Sue Prideaux wins the 2025 Book Award for Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin @AmericanLibraryParis

Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

Congratulations to Sue Prideaux for Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin, winner of the thirteenth annual American Library in Paris Book Award.

The winner announcement was made on 7 November at a ceremony at the Hôtel de Talleyrand, in Paris, where Prideaux was presented with one of two hand-bound Book Award Special Editions of Wild Thing: The Life of Paul Gauguin, crafted by the atelier Bougogne Reliure. The second copy will join the Library’s Special Collections. Prideaux also received a $5,000 prize, generously funded by the Florence Gould Foundation.

Special thanks to the U.S. Embassy for graciously hosting the evening, to W. W. Norton & Company for donating hardback copies of the winning title, and to Domaine des Coeuriots for their generous gift of white wine. We are also deeply grateful to our Book Award Patrons: Mary Duncan, Peter and Jeanne Fellowes, Dan and Laura Huehn, Suzanne Justen, Ann and Don Morrison, Maja Thomas, and Usha Viswanathan.

Sue Prideaux wins the 2025 Book Award for Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin

$Natasha Lance Rogoff on Post-Soviet Sesame Street A conversation with Natasha Lance Rogoff and Edward Charlton-Jones at the American Library in Paris. Filmed on 21/06/2023 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom. Early 1990s Russia: the wall has fallen, the Soviet Empire has collapsed, and a new social order is being built from the ground up. Faced with corrupt government officials, bumbling diplomats, traumatized citizens, and rapidly globalizing capitalism, a fractured nation holds onto a last hope for the salvation of their children: puppets. Join Natasha Lance Rogoff to discuss Muppets in Moscow, the “unexpected crazy true story” of her time as lead producer on Russia’s Sesame Street. As the West dismantled the iron curtain, Rogoff was responsible for teaching the first post-soviet generation how to communicate their feelings, contribute to society, and show kindness to one another. From government raids to assassinations to clashes over puppet design, step into the world of Ulitsa Sezam. About the speakers: Natasha Lance Rogoff is an award-winning television director, producer and writer of more than 25 years. Her previous credits include executive producer of Ulitsa Sezam (Sesame Street in Russia) and producer of Plaza Sesamo (Sesame Street in Mexico.) After studying at the Leningrad State University, she wrote about Soviet underground culture, as well as one of the earliest exposé of Soviet government persecution of the Russian LGBTQ community in the San Francisco Chronicle. She is now an Associate in the Art, Film and Visual Studies Department at Harvard University and lives between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City. Edward Charlton-Jones studied History and Russian at Oxford and Harvard. He has written and lectured on the Russian emigration to Constantinople in 1918-1923, as well as on aspects of Russian literature and art. He has practiced law in Paris and Istanbul, with a focus on international energy projects. Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.$

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