So I went to France. It was amazing. Then I came back and…it took me a while to be able to write about it. Yeah, it was that good.
You see, I was supposed to go to France to plug the French edition of Coyote Songs in 2020. David Joy and I were going to do a five-city tour. A few days before I was supposed to jump on a plane, France closed its airports and the whole thing was cancelled. I was bummed out, obviously. You know, because opportunity doesn't knock twice. I was only sad about it for a couple of days because then I was told the school were I was teaching would be coming back entirely online the following school year and they didn’t have a contract for me. That’s when shit got dark. Thankfully, I used that time to finish The Devil Takes You Home, and that worked out well for me in the long run.
Anyway, turns out opportunity does knock twice from time to time. I guess opportunities are weird that way. Unpredictable. Yeah, I was invited to France again in 2023, and this time there was no pandemic to stop me. On April 3rd, I took a plane from Austin to Detroit and then from Detroit to Paris. From the moment I landed, I knew France was going to take a piece of my heart.
Sonatine Editions, my publisher in France, has always been good to me. They have given me great covers, gotten my books some awesome coverage (TV, Rolling Stone, etc), and sold the paperback rights almost immediately. Turns out they’re even better in person. I won’t bore you here with all the details, but I will say that hanging out with my publisher and the entire Sonatine team (they fed us, gave us all the wine, made sure were where we needed to be, and even served as translators for interviews) and getting to spend some time, get drunk, and share meals with my translator and cover artist was absolutely amazing. Also, Quais du Polar, which received more than 100,000 visitors this year, was one of the best experiences of my career. I spoke—in English, Spanish, very mediocre French, and sometimes with the help of the team or the awesome booksellers at our table—with hundreds of readers, signed stack and stacks of books, did a bunch of interviews and photo shoots, and had an amazing event with booksellers, bloggers, and journalists. I was also on various panels. One of them was with my brother Shawn Cosby as well as legends Dennis Lehane and John Grisham. That night, Shawn and I had drinks with Grisham at his hotel. He was funny, gracious, down to earth, and shared a bunch of advice with us. Also, speaking of Shawn, he and I came up together. We were both indie press guys dreaming of bigger things, and sharing this experience with him was an honor and a pleasure. Also, we had Catriona Ward with us. I’ve also known Catriona for a while and have read all her work. Spending time with her is always great, and this trip was even better than the usual few hours we get to hang out when doing other events in the U.S. Oh, and Catriona got me and Shawn some “train wine” to drink on our way back to Paris. I’m not fancy, but reading a book and drinking wine on a train as the French countryside rolls outside your window is très magnifique.
I will remember many things besides those mentioned above. For example, I walked to the Montparnasse Cemetery and went to visit the grave of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre as well as that of Charles Baudelaire. I took a lot of photos. Hah. After we came back from Lyon and Quais du Polar, I walked around Paris at night. It was raining a bit. It was perfect. The next morning we had nothing going on, so I walked one hour to go see the Eiffel Tower. I was walking around it when a thought hit me: “My words brought me here.” Yeah, I got a little emotional.
I could go on and on about small moments I experienced, people I hung out with, food I tasted, and things I saw while walking around, but instead I’ll just say this: I left pieces of my heart in Paris and Lyon, and I can’t wait to go back to France in October. Anyway, here are some photos! If you want more, look me up in IG here: https://www.instagram.com/gabino_iglesias/
More soon. Thanks for reading.
I love Paris. Can’t imagine what it was like back in the day. Congrats on the success. You not only deserve it, you earned it.
Well deserved, brother. I'm so happy for you!