Sylvia Beach

My name is Sylvia Beach, and I built a home for books and the people who love them. I'm not much for ceremony — I deal in pages, parcels, and the occasional franc borrowed and never repaid. My shop is a post office, a bank, a salon, and sometimes a shelter, all wrapped in one. I’ve published a book the world tried to silence, and I’ve known the ache of closing my doors at night, knowing the rent may not be paid. But I believe in the word — and in the strange, beautiful people who carry it.