Estate) and in keeping with Aussie tradition, a real-life raffle of a hamper of Aussie delicacies (courtesy of The Australian Shop)
We're welcoming all-comers -- so if you happen to be in the vicinty, don't hesitate to drop in and say hello.

UK LAUNCH EVENT DETAILS
Thursday 29 January
6.30pm-8pm
Daunt Books
83 Marylebone High St
London W1U 4QW

Hope to see you there ...

PS: Yes, the photo above is the new Aussie cover. Another fantastic photo from the exceedingly talented Carla Coulson - whose new book, Paris Tango, has to be seen to be believed. It's a photographic triumph!

ATLP takes a bite out of the Big Apple

I went, I saw, and I did my level best to conquer.

The thing that always strikes me about New York City is the overwhelming size of the place. It's noisy, it's vast and it seems to move in a state of perpetual fast-forward.

For a humble lad from Sydney-via-Paris, it's all slightly overwhelming. So it was that I fronted up to Idlewild bookstore in Manhattan last Thursday night for the US launch of A Town Like Paris with a hulking great knot in my stomach.
A few glasses of Thompson Estate Chardonnay (note gratuitous plug for friend's delicious Western Australian white wine) managed to take the edge off sufficiently that I was finally able to stand up before the 100-strong crowd, make a short speech and read from the book.

Thank you to everyone who waded through the New York humidity to join the festivities - and thank you, especially, for the lively Q&A session that followed the book reading. Some of you had really done your homework, quoting back at me entire passages from the book. If I looked momentarily taken aback, it was simply because some of you appeared to know my book better than me. Impressive work people.

A Town Like Paris gets the Page Six treatment

Question: What do Anne Hathaway, Jimmy Page and myself have in common?

Answer: We all shared coveted Page Six column space in the same day's edition of the New York Post.


It's not every day a fella warrants a mention in Gotham City's most hotly contested celebrity register, so permit me an indulgence if I draw it to your attention.

Published on the morning of the US launch event for 'A Town Like Paris', the article featured a winning photograph of the Showgirl (which, it's fair to say, probably helped sway the editor's decision to include the article in the column ...) and a brief description of the book.

All in all, a cracking good start to the New York adventure.

The article in full:

"Heartbreak Fix"

"June 19, 2008 - GOING to Paris with a broken heart worked out splendidly for Australian journo Bryce Corbett. After breaking up with a longtime girlfriend, he fled London for the City of Light to meet French women and fell for a hot Lido showgirl, Shay Stafford , a fellow Aussie who ended up marrying him. Corbett writes about his exploits in the well-received tome "A Town Like Paris," which will be feted tonight at 7 at Idlewild Books at 12 W. 19th St."

To see the article online, click here

Start spreading the news .... New York here I come

Mark your diaries people! It's time for the US launch of A Town Like Paris. I am Big Apple-bound.

We're talking an all-singing, all-dancing, full-frontal Aussie assault on Manhattan. There will be Aussie wine, Aussie revellers, a slightly delirious Aussie author (something about that trans-Atlantic flight just knocks me out every time) and - with a bit of luck - a band of indulgent (if bemused) locals.

The recently-opened Idlewild Books on West 19th St has kindly donated its event space for the night. My ever faithful friends at the West Australian winery, Thompson Estate are helping to provide liquid refreshment and the good folk at Random House/Broadway Books (my US publishers) will be ensuring there are plenty of copies of A Town Like Paris on hand for anyone who wants an autographed copy.

In all, it should be quite the fun evening. A taste of Paris in the heart of Manhattan served up by an Aussie. Talk about globalisation.

All of which is to say, if you happen to be in New York on the evening of June 19, you are hereby cordially invited to attend.

To those of you in the States who have been buying and reading my book, and sending through such nice emails, I say a heartfelt thank you. It's always gratifying to receive reader feedback. Especially when it's of the positive variety.

Details for the US launch event:

Thursday 19 June
7pm
Idlewild Books
12 West 19th St (near 5th Ave)
New York, NY

RSVP: events@idlewildbooks.com

I look forward to seeing you there.

A Town Like Paris reviewed in the New York Times

What better start to a Sunday morning could a fella possibly hope for?

Over juice and cereal this morning, as I stared out across the Paris rooftops, an email arrived from a colleague informing me he had just read a review of A Town Like Paris in today's edition of the New York Times.


And it's not half-bad.

In a cover story highlighting this year's batch of summer reading, journalist Josh Hammer calls A Town Like Paris "a refreshing variation on a shopworn theme: the Anglophone at large in the French capital".

While noting the literary effort is "not quite A Moveable Feast", Hammer nonetheless notes: "Corbett’s sharp observations lend the tale a dash of élan".

I'll wear that.

To read the review in full, click here

Paris Book Signing - April 21

Greetings people.

For those of you who happen to be in the City of Light on Monday April 21, those of you expecting to pass through, or those of you mad enough to make the journey, I'll be the guest of honour at a little literary soirée - to which you are all cordially invited.

Organised by Terrance, the amiable editor of the popular online newsletter, Paris Through Ex-Patriate Eyes, the evening will be a chance to sip a few fine French wines, nibble on a selection of fine French fare and listen in rapt amazement as I read from A Town Like Paris.

It's all happening at Le Select, 99 Boulevard Montparnasse, in the sixth arrondissement (just behind the Jardins du Luxembourg).

Terrance tells me numbers are strictly limited. The best way to make sure you don't miss out is to follow this link and follow the instructions.

To read the interview I gave to PTEE, click here.

Watch this space for announcements of other Paris bookstore and cafe events in the coming months ....

Good Morning America!

Today is a special day for me. It marks the date on which I have officially become a published author in the United States.
Some would say the fact it is also April Fool's Day could not be more appropriate, but there's no need for us to dwell on that.

And so bookstores all over the US will today start selling A Town Like Paris -- and America will get a flavour of Paris from an Aussie point of view.
To mark the occasion, my publishers in the US, Broadway Books (an imprint of Random House) have been busily organising a few online promotional efforts.
The first is a promotional video, recorded here in Paris a couple of weeks ago, and posted this week on the website: www.booksvideo.tv

The video follows me on a little tour of Paris. For the film buffs among you, you will be interested to learn that all the traveling footage of Paris-by-night was taken from the back of my beloved Vespa. The film-maker, Jethro, displayed nerves of steel to hang one-handed from the back of Mojito as I cruised past some of the city's best known monuments.

To view the video, click here.

The second promotional effort is a guest blog entry on the popular Travelocity blog, Window Seat. To check out my musings, click here.