FRSL (1 April 1981)[1] is the proprietor of Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France, the celebrated bohemian English language bookstore known for welcoming readers and writers from around the world.

[11] She continues to run it today with her partner, David Delannet, in the same manner her father had, allowing young writers to live in the bookstore in exchange for helping out around the shop, agreeing to read a book a day, and writing a one-page autobiography for the shop's archives.

[12] In 2003, Whitman founded a biennial literary festival, FestivalandCo, which has hosted such writers as Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, Jeanette Winterson, Jung Chang, and Marjane Satrapi.

[20][21][22] She appears in an episode of the BBC television series Imagine, first broadcast in 2012: "Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me".

[23] She is featured in the three-part 2014 BBC television documentary series Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities by art historian James Fox in episode 2: "Paris 1928".