Sylvia Whitman

Sylvia Whitman
Born	(1981-04-01) April 1, 1981 Paris, France
Occupation(s)	Bookseller, bookstore owner
Years active	2003–present
Known for	Owner of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris

Sylvia Whitman Hon. FRSL (born 1 April 1981) serves as the owner of Shakespeare and Company, a distinguished English-language bookstore located in Paris that draws readers and authors from around the world. She is the daughter of George Whitman (1913–2011), who originally established the shop.

Early life and education

Born in Paris in 1981, Whitman is the sole offspring of George Whitman, who opened Shakespeare and Company in 1951 at 37 rue de la Bûcherie. Her mother, Felicity Leng, was a British woman briefly married to George. Writer Jeremy Mercer has noted that her name was inspired by St. Sylvia, although her father later stated she was named after Sylvia Beach, the founder of the original Shakespeare and Company (1919–1941).

Following her parents' separation when she was seven years old, Whitman relocated to England with her mother and experienced a period of estrangement from her father. She completed her education at the Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, graduating in 1999, and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts in Eastern European History from University College London in 2002. Initially, she had ambitions to pursue acting.

Career

At 21, in 2003, Whitman began co-managing Shakespeare and Company alongside her father. She currently oversees operations together with her partner, David Delannet, sustaining the bookstore’s longstanding practice of hosting young writers who reside on-site in exchange for assisting with daily tasks, reading one book per day, and composing a one-page autobiography for the store’s archives. Approximately 30,000 individuals have taken part in this residency tradition.

Whitman launched the biennial literary event FestivalandCo in 2003, which has featured esteemed authors including Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, Jeanette Winterson, Jung Chang, and Marjane Satrapi.

In 2010, Shakespeare and Company introduced The Paris Literary Prize to recognize unpublished novellas, awarding €10,000 through funding from the de Groot Foundation. The first recipient was Rosa Rankin-Gee, whose work was subsequently published by Virago.

Together with Bob's Bake Shop, Whitman and Delannet inaugurated the Shakespeare and Company Café in 2015 adjacent to the bookstore within a converted garage space. The café offers a menu focused on vegetarian cuisine with additional vegan and gluten-free selections.

The bookstore released its history in 2016 through Shakespeare and Company, Paris: A History of the Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart, edited by Krista Halverson. This volume includes an epilogue authored by Whitman and a foreword written by Jeanette Winterson.

In 2023, Whitman was honored with election as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Media appearances

Whitman appeared alongside her father in the documentary Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man released in 2003.

She was featured during three episodes filmed in Paris for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson broadcast in August 2011.

In 2012, she was profiled in an episode of Sundance’s Beginnings, a series of documentary shorts directed by Chiara Clemente.

Whitman also appeared in the BBC series Imagine within the episode titled "Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me" aired in 2012.

In 2014, she was highlighted in episode two ("Paris 1928") of the BBC documentary series Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities, presented by art historian James Fox.

External links

• Official website of Shakespeare and Company
• "A Parisian Bookstore," Vanity Fair, November 2014
• December 2020 Interview