helena frith powell

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Category: writing

Dear Diary

5th February 2018

I am reading, well listening to, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Part of the novel is told in diary form. The protagonist not only tells the story by means of her diary, but she goes back into her diaries to confirm facts or assess feelings she h …

Trouble with truffles

1st November 2017

As it’s the truffle season I am posting a story I wrote about that magical ingredient set in Rome. It is inspired by one of my favourite short stories called Roman Fever by Edith Wharton. Enjoy the season!  Ruth stands on the corner of Via Margutta. It …

Happy Birthday dear Biologico

30th November 2015

Today is my father’s birthday. Or at least it would have been, but he died in January 2014. I didn’t really know him until I was a teenager. My mother and he split up when I was two. She and I moved to Sweden then England and we had no contact with him …

What to wear, or not to wear?

9th January 2015

I am back at Viva Mayr for the first time since 2008. I landed late last night and have woken up to a snow-covered landscape. The staff all wear white, thus matching the surroundings. In fact some of the clients are in white too, but you can tell they …

Unacustomed as I am to public speaking…

27th November 2012

Tomorrow I have a terrifying task to perform. At 2pm I am to stand up in front of the WHOLE of Leo’s year at school and give a speech about what it’s like being a journalist. Nothing, not even my first appearance on Richard & Judy, or walking up th …

Interview with Nawal El Saadawi

10th October 2012

Nawal El Saadawi has returned to Cairo where intends to stay until she dies. Not that she feels particularly at home there. “Home is not about where I am. I would not call Cairo home. I feel at home wherever I meet people I feel at home with,” she tell …

50 Shades of Frustration

7th August 2012

I used to say there is nothing as dangerous as a frustrated author. I should know, because I used to be one. I could barely stand to hear about someone who had had their book published, it would send me into a frenzy of jealousy and frustrated angst. N …

What’s in a name?

18th June 2012

Naming a book is in some ways a bit like naming a baby. There is no copyright on book titles, so rather like a child’s name, you can copy whatever name takes your fancy. It also has to suit your baby or book, and reflect a bit of its character, or cont …

Good Housekeeping column – December 2011

27th May 2012

I have been writing a column for Good Housekeeping magazine here since December last year. Here is the first one. This will be our fourth Christmas in Abu Dhabi, and I’m determined to get it right. Last year we were almost there, but I fear the pink tr …

What next?

24th February 2012

I know I only just finished the latest novel, but I am thinking about the next one. There are a few options I would love your thoughts on. Option One: Ciao Bella in novel form, modelled on Bonjour Tristesse, obviously not the same as Ciao Bella, but wi …

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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.

© 2023 Helena Frith Powell
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