Helen Russell is a journalist and bestselling author.

Helen’s first book The Year of Living Danishly (Icon Books, 2015) was an international bestseller and established her as an expert on the science of happiness and different cultural approaches to emotions. Her other books are Leap Year: How to Make Big Decisions, Be More Resilient and Change Your Life for Good (Two Roads, 2016); Gone Viking (Ebury, 2018), her debut novel; The Atlas of Happiness: the Global Secrets of How to be Happy (Two Roads, 2018); and How to be Sad (Fourth Estate, 2021), which is part memoir, part upbeat manifesto for a change in how we talk about our emotions.

Her latest book How To Raise A Viking is a deep dive into the parenting culture of Denmark and other Nordic nations and was published in 2024 by Fourth Estate in the UK, and Sourcebooks in the US (under the title The Danish Secret to Happy Kids).

Helen lives in Denmark and writes for magazines and newspapers globally, including The Times and The Sunday Times, the Telegraph, the Independent, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, the Observer, Metro, Grazia and Stylist. She is married with three children and a very scruffy dog.

http://www.helenrussell.co.uk/

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Praise for Helen Russell’s books:

‘An absolutely gorgeous and insightful and intelligent and necessary book.’ Hollie McNish

‘A very persuasive account of how accepting sadness as a key part of our human experience can lead to more fulfilment and ultimately more happiness. Full of moving personal insight and brilliant research.’ Anna Jones

'So brilliantly researched and written with great energy. And boy, did it make me think - I must have turned down 50 pages to come back to later!' Pandora Sykes

‘A hugely enjoyable romp through the pleasures and pitfalls of setting up home in a foreign land' PD Smith, Guardian

‘Russell is possessed of a razor-sharp wit and a winning self-deprecation,’ The Independent