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Two of my favourite things…

7th March 2010 by Helena 5 Comments  

So my Zeldafication begins in earnest on Tuesday when I go to an advanced adult ballet class with our lovely new lodger Una, who was at ballet school until she was 14. Yes I know that I am not advanced, but did that ever stop Zelda? So wish me luck.

Meanwhile if you have a moment please sign this petition to save a library in Montpellier. I had this email from a friend yesterday and said I would do all I can to help: ‘The Anglophone Library (formerly called American Library) here was abruptly closed by the university Paul Valery in January. A group of us are trying to save the books( 30,000) as the university was planning on putting them in boxes and storing them. We are hoping that a new venue will be found for them and have a lot of backing, including that of George Frèche, but we’ve been advised to build as big a support base as possible. One of the things we’ve done is to put a petition online and if we get signatures of stars that gives us even more credibility. Now I know there was at least one of your books in the library, because I read it, so your name would be very significant. If you feel the cause is good, here’s the link :

www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethelibrarymontpellier’

Dancing and reading are the two things we Zeldas most appreciate…..

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010


Filed Under: Ballet, Books, France, blog --> Tagged With: favourite, things

5 thoughts on Two of my favourite things...

  • Catherine says:
    8th March 2010 at 12:44 pm

    Hi Helena, first of all happy International Women’s Day! Your blog has a strong role in uniting women I’d say, across borders, political beliefs, fashion sense, you name it.

    Reading about your ‘Zeldafication’ made me realise that I know nothing about her, so in the interests of speed I looked at Wikipedia (I know, not 100% reliable, but….) and here’s a snippet:
    “….their marriage was a tangle of jealousy, resentment and acrimony. Scott used their relationship as material in his novels, even lifting snippets from Zelda’s diary and assigning them to his fictional heroines. Seeking an artistic identity of her own, Zelda wrote magazine articles and short stories, and at 27 became obsessed with a career as a ballerina, practicing to exhaustion.”

    So you might want to check what Rupert has been writing recently?!

    Keep the good work,
    Best wishes
    Catherine

  • helena says:
    8th March 2010 at 9:56 pm

    Thanks Catherine and an excellent plan!

  • Amber Lee says:
    9th March 2010 at 7:47 am

    I took up ballet just over a month ago. You’ll have to tell me how you’re finding it. I’m always very sore, but very pleased with all the work I’m putting in.

  • helena says:
    9th March 2010 at 9:21 am

    Can you believe I have done my back in, so no ballet this week….longing to try it.
    Hx

  • Cate Jumeirah says:
    12th March 2010 at 2:00 am

    I briefly took up adult ballet when I turned 40 fearing life was rapidly passing me by and desperate to return to activities I so enjoyed as a child. (Sad but true.) At the time, I was riding, swimming, going to the gym several times a week but a mere one hour of adult ballet reduced me to a cripple. Tried again 3 weeks later (once I could finally lift my right leg more than 3 inches off the ground again), better this time, afterwards only unable to stand up straight for a fortnight. Gave up after the third lesson citing inability to remember the steps (amongst other things). Got very cross when realising I’d being doing plies and jetes and earning Royal Academy of Dance certificates at least 15 years before the lithe young teacher was born. An all round sickening experience, plus I’d spent a fortune on fab gear, which still sits languishing in bottom drawer.

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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. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

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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