Simona Vilar: biography, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Simona Vilar is well known to admirers of love historical novels and Slavic fantasy stories that captivate with their magic. She is a talented Ukrainian writer and author of poignant women's prose, which has been repeatedly published not only in Ukraine, but also in Russia.

Three names

The biography of Simone Vilar began on May 1, 1965 in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. The birth certificate contains the name Natalia Obraztsova. Her father, Georgy Mikhailovich Obraztsov, was an engineer who designed an amphibious vehicle. Mom taught English. The older brother, Andrei, became a successful artist.

The novelist started writing after her marriage, having the surname Gavrilenko, she still appears in her passport. A beautiful and sonorous pseudonym appeared with Natalia in 1994, when she worked at the Oko publishing house. In those years, in the post-Soviet space, books by foreign authors were wildly popular. This is the reason for the choice of the French name. Moreover, the first idea was the name Stefania Vilar, but Simone seemed more consonant with the surname. Although later the writeradmitted that she was embarrassed by the constant comparison with the heroine of the song of the same name by Vladimir Kuzmin.

Choosing a Creative Path

Natalia has been passionate about writing since childhood. She wrote about everything that happened around. In addition, the writer has always been interested in history. She graduated from the Faculty of History at Kharkov State University, specializing in the history of the Middle Ages. With great interest in the events of that time, Simone Vilar decided to convey scientific and educational information to readers with the help of artistic presentation.

First steps

For a long time Vilar wrote to the table. So far, in the hungry 90s, her brother did not show Natalia's work to the editor of the Kharkov publishing house Andrey Klimov. In 1994, the first series of books by Simone Vilar "Anna Neuville" was published. It consisted of novels:

• "Betrothed to a Rose";
• "Kingmaker";
• "Castle on the rock";
• "The heaviness of the crown".

The books touch on the time of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses and describe medieval England. The main character is Anna Neuville, wife of Richard III and Queen of England. The circulation of this series sold out instantly.

In 1995, Natalia began work on the cycle "Emma Ptichka". It includes:

• "Prisoner of the Vikings";
• "Viking Princess";
• "Wild Heart";
• "Forest Duchess".

The action of the novels takes place at the beginning of the 10th century. They describe the love between the main character Emma and the Viking Rollo, who became the first Duke of Normandy.

Both cycles were liked by readers and are still popular. Love lines against the backdrop of historical facts about the war and politics attracted the attention of not only the female audience of readers. Also, representatives of the strong half of humanity began to appear among the admirers of the author's work.

Creativity

After the first success, Natalia Gavrilenko continued writing historical novels. In addition to works about medieval Europe, the writer had novels about the events of pre-Christian Russia. Both of them enjoy constant reader success:

• "Castle of Secrets" - a historical detective story that touches on the events of the civil war in England in the seventeenth century;
• "Svetorada" - a series of three books about the difficult and bright fate of a Slavic girl;
• "Distant Light" - a dilogy describing the love of a noble beauty and an unknown tramp against the backdrop of the civil war in England;
• Shadow of the Sword - three novels set during the Crusades and Richard the Lionheart;
• "Queen to boot" - a novel about the French Queen Mary Tudor;
• "Confessions of a Rival" - an adventure novel about the illegitimate daughter of the King of England and a runaway nun;
• "The Stranger" - a novel about the seizure of the Kyiv throne by Prophetic Oleg;
• "Mysgrave" is an adventure work about love onagainst the backdrop of hostility between two Scottish clans.

Fantasy Friendship

Acquainted with the fantastic works of Olga Grigorieva, Nick Perumov and Elizaveta Dvoretskaya, Vinar became seriously interested in this genre. And, having decided on an experiment, she wrote a series of books about a woman, Drevlyanka, called "The Witch". In this series, the writer paid less attention to historical facts, trying to add beauty to the descriptions and dynamism to the plot. The novels turned out to be intriguing, with an unusual interweaving of real-life historical figures (Prince Igor, Princess Olga, Governor Sveneld) with fairy-tale characters. Witchcraft and Wizardry added to the seductiveness of the series and gave readers recognition.

Private life

Simone Vilar's personal life has not always been happy. She met her first husband while studying at the university. Simona recalls that he was a very handsome man, but died tragically in the early 90s. Natalia was left with her little daughter in her arms. The writer divorced her second husband due to incompatibility of characters. The third marriage turned out to be happy. For many years, the husband has been sympathetic to the creative activity of his wife and supports her in everything. Husband's love makes happy the eyes that look at the fans with a photo of Simone Vilar. Simone's daughter loved to read since childhood and wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, but she chose a different direction, becoming a talented economist.

Interests

Despite the fact that writing texts takes a lot of time, Simone Vilar loves to read. Her favorite authors: Victor Hugo, Alexei Tolstoy, Honore de Balzac, Sigrid Unset, Valentin Pikul, Boris Akunin, Morris Druon, Elizaveta Dvorzhetskaya. Natalia's second hobby is traveling. She dreams of traveling all the places that she describes in her novels. The writer likes to communicate with friends, listen to music, watch good films. She loves new experiences. To get them, Simona mastered skiing, cycling and sailing on a yacht. When asked where she gets so much free time, she replies: "I work at night."

Awards

The circulation of Simone Vilar's books has long passed the million mark. In addition to the love of readers, she deservedly received many titles and awards:

• Purple crystal - 2009 award for the novel "Svetorada Medovaya", received at the Ayu-Dag Constellation festival in Crimea.
• Bast is the first place award given to historical fiction "The Witch of the Princess".
• "The Wind of the North" is recognized as the "Best Domestic Historical Novel".
• "The Witch" won the title of "Best Domestic Fantasy Novel".
• Since 2011 included in the "TOP-10 most successful writers of Ukraine".
• Award "For a worthy representation of Kharkov in fantastic literature" from the Renaissance Foundation.
• Golden writers of Ukraine - winner of the award with2012.
• Karamzin cross - award for achievements in historical prose.