The City of Love has had a falling out with literature. And in its quest to get back to its literary pinnacle, Paris is turning to outsiders for help. This weekend, Paris hopes to turn around a several decades-long literary decline with an international conference of literary leaders, featuring names like Salman Rushdie, John Banville, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi. Various city cultural organizations have donated to the efforts to get Paris back on the map, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Louvre museum.

Have you ever tried teaching classic literature to language learners? Teacher trainer Chris Lima explains how 19th century language and culture are less of a hindrance in relating literature – and Jane Austen specifically – to language students than one might assume. I suppose most teachers’ first reaction towards working with Jane Austen in the English language classroom is not very different from the reactions we have when people mention Shakespeare or Dickens, or literature in general.

“Cuba Libro” is Cuba’s very first English language bookstore. It opened its door to customers last week. Conner Gorry, a New York City native living in Havana, first came up with the idea. She envisioned a comfortable place for book lovers to leaf through English-language books. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Gorry about “Cuba Libro” and the complexities of operating a small business in the island.

Cuba's first English-language bookstore offers a selection that would just about stock the lobby of an average Vermont bed and breakfast. Next to what's available in English elsewhere in Havana, it might as well be the Library of Congress. The brainchild of a longtime U.S. expat, Cuba Libro launched Friday as a bookshop, cafe and literary salon that offers islanders and tourists alike a unique space to buy or borrow tomes in the language of Shakespeare. Cuba Libro also gives customers an occasional glimpse of opinions hard to find elsewhere on the island.

Although high-level diplomatic activities dominate the news, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia are also strengthening their relations through literature and cinema. In recent years, 48 Turkish books have been translated into Bosnian, with works by writers like Orhan Pamuk and Nedim Gursel becoming best-sellers. For the first time, Bosnian publishing houses displayed Turkish books at the country's 15th International Book Fair earlier this year.

The Journal of Chilean Diplomatic Academy, ‘Diplomacia’ has recently published various essays on famous writers who were also successful diplomats. The content is not only valuable for its biographic details but it could additionally open a topic that needs to be developed further by writers and diplomats.

Literary watchers in China say awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Chinese novelist Mo Yan will generate greater interest and spur the development of literature in the country. Channel NewsAsia explains why the win is even a source of soft power for the country.

Chinese state television hailed Mo Yan as "the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature" following the announcement Thursday of the 2012 award... As part of its quest for soft power, Beijing has been obsessed for years about winning Nobel prizes, which in its view too often go to dissidents and emigres.