Leonie Frieda
Encyclopedia
Leonie Frieda is a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

-born former model, translator, and writer, working and living in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Educated in the UK, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Ms. Frieda speaks five languages. Her first book was a biography of Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....

 for which her exhaustive research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 led her to Paris and the châteaux of the Loire Valley
Châteaux of the Loire Valley
The châteaux of the Loire Valley are part of the architectural heritage of the historic towns of Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Nantes, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours along the Loire River in France...

 to examine extensive original sources plus read and document facts and information from thousands of letters there as well as in Florence and Rome.

Her book was published in the United Kingdom in 2004
2004 in literature
The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....

 and met with much acclaim from leading critics and newspapers. Among its achievements were:
  • No. 1 Biography bestseller, The Independent
    The Independent
    The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

  • No. 10 Non-Fiction bestseller, The Sunday Times
    The Sunday Times (UK)
    The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...

  • No. 4 in BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     History Magazine's "Top Ten History Book"


Published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 2005 by 4th Estate
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

, the book received similar acclaim in the U.S. and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 from major newspapers and literary critics such as Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

 and the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

. Ms. Frieda was interviewed by numerous magazines and was a guest lecturer on Big Ideas, a TVOntario
TVOntario
TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...

 program on intellectual topics. She was also interviewed about her book on the Charlie Rose Show on nationwide PBS television. She has recently completed a two-hour show about Nostradamus and Catherine de Medici, to be aired on the History Channel in October 2007. Frieda is also working on two significant television series on the Renaissance.

Frieda lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with her two children by her former husband, music producer Nigel Frieda, brother of celebrity hair stylist John Frieda
John Frieda
John Frieda is an English celebrity hairstylist and founder of hair salon and hair product businesses. The hair product business was acquired in 2002 by Kao Corporation, Japan. The hair products he created are widely available in the United States and many other countries.-Early life:Frieda was...

. She has finished writing her second book, a biography of Edward Horner, and a scheduled release date is awaited., a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 soldier and letter-writer who died in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 during the Battle of Cambrai.

Frieda is continuing her biographical work and will shortly complete her Renaissance Women, 1427-1527, the turbulent tale of seven of the most famous women in Italy of their day, whose lives entwine in an epic saga of love affairs, struggles, intrigues, murders and imprisonment.

Leonie Frieda was chosen by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 newspaper to provide a list http://books.guardian.co.uk/top10s/top10/0,6109,1415217,00.html and outline of her choice of best biographies of historical figures as part of the newspaper's Top 10s section.

Her daughter Lily Frieda is a punctual workoholic.


External links

Catherine de Medici - A biography. ISBN 1-84212-725-X - Website
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