ELIZABETH SHARLAND is an actress, producer, playwright and novelist, best-known for her informative and entertaining non-fiction books about theatre stars - and for her popular and long-running show Love From Shakespeare to Coward, an anthology of plays poems, letters and diaries around the theme of love, based on six years in the West End using over 200 actors in showcases.

Her new book, Behind the Doors of Notorious Covent Garden, is a colourful guide to the cultural heart of London, including a history of its many theatres and restaurants. Passionate Pilgrimages is a fascinating look at the homes and studios of legendary composers, artists and writers across Europe, while her other books include A Theatrical Feast: Sugar and Spice in London’s Theatreland, Love From Shakespeare to Coward and The British on Broadway.

Elizabeth is now the Food and Entertainment Editor of the Palm Beach Society Magazine, reviewing restaurants and theatres in Palm Beach, Florida. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and joined the Old Vic Company to tour Australia. She has had plays produced in London and New York, formed an English-speaking theatre company in Paris, worked for Yul Brynner on Broadway, and also lectures regularly on the Queen Mary 2, between London and New York. She is married to a Dublin-born psychiatrist, has one son, and travels frequently between Europe and America.


Celebrating Words and Music from the South of France

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011
1:45 - 3:30 PM
New York Sheet Music Society
Musicians’ Hall, 322 West 48th Street, NYC.

Elizabeth Sharland and Steve Ross celebrate words and music from the south of France. 'On the Riviera' is Elizabeth's new novel, and Steve plays the music from the Jazz Age of the 1920's and beyond. Special guest stars scheduled.

Introducing Elizabeth Sharland's new novel:


"On The Riviera"

"Balancing the demands of private life with a full time acting career has exercised the minds of actresses from Ellen Terry to Judi Dench. Each had to work out her own solution, and very few have found it easy. This book tells of one such dilemma."

- JOHN MILLER, Biographer of Judi Dench, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Peter Ustinov.


"In the south of France, when the Scott Fitzgeralds, the Murphys, Picasso, and Jean Cocteau lived and worked during the Jazz Age, the French Riviera became famous. Now, Nicole Bennett goes there to retrace their steps and try to discover who followed after them.

Disenchanted with her award-winning acting career as well as her one-year marriage to Nigel, she seeks to make a significant change to her life. She goes to the Riviera and attempts to fulfill her dream of writing a book about the writers who lived and worked in the south of France."

In Cannes, she meets new people and falls in love with the incredible scenery. While redsiscovering the charm and magic of the Riviera, she is influenced by other writers - Graham Greene, Dirk Bogarde, Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway - who once walked the same streets and enjoyed the same experiences. It's now up to Nicole to recreate the magic they all found."

- JOHN KNOWLES

Available on Amazon.com

Dirk Bogarde once wrote:

"But I think that Life, and with that I do mean Love, come first.... it's the only thing one has in the final seconds - the knowledge that one has had time, and sense, to live, breath, love and enjoy the time one has been given."

Interview with Elizabeth Sharland in Palm Beach Society Magazine:

Coming soon:

From the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel NYC to Palm Beach

The Spoken Word Programs

These programs will feature actors and actresses reading extracts from Shakespeare to Coward. These programs begin shortly, so please send your name and address to sharlandjones@aol.com to be placed on the mailing list, for times and dates.

See also:

Passionate Pilgrimages

From Chopin to Coward

A guide and fascinating look at the homes and studios of legendary composers, artists and writers across Europe. It captures the essence of their work and life styles, including photographs and anecdotes. 

Welcome Rain Publishers

ISBN 13:978-1-56649-051-1
ISBN 10: 1-56649-051-0

Publication date:
May 1, 2009

"Elizabeth Sharland will squire you to places you never thought you'd go, in impeccable language and with rare grace. Learn, then, how George Sand whiled away the hours with Chopin at Chateau de Nohant, and spend some time with Somerset Maugham at Cap Ferrat near Nice. Katherine Mansfield charms us in Menton, alongside Franco Zeffirelli in Positano, Italy, Cole Porter in Paris, Paul Bowles in Morocco and Lady Gregory in Ireland. The illustrations are lavish, offering visual clues to the geniuses that inhabit these pages. Travel with Sharland as you have never travelled before ...a blessing on your cranium."

- Malachy McCourt
(Irish-American actor/writer)

In this sequel to Elizabeth's first novel, a group of British actors go to stay at Noel Coward's house in Jamaica on holiday, where dramatic events happen. The Oscar winning actress Nicole Bennett struggles with the dilemma of having to decide between her love for the theatre and the love in her private life. The story continues when they return to London.

ISBN 978-0-595-45284-2

Listen to Elizabeth Sharland on BBC Radio

Download MP3 audio file (2.7 MB)

Broadcast on The Women's Hour, BBC Radio 4
October 4, 2007

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