A diary of the "stolen spring" of Paris, 2020.
A tragi-comic account of lockdown - and semi-unlockdown in Paris. What's it like on the streets and in the markets of a Paris set free? Where is the "University for Well Organized People"? Who got buried vertically upside down, and why on earth would this help anyone in the midst of the Corona crisis? One woman's diary of a surreal day in the City of Light, unlocked.

CoronaChronicles Ep6

A piece of fiction, imagining the trauma of a baby born during the bombing of Mariupol, Ukraine. Tragically, fact followed fiction. On March 9th, 2022, the maternity hospital in Mariupol was shelled.

Mariupol, Ukraine.

Accounts of life in Paris, from a writer living in the heart of Montparnasse, in Josephine Baker Square. A commentary marks the day when Josephine Baker - dancer, philanthropist, member of the French resistance - was "Pantheonized", honoured with a tomb in the Pantheon, along with Marie Curie and Simone Veil.

Osez Josephine

Hey Dark Ocean Song 1

One tragi-comic account of a single woman's day in lockdown in a Paris flat. Is it better to be locked down alone, or locked up with someone else? Great to be in your own company, but what happens when things begin to go wrong. . .?

Corona Chronicles Episode 5

https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/barefoot-road/430599
"This book is poetic and timeless. It will become a classic of European literature." (Review, That's Books)
 A young woman is found, emaciated and unconscious, in the mountains surrounding a village in Transylvania. When it is discovered that she is of the same ethnic group that was violently driven out of the region years before, old wounds are reopened as villagers are reminded of their part in the bloodshed.
An uneasy peace is maintained until a young married man falls in love with her, and tensions rise within the community.
When a child disappears in mysterious circumstances, the tension mounts into a hysteria that requires an outlet, driving the story to its chilling outcome.
While the story unfolds in the microcosm of a small village at the early twentieth century, its themes – the power of nature versus the dogma of human beliefs, the supernatural versus the rational, and the force of desire between man and woman that will not be contained by the divides of race or convention – are as universal as they are timeless. 

“The Barefoot Road evinces a poet’s sensitivity towards language and a dramatist’s understanding of plot. As the story unfolds, it becomes darker and more violent as its depiction of the incomprehensible cruelty of man toward man reaches crescendo. This novel stays with the reader, resounding in the daily news where the fear of what is not understood soon transforms into dogmatism and intolerance.” 
Dawn-Michelle Baude, book reviewer, Huffington Post

TBRSAMMUS

A poem about lockdown in Paris - remembering the things we can no longer do, not forgetting our loved ones, remembering that
"all things must pass".

Forget1

A tragi-comic account of lockdown - and semi-unlockdown in Paris. What's it like on the streets and in the markets of a Paris set free? Where is the "University for Well Organized People"? Who got buried vertically upside down, and why on earth would this help anyone in the midst of the Corona crisis? One woman's diary of a surreal day in the City of Light, unlocked.

Corona Chronicles Ep 6

Ten writers meet every fortnight in Paris. They each throw a piece of paper with an idea, a word, a phrase into a shower cap. They pick one at random and write, all on the same theme, for 17-and-a-half minutes. Then they read their pieces out loud. One idea: ten voices. . .sometimes funny, sometimes sad, quirky, unedited, above all. . . spontaneous. This is their work. The phrase they picked for this, their second podcast, was THE ITCH WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE (!)

17 and a Half Minutes: The Itch Was In The Wrong Place

A wry tragi-comic audio diary of life during the lockdown in Paris in the "stolen spring" of 2020. Is it better to live alone or in a shared space? Who is right? "Hell is other people" (Jean Paul Sartre) or "People, people who need people. . ." (Barbra Stresiand). Listen to Vivienne's journal and find out.

Corona Chronicles Ep 5

I'm a writer and actress, living between Paris and London in normal times! Have acted in movies "Jackie" (Natalie Portman) "Les Trois Freres, Le Retour" (Les Inconnus, played Queen Elizabteh II in "Les Profs 2" and do many voice overs, including "Mind the Gap" on the Paris metro. Have published three commections of poetry and most recently a novel, "The Barefoot Road", available in print and e-book and audiobook. Love animals and the sea, travel to wild places like the steppes of Anatolia, Mongolia, Siberia. . . when we could! Stay on a safe cloud!

Vivienne Vermes