logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2024
28m 52s

Helen Russell

MONOCLE
About this episode

UK author and journalist Helen Russell left her job in London as editor of Marie Clare and relocated to Jutland, Denmark, with her husband in 2013. What initially set out to be a year-long trip quickly turned into a decade. Her freelance career had seen her work as Scandinavia correspondent for ‘The Guardian’, write for publications such as ‘The Observer’, ‘Stylist’ and ‘Grazia’, and publish six books including ‘The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country’, which became an international bestseller and was translated into 21 languages. Her latest book, ‘How to Raise a Viking’ uncovers the secrets to parenting the world’s happiest children.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Yesterday
Agustina Bazterrica at Hay Festival 2025
Georgina Godwin speaks to Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica about her shift from opera to writing, literary influences and her novels exploring oppression, capitalism and control.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
22m 34s
Jul 6
Esther Freud on family, fiction and healing
Esther Freud reflects on her childhood and literary journey to ‘My Sister and Other Lovers’, which follows two sisters facing secrets and heartbreak.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
33m 1s
Jul 2
Damien Wilkins at the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival
Georgina Godwin meets Damien Wilkins, the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Award winner for fiction with his novel ‘Delirious’. Wilkins reflects on his early literary influences, past work and transitioning to songwriting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
31m 6s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2019
#182 Sara Tasker: On Building A Six-Figure Business At Home
My guest today is Sara Tasker. Photographer, writer, business coach and author. She left her NHS day job six years ago to take a leap into the unknown to turn her passion for the Internet into a business. Now, three years on, she's been awarded runner up for Natwest’s Creative En ... Show More
26m 27s
May 2023
Geraldine Brooks and Jacki Lyden
This conversation features best-selling author Geraldine Brooks and former NPR journalist Jacki Lyden discussing Brooks’ book, “Horse: A Novel” before a live audience at the Kentucky Author Forum. This conversation was recorded on March 27th, 2023 at the Kentucky Center in Louisv ... Show More
57m 41s
Apr 2017
#71 Daisy Buchanan (Author): How To Be A Grown-Up (Or At Least Try)
Daisy Buchanan is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Last year she won the Words by Women Lifestyle Journalist award and Dating Journalist of the Year at the UK Dating Awards. She was Grazia's agony aunt and is the author of How To Be A Grown Up which is out now ... Show More
31m 27s
Nov 2023
Author Interview: Joanna Moorhead's "Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington"
Hello, listeners! I’ve got a special surprise for you this week. I’ve been waiting to share this amazing conversation that I enjoyed recently with expat and author Joanna Moorhead about her fantastic new biography, Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington. The Briti ... Show More
39m 9s
Sep 2019
#218 Lotte Jeffs: The Art of Soft Power In A Harsh World
My guest today is Lotte Jeffs - author, journalist and previous acting Editor of ELLE magazine. She writes for a wide variety of publications including The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian covering topics from fashion and style to sexuality and gender to social trends, memoi ... Show More
37m 17s
Aug 2021
Emma Sloley, “The Cassandras” The Common magazine (Spring 2021)
Emma Sloley speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “The Cassandras,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. In this conversation, Sloley talks about writing a story based on the fear of men women are taught to have from a young age. She also discusses her de ... Show More
40m 10s
Mar 2021
Tillie Olsen and the Barriers to Creativity
A.O. Scott, The Times’s co-chief film critic, returns to the Book Review’s podcast this week to discuss the work of Tillie Olsen, the latest subject in his essay series The Americans, about writers who give a sense of the country’s complex identity. Olsen, who died in 2007 at 94, ... Show More
1h 3m
Nov 2023
Curator Helen Molesworth Looks Back on 30 Years of Art Writing
In 2018, Helen Molesworth was unceremoniously dismissed from her position as chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. The move proved controversial among industry insiders, many of whom cast it as an example of an institution punishing its employee, a straight ... Show More
37m 54s
May 2022
Two nonfiction books... that just won Pulitzer Prizes!
The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the country for writers... and last year's winners were just announced this week. So today, we're looking back at two nonfiction authors whose books won the accolade. First, journalist Andrea Elliot speaks to Jane Clyson ... Show More
20m 38s
Jan 2020
Square Haunting: Francesca Wade & Alexandra Harris
In the period between the wars nearby Mecklenburgh Square was home to many artists, writers and radicals. In a stunning work of rediscovery Francesca Wade focuses on five remarkable women who lived there: the modernist poet and visionary H.D; crime writer and translator of Dante ... Show More
48m 25s