The Thing About France
Channel Details
The Thing About France
The Thing About France is a podcast where cultural figures explore the fascinating and complicated relationship between France and America.
Recent Episodes
22 episodes
Pamela Druckerman
Eight years ago, an American writer named Pamela Druckerman emerged on the national and international scene wearing a beret –– somewhat ironically ––...
Graydon Carter
Hearing from Graydon reminded me of the good old days of New York publishing and magazine life—his decadent parties at the Puck building were absolute...
William Middleton
I knew about William Middleton from the biography—or double biography, rather—he wrote of the great French-Texan art collectors, Dominique and John de...
Lauren Collins
I first met Lauren Collins about fifteen years ago, when we were both working at The New Yorker. I noticed her immediately—The New Yorker can be a qui...
Thomas Chatterton Williams
Thomas Chatterton Williams, the extraordinary expat writer, cultural critic, and James Baldwin scholar, has lived in Paris for a decade. Thomas grew u...
John von Sothen
John von Sothen is an American magazine writer based in Paris, where he's lived since 2002. He dabbles a little in French TV and comedy, too. When I s...
Bob Wilson
One steaming hot July morning, our team piled into a car to the Hamptons, in Long Island. No, we weren't going to the beach, or to someone's luxurious...
Rick Moody
At the French Embassy we have an award called the Arts and Letters Award, where we effectively "Knight" people for their contributions to French cultu...
Katherine Fleming
Katherine Fleming, provost of NYU, is living proof of the merits of international exchange. She's one of the leaders of the academic world in the Unit...
Joe Melillo
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) has hosted some of the most amazing French performances on both sides of the Atlantic, from Les Fêtes Vénitiennes...
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem is a household name in the United States, yet she is less known in France. Some might even call her the Simone de Beauvoir of America....
Daniel Rose
All of New York seems to be talking about the new restaurant, Le Coucou, by chef Daniel Rose. Fortunately, Daniel's son and Bénédicte's daughter atten...
Darren Walker
We first collaborated with Darren Walker, the passionate and articulate President of the Ford Foundation, on a groundbreaking exhibition entitled Posi...
Adam Gopnik
The amazing thing about Adam Gopnik, staff writer for The New Yorker, is that he knows more about France than many French people. It's as if this podc...
Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont
Visual artist Mickalene Thomas seems to have artwork everywhere, from the Moody Arts Center in Houston to the Brooklyn Museum and Paris.
One mor...
Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi has been at the helm of the legendary publishing house Farrar, Straus & Giroux—one of the most literary publishers in the U.S.—for mo...
Adam Weinberg
Adam Weinberg is the Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art—one of the most important museums in the United States. I met him when I first arr...
Claire Messud
When I started as Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy, everyone told me that I had to meet Claire Messud—that she was quintessential Francophile...
Liesl Schillinger
I met Liesl Schillinger, the literary critic and translator, 11 years ago. I had just been appointed as a negotiator for France at the UN Security Cou...
David Sedaris
David Sedaris––one of the best-known American humor writers and radio personalities––has written extensively about his time in France. No one skewers...
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater is a star in France. With three Grammys and a Tony Award under her belt, she represents the quintessential American jazz singer in...
Trailer
The Thing About France is a podcast that takes you inside the minds of American cultural figures who stepped outside their country and came back wiser...