Simon Liberati

Simon Liberati

all about Eva

interview and portrait by OLIVIER ZAHM

 

One of the best French literary stylists today, Simon Liberati examines life through a darkly romantic lens — he looks at shattered lives, deviant passions, unexpected destinies, illicit love, and the underbelly of glamour and social appearances. His brilliant new book, Eva, is the true love story of how his life as a writer became intertwined with his long-time obsession with Eva Ionesco, who recently became his wife. Eva is the daughter of the infamous photographer Irina Ionesco, who scandalized the world by photographing the provocatively naked preteen Eva. As a teenager, Eva became a fixture of Paris nightlife at the club Le Palace; she was the inspiration for Louis Malle’s film Pretty Baby. She herself would become a photographer and filmmaker, shooting her childhood in a film called…