Paris' Left Bank Writing Workshop Visits Hemingway's Drinking Haunts

The Jazz Age has always summoned up a certain nostalgia about heavy drinkers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, not just about what they drank but where they drank. And given the recent popularity of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, it's no wonder that a resurgence of writers has found its way back to Paris to relive that era through writing.

Run by Darla Worden, who founded this Left Bank Writers Retreat, the workshop doesn't just write and critique but actually visits Luxembourg Gardens, the Latin Quarter, and the cafés of Paris like Closerie des Lilas, Les Deux Magots, and Café de Flore, where Hemingway himself imbibed, ranted, and wrote. 

"In the afternoons," Worden said in a release, "we explore Paris's deep literary roots while experiencing the city's sights, restaurants, and museums."

One doesn't need history as an excuse to drink, but in this case it looks like it might be necessary. As Hemingway himself said, which seems relevant to the Paris-going work-shoppers, "Write drunk; edit sober."