Lisa Seibold is a famous British writer and photographer whose life has been the topic of several books, including A Place of Execution, which was made into a film by Peter Jackson. She was born in Normandy, where her father was in the Royal Air Force. She went on to study art at university, where she pursued a degree in graphic design, before entering the world of photography, which she describes as “a business that took me everywhere”. After working in an advertising agency for nearly five years, Lisa decided to take on her own artistic career and launched her own successful clothing line, which quickly became popular worldwide.
Her international success came about as a direct result of one unlikely event; her meeting with an American in Paris, USA who was in the running for a seat in the European Parliament. Lisa was impressed by his passion for political debate and set out to help him win his seat. It was this inspirational person that would provide the platform for Lisa’s international writing career, as well as her most famous project, ‘The Picnic’. Lisa Seabold wrote the book in her native tongue, but translates it now into English, having learnt the language from her American guide, who had been fluent in several languages. As a result, the book’s many subtitles provide the reader with a thorough understanding of the history of the Second World War, and Lisa Seabold’s commitment to the work has seen it translated into dozens of languages.
Lisa Seabold has described herself as “a quintessential British woman” and her trademark phrase is “Where have you been, honey?”. With her characteristic sense of humour, as displayed in her popular photo series with her partner, Bernard Smith, the artist Peter Shaw, Lisa can certainly be described as a romantic figure, who loves to share her adventures and capture the human condition in her art. However, when asked if there is a secret behind her success, she replies: “Not much. Just a simple, real family life.”