The French writer Jeanne Cordelier was born in Paris in 1944. Her first novel, La Dérobade, was a literary and commercial success in France as well as abroad. It was translated into 19 languages. In English, the title is The Life, published in 1978 by Viking press and translated by Harry Mathews. Photo of Jeanne Cordelier in Paris 1977 © Jan Valdelin
In 1980, the author left the Paris establishment, made her own choices, and founded a family in Sweden. She lived and worked in Sweden for seventeen years. Among her contributions to Swedish cultural life was her inspiring advisory role to the publishing house, Interculture, that specialised in translating French authors into Swedish. Her son was 20 years of age in the year 2000. He has graduated from London School of Economics and Westminster University after studying international history and diplomacy.
In 1997, Jeanne Cordelier and her family broke up from Sweden and started a period of living in developing countries, India, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Albania. By 2004, she returned to Europe to settle in a rural environment in the south-west of France. Restless always, Jeanne Cordelier has also lived in Belgium, Italy, United States, Canada, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Albania. She has spent time in 14 countries in Europe, eight countries in Asia, and six countries in Africa. Photo of Jeanne Cordelier as a small girl, photographer unknown; detail of photo of Jeanne Cordelier in Paris 1977 © Jan Valdelin.
But where she prefers to be, is in the land of words. A country that, just like life itself, every day requires of us to improve. Just a matter of not forgetting that under the seat, whichever it is, there is no life vest.
During 1997-99 Jeanne Cordelier lived in Vietnam, which inspired a novel about Vietnam, Hanoi Blues. A painter friend of hers designed her Portrait in Hanoi 1999. During two years she lived in Ethiopia, where Rimbaud preceded her. Those years influenced the Word of the Month, where one will always find images from all those countries where Jeanne has been rambling. She has now settled in France, where she lives in a restored farm house in a rural area in the south-west of the country.