G is for... Geneva

G is for... Geneva -- of course!

Apparently we've arrived the year before the bicentennial of Geneva's joining the Swiss Confederation!

To focus on books and writing, though, I've just learned that the city will host its 27th International Fair for Books and Press in the first week of May. And there's a weekly book market in the Marche de la Fusterie (which also hosts an artisans market on alternate days)!

As for famous people, there's of course the summer that Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin spent here, during which Mary wrote Frankenstein and Byron worked on a number of poems, including "The Prisoner of Chillon", inspired by a castle fortress on Lake Geneva/Leman. There's a great New York Times essay on Byron's time in Geneva.

I also saw a sign on a building near our apartment-hotel stating that Dostoyevsky had lived there for a year in 1867-1868, something I hadn't known before.

One thing I haven't figured out yet is the names of these trees:


They're everywhere! Does anyone know their names?

Comments

Hi Deniz .. a closer shot of a tree would help?! Are they flowering cherries .. not cherries per se.

How fantastic that you've found a book market, a book fair and lots of other interesting snippets - Geneva I'd have thought would have been on the Grand Tour route for many artists, authors, musicians et al ..

Enjoy and tell us more! cheers Hilary
stu said…
A friend of mine worked there for a while. It sounds like a lovely place.
S.P. Bowers said…
How much fun. I think I may be just a little jealous.
Unknown said…
A book fair and a book market? You must feel at home already :)
Next year you'll get to see a big celebration.
Sorry, no idea on the trees...
Unknown said…
Sounds like you are enjoying yourself. Who wouldn't with so much history and inspiration surrounding you. Lucky girl.
Sarah McCabe said…
I had the privilege of visiting Geneva once years ago. It's a beautiful city. I loved every place I went in Switzerland. I wouldn't mind living there. :)
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks all!
I've discovered a few more Geneva-visiting authors since then. No one seems to have compiled a master list!

Wish you could visit, Sarah!