Laurel Zuckerman (born 1960) is an American author based near Paris, France.
Laurel Zuckerman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 (age 63–64) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Children | 2 |
Biography edit
Zuckerman is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, but now lives in France. She graduated from the HEC School of Management, a French business school.[1] Until 2002, she worked in information technology. When the dot.com bubble burst, she decided to become an English teacher.
She first became widely known after publication of her controversial French novel Sorbonne Confidential (Fayard, 2007), a fictionalized account (with a strong autobiographical basis) of an American trying to obtain the agrégation (a competitive recruitment examination of the French Civil Service) in order to become an English teacher in the French public education system. The book is harshly critical of the French system and has generated considerable debate. The English version of the novel was published in 2009.[2]
Her most recent novel is Professor Collie's Barbarian Dreams (Fayard, 2009), a humorous story about a historian so obsessed with the past that he forgets he lives in the present.[3]
In 2016, after more than a decade of research, Zuckerman filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the return to the heirs of Paul and Alice Leffmann of an early Picasso masterpiece called "The Actor".[4] The Leffmanns, a German Jewish family, had fled Nazi Germany after being dispossessed of their home and factory. They sold the painting in 1938 to finance their escape to Brazil. The judge ruled that the family had waited too long to file the case, and an petition to the Supreme Court was unsuccessful.[5] [6] [7]
Married, with two children, Zuckerman lives in Bry-sur-Marne, France, and is a former member of the local city council. She is also the editor of Paris Writers News.[8]
References edit
- ^ "The Irish Times".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Summertime Publications".
- ^ "Le Monde, Book review".
- ^ "Picasso painting, the Met & the internet: How Jewish art collectors' great grand niece uncovered artwork lost during Nazi era". The Indian Express. 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ Woodyatt, Amy (2019-06-27). "Picasso sold by German Jewish businessman to fund escape from Nazis to stay at New York's Met". CNN. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ "High Court Won't Take Up Picasso Painting Ownership Case - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ Strum, Beckie. "U.S. Supreme Court Could Decide Ownership of Famed Picasso Painting". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ "Paris Writers News".
External links edit
- Profile of Laurel Zuckermann, The Times of London (in English)
- From Paris: Books with French Twists, Huffington Post, (in English)
- Book Review of Sorbonne Confidential, Education Review (in English)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman, Sorbonne Confidential, BBC Radio, The World in Words program, episode 55 (in English)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman, All I Wanted to do Was Teach English, UCLA Radio (in English)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman, English Might Not be a Bad Thing, UCLA Radio (in English)
- Laurel Zuckerman Weblog (in English)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman, Le Nouvel Observateur (in French)
- My English is Poor, Le Nouvel Observateur (in French)
- Review of Sorbonne Confidential in L'Express (France) Magazine (in French)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman on Radio France Internationale (in French)
- Review of Sorbonne Confidential in Le Point Magazine (in French)
- Interview with Laurel Zuckerman in Le Point Magazine: La faute à l'agreg? (in French)
- Review of Sorbonne Confidential in Le Monde (in French)
- Zuckerman v Metropolitan Museum of Art: Zuckerman Case Files