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Top writers and moi

31st March 2008 by Helena 6 Comments  

When I was a little girl dreaming of becoming a journalist I would look at my stepfather’s Sunday Times and wonder if one day I might be good enough to write for it. It seemed an unobtainable aim, but I imagined reporting from trouble-spots around the world, one of the bravest and best foreign correspondents the Sunday Times had ever known.

As some of you may know, I do write for the Sunday Times, I have a column about living in France called The French Mistress. But this weekend there was a special surprise for me. On page two there is a list their top writers in the Sunday Times with pictures. There among the likes of Michael Portillo, Christina Lamb and Marie Colvin was moi. So it’s official, I am a top writer. I was terribly excited by this, despite the fact that while Lamb was reporting from Zimbabwe and Colvin’s dispatch came from Basra I was writing about, er, Botox.

Droopy BobBut do not underestimate the dangers of botox, get it wrong and your eyebrows droop. Not a good look. Even Mugabe is unlikely to do that to you.

Obviously next week I’ll be reporting on matching underwear from Afghanistan.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Journalism, blog -->, writing Tagged With: writers

6 thoughts on Top writers and moi

  • jules ritter says:
    31st March 2008 at 10:59 am

    You know what H? I didn’t read any of the other reports but I did read yours on Botox. And so did half of England I suspect although probably all would not admit to it. My most commented blog has not been about Blocher and the infamous Swiss black sheep poster or other serious Swiss matters that I attempt to add my half-penny’s worth to, it has been about…….Spanx knickers. I wrote a last minute tongue-in-cheek blog about going to a black tie do in a Moschino clingy dress and buying a pair of spanx as I felt it was appropriate and was in two minds whether I needed to wear them. Spanx and I will not speax to you again! was my favorite by your friend and mine, Mr. G. So let’s have more knickers, botox, matching underwear, adult bath toys and a splattering of that other stuff. Julesritter.com

  • Sharyn G says:
    31st March 2008 at 3:29 pm

    One of life’s greatest gifts is the ability to not take oneself too seriously. Your blogs are the stuff of everyday existence that we all encounter. It gives us a chance to laugh at our foibles and comisserate on the issues that we find so annoying. Then there is the awe and wonder we experience in watching our children grow up. Throw in a bit of good, old-fashioned gossip and you are performing a public service in keeping us all sane. Kudos to you!

  • Antoine says:
    31st March 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Helena,

    Unfortunately, the “Times of London” in Norway does not seem to carry the Style magazine … where can I get hold of your article?

    (Sidebar: How odd that they choose to leave out certain sections – perhaps the Norwegians don’t believe in Botox? Or perhaps they have something against you?! 🙂

    A

  • Irene says:
    1st April 2008 at 9:01 am

    Congratulations!
    That’s great news. I am so happy when people accomplish their noble dreams.

  • Rupert says:
    1st April 2008 at 10:06 am

    As I have been saying for years, too much botox and not enough sunscreen and you will end up looking like Robert Mugabe!

  • Miko says:
    1st April 2008 at 3:39 pm

    But Rupert,I have been saying for years that he looks bl…. good for his age! Do you think he dyes his hair Helena?

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is also working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in spring 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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