The author talks her favorite New York City spots and how the book came to be.

They say the best way to get to know a city is by walking the streets, exploring alleyways,&nbsp;and discovering all the ins and outs. For Cleo Le-Tan, that was exactly the method behind the madness that unfolded in her new tome. In A Booklover&rsquo;s Guide to New York, the author has&nbsp;created an essential&nbsp;guide to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/digital-issues/letter-from-the-editor-we-love-ny-april-2019">New York</a>&rsquo;s fascinating <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/why-new-york-city-s-literary-scene-will-never-die">literary</a> world in collaboration with her father, famed French artist Pierre Le-Tan, in what ultimately would mark&nbsp;an&nbsp;inimitable,&nbsp;whimsical final collaboration for him.&nbsp;The illustrated guide takes literary lovers on a neighborhood odyssey through NYC, visiting iconoclastic bookstores, hidden literary landmarks, and booze-soaked writer&rsquo;s haunts while meeting the hotspots&#39; resident authors, librarians, collectors and voracious readers along the way. Here, Le-Tan takes us through her whimsical world, one page at a time.

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Why did you decide to write A Booklover&rsquo;s Guide to New York? 
When I first moved to New York, I spent most of my days at the Mulberry Street Library in SoHo, finishing my first novel, Une famille. I treated it like my office. Little by little, I started exploring all the libraries around the city. Then it was the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/gucci-bookstore-2018">bookshops</a> and eventually the literary landmarks. I was keen to share that with visitors and locals so they could discover a new aspect of New York. I also wanted to meet all of the characters within that world, like the librarians, bookshop owners, street vendors with cute bookstalls, bibliophiles, authors, collectors, or even just avid readers and learn about their stories and their love of books and New York. 
 
What is it about New York&rsquo;s fascinating literary world that you find so interesting? 
The people.

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How did you decide what to include in the book? What was the editing process like? 
I wanted to include everything and everybody that I possibly could. I know I am missing some and I was unable to write about as much as I would have liked to, but the book did end up nearly doubling in size in the process of writing it, so the editing process (which was in Daniel Melamud&#39;s hands) was, I am sure, quite challenging.

 
You call New York your adopted home. In terms of the literary landscape &ndash; how does it differ from Paris? 
First of all, the places are not as old as in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/leditorial-thom-browne-waisted-in-paris-2019">Paris</a>. They are more modern and new, like decades-old instead of centuries, I also almost feel like it was easier for me to find and discover secret (or even not so secret) locations as I will always be a &quot;visitor&quot; of New York. In Paris, I feel like I know a lot of places and have been walking by them since I was a young girl, without even noticing or looking at them. Here in New York, I am able to walk around and discover new places with a fresh pair of eyes.

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If you had to pick three of your favorite New York locations, what would they be? Why?

The Langston Hughes House in Harlem is definitely worth a visit&mdash;it&rsquo;s home to Ren&eacute;e Watson&rsquo;s I, Too, Arts Collective now, but more importantly you get to see where one of the most important leaders of the Harlem Renaissance once lived! As a Frenchie, I think I am obligated to pick Albertine as one of my favorites. It&rsquo;s where I go when I&rsquo;m homesick and need a good dose of French reading material. The Mysterious Bookshop in TriBeCa, a bookshop that specializes in crime and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop%20culture/american-horror-story-1984-2019">suspense</a> literature, is another one. Even though I am not an expert in that literary field, I was just mesmerized by the shop, which seemed to have everything crime- and mystery-related. Also, it&#39;s so cool and cozy in there. 
&nbsp;

What was it like working with your father on this book?

Really fun, but a bit stressful! Neither of us are that good with deadlines...

Cleo Le-Tan Sees New York with a Fresh Pair of Eyes

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