The Upcoming Memoir:
You Don't Have to Die of Disappointment
(But You Can Always Die Laughing)
This book is an account of my life unfolding in a series of vivid experiences, struggles and disappointments amongst many colourful characters. I was born in 1938 in the Soviet Union, in dire circumstances during the Stalinist purges, where there could be a knock on the door in the middle of the night and people arrested for nothing. I experience my first sexual awakenings
behind the iron curtain of soviet oppression, and also the iron curtain of my mother. On to South Africa via Poland and Israel where I eventually marry a gentile, to my Yiddishe mama’s dismay. I become an existentialist with my husband in Mallorca, reading Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, wearing black clothes and heavy kohl eyeliner. Then onto London in the swinging sixties where the only swinging I did was between total dejection and extreme elation until I met and began to work with R D Laing. I hope you enjoy joining me on the memory lane of my life, and witnessing my strange, and often very funny ways of surviving.
Crowdfunding
Help Us Publish Magical Mina's Memoir...
We, the Minarettes, are helping the magical Mina Semyon self-publish her amazing memoir, 'You Don't Have to Die of Disappointment, But You Can Always Die Laughing'.
We are hoping to work with the wonderful Carnegie Scotforth Books, the self-publishing arm of highly respected Carnegie Publishing Ltd, to help bring Mina's story the professional finish it deserves.
However, we need your help to cover the costs of copyediting and printing the first run of books.
We'll be updating this page with different offers for different donations, e.g. tickets to Mina's upcoming shows and signed copies of the book upon publication as soon as we get the details worked out!
Thanks so much for your support.
- Laura, Maya and Izz <3
Mina's Stories
A Blog: Extracts, Short Stories and Other Musings by Mina Semyon
Live Performances
YOU DON'T HAVE TO DIE OF DISAPPOINTMENT BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS DIE LAUGHING
SEXUAL AWAKENINGS UNDER THE IRON CURTAIN OF SOVIET OPPRESSION, AND THE IRON CURTAIN OF MY MOTHER
MY YIDDISHE MAMA
Mina has created a series of live one-woman shows based on excerpts from her memoir, which include storytelling, Russian songs and songs written for her by Fran Landesman, which she has performed in London and over Zoom.
For details of upcoming performances and more, please
Yoga with Mina
Mina has been teaching yoga for over 30 years. She was a student and friend of R.D.Laing, psychiatrist, poet, musician and spiritual teacher who initiated her on the path of awareness through the practice of Yoga and mindfulness. This, combined with an insistence of finding her authentic voice through the study of singing and sound, has led to her unique style of teaching.
She has written and self published two yoga books, 'The Distracted Centipede' and 'Yoga Stories for Healthy Living'.
