Leona Francombe
Author | Brussels, Belgium |
Website
Author, pianist and composer Leona Francombe has pursued music and writing all her life. Her third novel, The Universe in 3/4 Tme: A Novel of Old Europe (Merle Books Brussels, 2021), was shortlisted for the 2023 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize and was also a finalist in the Hoffer Ebook and Da Vinci Eye categories. T.... more
Author, pianist and composer Leona Francombe has pursued music and writing all her life. Her third novel, The Universe in 3/4 Tme: A Novel of Old Europe (Merle Books Brussels, 2021), was shortlisted for the 2023 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize and was also a finalist in the Hoffer Ebook and Da Vinci Eye categories. The story was inspired by her discovery of an abandoned WWII piano on a wintry Brussels street. Her other published novels include: The Sage of Waterloo (W.W. Norton, 2015) and Madame Ernestine und die Entdeckung der Liebe (Goldmann, 2013).
Leona was born in England of Czech and English parents and grew up in the United States, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College and received a Master’s degree from Yale School of Music. In 1987, she was invited to Belgium by the European Cultural Foundation to create and perform with an international chamber ensemble: Concorde East/West. She also received grants from UNESCO and the Franz Josef Foundation of Liechtenstein for this project. She has lived in Brussels with her family ever since.
Many of Leona’s essays and fiction are inspired by outdoor experiences or by European themes and moods. Leona’s writing has appeared in Writers’ Forum, Symphony Magazine, The Bulletin, Humanities Magazine, UNESCO’s Reflections, Explore Magazine and Banff Letters, among others. In 2010, Leona was asked to write and record a European essay series – Letters from Brussels - for “Here on Earth” on Wisconsin Public Radio.
As a pianist, Leona has given solo recitals in the United States, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Belgium, England, Germany and France, and performed in collaboration with: The Prague String Quartet, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Fine Arts Quartet, Marienbad Symphony Orchestra, Lewes Concert Orchestra, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, among others. She gave her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen.