Lesley Blanch Archive | W.R.N.S. on the Job, British Vogue, November 1941

Lesley Blanch was Features Editor of British Vogue 1937-45. During the Second World War, she was on the front line of women journalists covering a wide range of topics. She covered various aspects of Britain at war for the Ministry of Information, and documented the lives of women in the forces with her friend the photographer Lee Miller.

It is an indisputable fact that occupations and professions breed their own particular type. There are occupational faces, as there are occupational diseases, except in the case of the bored, spoiled, overfed idler, now fortunately rarely seen, save at luxurious hotels in ‘safe’ areas, where the face, and its accompanying malaise, might be described as non-occupational.

The ostler cannot be mistaken for the chauffeur, though doctors and lawyers, like poets and scientists, often pair indistinguishably. But the soldier, the sailor, and the airman are each distinct and apart front each other.

Continue reading Lesley Blanch Archive | W.R.N.S. on the Job, British Vogue, November 1941

Interview, Proust’s Questionnaire | Duncan Fallowell, author

Duncan Fallowell is an English novelist, travel writer and critic. He has also worked with the German group, Can, on musical projects. How to Disappear: A Memoir for Misfits − described as ‘brilliant and haunting’ by Alan Hollinghurst in the Guardian − won the 2012 PEN Ackerley Prize. Fallowell is at his characteristically provocative and entertaining best in Three Romes. His most recent publication is the long essay, The Rise and Fall of the Celebrity Interview. He has just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Your favourite virtue?
Honesty, which is a motive. There is a world of difference between someone trying to be honest and someone trying to deceive. I also admire people who refrain from pontificating on matters of which they are ignorant.

Your favourite qualities in a man?
Beauty.

Your favourite qualities in a woman?
Bravery.
 Continue reading Interview, Proust’s Questionnaire | Duncan Fallowell, author

Spotlight | BookBlast® on the blogosphere

The literary blogosphere is pullulating with writing and opinions on every imaginable subject, era, or school of writing; writers promoting books; readers offering an opinion or amateur reviews; and comment by informed book critics. Here are a few favourites . . .

– blogs for Francophiles

Paris Diary by Laure is ‘a very personal and subjective view of Paris life, like a morning phone call to my best friend’.

The Paris Review was founded in Paris by George Plimpton and friends in 1953 to introduce important writers of the day. The blog is great for readers wanting a shot of culture, but are short on time to read in depth.

Gallic Books publish some of the best French writing available in English translation. Publisher, Jane Aitken, was interviewed exclusively for The BookBlast Diary in November 2016.

– blogs for design aficionados

Browns Editions offer a design feast for the eyes and über-chic ideas.

Thames & Hudson has been an independent, family-owned company since it was founded in 1949 and its World of Art series of books is especially well known.

For that stylish LA look, you couldn’t do better than Mallery Roberts Morgan – a Los Angeles-based writer, curator and interior designer; and the Los Angeles correspondent of Architectural Digest France.

– blogs offering informed opinions

The Times Literary Supplement’s blog about books and ideas is a must-read regular.

Andrew Gallix is editor-in-chief of 3:AM Magazine, credited by The Guardian as being the first literary blog ever. He writes fiction and criticism, edits books, and teaches at the Sorbonne.

Maria Popova’s brain-pickings is a treasure trove of the heteroclite and the offbeat; an inspiring resource for browsing and sharing.

Continue reading Spotlight | BookBlast® on the blogosphere

Media Release | International Women’s Day | Waterstone’s, Oxford, March 2015

As the highlight of this special event for International Women’s Day, Elisa Segrave examines stories from her mother’s hitherto hidden wartime experiences at Bletchley Park, Bomber Command and post-war Germany. Georgia de Chamberet takes a look at the life and many worlds of Lesley Blanch, a woman whose aura of seductive glamour and erudition inspired the generation that followed her. Chaired by Claudia Fitzherbert, books editor of The Oldie.

During the day there will be numerous author signings by women who write about women, including Dame Professor Hermione Lee and Amy Mason. So come along for a bit of book browsing and then stay on for the talk and a glass of wine afterwards.

Lesley’s memoir ON THE WILDER SHORES OF LOVE: A Bohemian Life is published by Virago. Elisa’s memoir THE GIRL FROM STATION X: My Mother’s Unknown Life is published by Aurum Press.

Tickets £5 / £3 For Waterstones Cardholders
At: Waterstones, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3AF
Call: 01865 790212

Continue reading Media Release | International Women’s Day | Waterstone’s, Oxford, March 2015

Media Release | Joe Boyd: White bicycles #OnWilderShores

Joe Boyd, the record and film producer, whose memoir White Bicycles: Making Music in the Sixties has sold 75,000 copies worldwide, interviewed the late Lesley Blanch for The Guardian in 2005. They shared a love of Bulgarian gypsy music.

He and a panel of guests will discuss The Wilder Shores of Love, Lesley Blanch’s “cult book which pioneered a new approach to history writing,” on BBC Radio 4’s A Good Read, 31 March at 4.30pm.

Here is Joe on YouTube talking about Amoeba Music and some of his favourite albums from the sixties.

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