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Sarala Terpstra is an American plant-based cookbook author, blogger, and avid Francophile. She dreamed of moving to France for over a decade before she finally made it happen in the fall of 2021. Sarala is consciously creating her dream life in France- one of the slow happy days, eating seasonally, and in classic style. 

Sarala first fell in love with France on a summer trip to Europe, after graduating from high school. When she returned to the U.S., she enrolled in French classes at university and went on to study abroad in France. After university, she traveled and moved extensively- living in the Caribbean, Europe, China, India, and various states in the U.S.

But all the while she was dreaming of settling in France. She found ways to immerse herself in the French language and culture, especially through cooking. After adopting a plant-based diet in an effort to eat healthier and more sustainably- she began experimenting with veganzing classic French recipes. What she found was that when the concepts of French cooking were applied to plants, exciting new flavors and dishes were created. The results were both novel and timeless!

Sarala has now written two cookbooks on plant-based French cuisine and can generally be found experimenting in her kitchen in France, perusing the markets for pretty vegetables and antiques, and people watching at cafés for style inspiration. You can find her on Instagram @saralaterpstra or at saralaterpstra.com

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BONNIE BROWN is a Franco-Australian concert pianist. As a soloist and collaborative musician she has performed across Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, in prominent music festivals and performance venues, including Wigmore Hall, London, the Sydney Opera House, Australia, on Broadway, New York, across France, as well as with Australia's leading orchestras and on the radio internationally.​

At the invitation of the French Government, in 2008 Bonnie Brown was Australian Artist in Residence at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris. To assist with her performance research in Europe, she was the recipient of over 20 grants and scholarships. These include, from France, the 2nd Prize internationally from the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger (Paris) for 2009-2010, and from Australia, the prestigious Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, the Australia Council for the Arts Project Fellowship, to name a few (full list of prizes a and scholarships here)​

Her mentors and teachers include celebrated concert pianist Cristina Ortiz (2008-2018), renowned French pedagogue and concert pianist France Clidat (2008-2012) and her assistant Paul Blacher at the Ecole normale de musique de Paris, Professor Alexandr Satz (2003-2004) at the Universität für music und darstellende kunst, Austria and Professor Ronald Farren-Price A.M., Australia. She holds the Diplôme supérieure d'enseignement (6ème niveau) from the Ecole normale de musique de Paris, as well as a Master of Music (performance) from the University of Melbourne, Australia, which she completed with a full post-graduate scholarship. She attended the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in Melbourne, Australia where she graduated Dux of the school, her exceptional results at the end of her schooling afforded her a full scholarship for her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne. 

In 2018 Bonnie Brown founded Concerts sans frontières, an international chamber music series for which she is also artistic director, which launched at the Australian Embassy in Paris. 

Biography https://www.bonniebrownpiano.com/biography

Examples of my work as a concert pianist https://www.bonniebrownpiano.com/watch-listen

Information about my work as a teacher https://www.bonniebrownpiano.com/teaching-experience-1

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🎨 Join my 2026 Tour of Christmas in France 

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Malik Ameer Crumpler is a poet, rapper, composer, curator, editor & professor involved in over 60 albums, several GlitchArt films, anthologies & 7 books of Poetry.  Originally from Oakland, Ca. Malik moved to Paris in 2016 after 12 years in NYC co-founding & editing online journals (Madmenscalling, Those That This & Visceral Brooklyn) then gaining an MFA in Creative Writing from L.I.U. Brooklyn. Currently, Malik is curator for Poets Live, an Editor-at-Large for The Opiate, & from 2016-2022 was a co-editor/ co-host with Paris Lit Up. 

https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/malik_crumpler

https://www.popmatters.com/malik-ameer-crumpler-interview-2022

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I’m an actress and writer originally from Sardinia, Italy, who has lived in different countries before moving to France to attend drama school, and my instagram is https://www.instagram.com/misschiaramaxia/

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🎨 Join my 2026 Tour of Christmas in France 

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Amanda Bestor-Siegal is the author of The Caretakers (William Morrow / Harper Collins & Little Brown UK). She received her MFA in fiction and screenwriting from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. Amanda lived in France for four years before relocating to Austin.

"How rare this is, a book—a first book—that has it all. The Caretakers is thrilling and deeply moving, gorgeously written and intricately plotted, morally complex and surprising and sweeping and intimate, with some of the most indelible and heart-breaking characters I have ever encountered in a novel. It's a bold and brilliant book."

– Elizabeth McCracken, author of Bowlaway and The Souvenir Museum

https://www.amandabestorsiegal.com/

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🎨 Join my 2026 Tour of Christmas in France 

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Support the show

🎨 Join my 2026 Tour of Christmas in France 

https://tourwithabsolutely.com/celebrity-tours/christmas-in-paris-with-krystal-aka-miss-paris-photo-your-american-photographer-abroad/