The Changing World of the Foreign Correspondent Recap

A big thanks to everyone who joined us last night at the Housing Works Bookstore to enjoy the "Changing World of the Foreign Correspondent" panel moderated by The Paris Correspondent author Alan S. Cowell. Joining the panel to discuss the rapidly changing world of journalism in the digital age were Chrystia Freeland, global editor-at-large of Reuters News; John Darnton, award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Almost a Family and Black and White and Dead All Over; and Peter Godwin, author of Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun.

How does the job of the foreign correspondent change over time? Will on the ground foreign correspondence be necessary in the future? Does the rapid pace of web journalism compromise credibility in foreign reporting? Last night's panelists tackled these big questions about the state of global journalism in the age of Twitter and shared stories from their backgrounds as pioneers in the field of digital media.

Alan Cowell kicked off the evening's festivities with a discussion of the books that influence his most recent novel, The Paris Correspondent and the themes he explores in his writing: revenge, romance, passion, and amour. Alan shared stories from his past as a local reporter for small newspapers and detailed his ascent to senior correspondent for New York Times.com in Paris.

In today's competitive job market, young writers can benefit from the professional wisdom of a seasoned reporter and editor. Chrystia Freeland offered career advice to journalism students interested in foreign reporting: study economics and languages like Arabic or Mandarin if you want to get hired. Chrystia also suggested that all journalists study the broader economies and the local markets of the countries that they cover in order to be effective storytellers.

John Darnton weighed in on the shifting world of war correspondence and explained how communication technologies change the nature of reporting in a foreign country. John explained that for today's journalists, instantaneous communication allows writers to remain longer in the field without an obligation to file stories away from the action, but that increased exposure to war zones and heightened pressure to get a scoop can also put reporters in the line of fire.

How can journalists tell stories that appeal to both local and foreign readers? Peter Godwin discussed the consumption of foreign journalism and the need for curators to translate detailed and universal narratives in a marketplace saturated with multiple views and opinions.

Those who stayed through the panel enjoyed a lively Q&A, followed by a wine and cheese reception and book signing.

Meet Alan Cowell, author of THE PARIS CORRESPONDENT

Join The Overlook Press on Wednesday, October 26 for a panel discussion on "The Changing World of the Foreign Correspondent" with Alan S. Cowell, author of The Paris Correspondent and a reporter for New York Times.com based in Paris. The panel will address the rapidly changing world of journalism in the digital age.

The event will be held at one of our favorite venues, Housing Works Bookstore, at 126 Crosby Street (between Houston and Prince) in New York. After the panel, there will be a booksigning and reception hosted by The Overlook Press.

Joining Alan Cowell will be: Chrystia Freeland, global editor-at-large of Reuters News; John Darnton, award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Almost a Family and Black and White and Dead All Over; and Peter Godwin, author of Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun and former foreign correspondent.

The Paris Correspondent, just published this week, chronicles the fortunes, adventures, and epiphanies of two journalists, Ed Clancy and Joe Shelby, reporters for The Paris Star, an English-language newspaper based in Paris. Survivors of countless missions abroad, they now face new and unfamiliar challenges of the Internet age and twenty-four-hour news cycle. Personal jealousies and rivalries abound as the two men adapt to the brave new world.

Alan S. Cowell has been senior correspondent for New York Times.com in Paris since 2008. He began his journalism career as a reporter for British newspapers and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. He joined Reuters in 1972 and the New York Times in 1981. His reporting has covered Turkey, the Middle East, central and southern Africa, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1985, Cowell won the George Polk Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting. He is the author of Killing the Wizards, A Walking Guide: A Novel and The Terminal Spy: The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Early Praise for Alan Cowell's THE PARIS CORRESPONDENT

Alan S. Cowell's new novel The Paris Correspondent is getting some stellar early review attention:

“Storied globetrotting newspaperman Joe Shelby and his longtime friend and editor Ed Clancy, newly installed as glorified web-copy providers at the Paris Star, curse the exigencies of the digital age while basking in their memories of the hallowed age of print. Shelby, introduced in New York Times veteran Cowell's 2003 debut, A Walking Guide, is one of those hard-drinking, sprawling, larger-than-life characters who finds fulfillment in conflict and regret—and the sound of his own versions of reality. A low-key indictment of an era in journalism in which speed is more important than accuracy and behind-the-scenes struggles now take place in private computer queues, The Paris Correspondent is more boldly a paean to the days when bylines were fought and sweated over, facts ruled—and newsrooms weren't so damned quiet. There isn't much plot, but people, places and war zones whiz by enjoyably and Paris is beautifully evoked (Clancy is married to a classy horse-breeder named Marie-Claire who takes him to all the right events). The British-born Cowell reveals a strong debt to Hemingway in his depiction of the male friendship and the men's identification with the values of a vanishing era (Shelby idolizes the French Romantic poet Gérard de Nerval). There's also a touch of Kingsley Amis in Shelby's satiric dimensions and of Saul Bellow's Ravelstein in the book's late-in-the-day confessions.A stylish, expertly drawn novel about the characters who made journalism what it was, and whose disappearance is making journalism what it is now. – Kirkus Reviews

"This novel is at once a celebration of the romantic life of the foreign news correspondent before the age of the Internet and an elegy for a once-noble profession that has become besieged, mercenary, and driven by the bottom line. At the novel’s center are two old friends, both longtime journalists working in Paris, who are caught between these past and present worlds. The swashbuckling Joe Shelby is fond of taking risks but believes deeply in his work, while Ed Clancy is his admiring but less adventurous friend. The action involves old grudges and a grand love story, along with plenty of discussion about the fallen state of journalism; Cowell (The Terminal Spy) is himself an accomplished journalist, and the novel feels grounded in lived experience. Cowell finds his rhythm as he progresses and builds to a satisfying and poignant conclusion. Recommended especially for journalism buffs." – Library Journal

"High-profile journalist Alan S. Cowell's latest novel is a fast-paced trip into the dark heart of a newspaper office abroad. Addictive and illuminating, it deftly portrays the rivalries and complicated passions at the story's heart. Ed Clancy and Joe Shelby are journalists with The Paris Star, an English-language paper based in Paris. Relics from a time when print news was in its heyday, when being a reporter meant watching a city crumble around you as you called in one last dispatch, the Internet age has taken them by surprise. The two friends are faced with the death of what they hold most dear --- their careers, and, for Shelby, a woman he cannot bring himself to mention. The Paris Correspondent is a tribute to journalism, love, and liquor in a turbulent era. Written in riveting prose that captures the changing world of a foreign correspondent's life, Alan S. Cowell's breakout novel is not to be missed. Writing from experience, his razor-sharp and darkly funny style will win readers the world over.” - Bookreporter

“In The Paris Correspondent, longtime New York Times journalist Alan Cowell undertakes for a second time the risky task of turning his professional life into fiction. The danger lies in paying too much attention to the nuts and bolts of the news business he knows so intimately, evolving rapidly from print to digital, and not enough attention to the nuts and bolts of writing fiction, namely character and plot development. For the most part, though, Mr. Cowell meets the challenge in this second novel featuring the renegade newsman Joe Shelby, whom we first met in Mr. Cowell’s 2003 debut novel, A Walking Guide, and who returns in The Paris Correspondent. But unlike in A Walking Guide, Joe never talks to us directly, for Mr. Cowell has introduced an alterego in The Paris Correspondent’s Ed Clancy, who stands between us and Joe as he reports the unfolding story in a punchy, no-frills style that brings to mind cigar-chomping reporters and clacking typewriters. It’s clear Ed, like Joe, still nurtures a fondness for the old days even as he is making the transition to the digital world as an editor for The Paris Star, a news website that one assumes is the stand-in for NYTimes.com, for which Mr. Cowell now serves as a Paris-based senior correspondent. “Newspapers were dying the death of a thousand cuts,” Ed laments. “So many titles had disappeared from the newsstands, replaced by websites or not at all.” Unlike most of the news stories we read these days, The Paris Correspondent provides a satisfying ending, with truth served and the honor of the journalism profession upheld—even if Mr. Cowell pulls an odd switch at the end and makes Joe Shelby address us directly, a jarring change in narrative tone.” – New York Journal of Books

BOOK EXPO WEEK! See You at the Overlook Press Booth (#3439)

It's that time again! Book Expo America, the annual gathering of booksellers, publishers, authors, agents, and industry followers, will fill the halls of Jacob Javits Center this week.

The Overlook Press, celebrating 40 years of independent publishing, will be in BOOTH #3439. Come by and say hello - and meet founder and publisher Peter Mayer, along with the Overlook staff.

We're also delighted to welcome bestselling author Eoin Colfer, who will be at our booth on Wednesday, May 25, from 2pm to 3pm, signing advance reading copies of his crime fiction debut Plugged.

Our booth will also feature some of the hottest galleys of the show: Sam Christer's new thriller The Stonehenge Legacy; Alan Cowell's The Paris Correspondent; and Mark Derr's How the Dog Between Dog.

We'll also be raffling off a special Overlook Press 40th Anniversity Poster, designed and framed by legendary graphic designer and Overlook author Milton Glaser!