Events

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Meet the Authors 2017

Meet the Authors!

Saturday, June 3, 2017
3 to 5 p.m.

Scotch Tea House
4 avenue Suède, 06000 Nice

Join us in the lovely back room of the Scotch Tea House to meet a group of local authors, discover their books and their stories. They will talk about their recent works, read a bit from them and answer your questions. You will have an opportunity to purchase their books and get signed copies! Adrian Leeds, of the Adrian Leeds Group, who is currently writing her own memoir, will Emcee the event and share her own experiences.

Participation is free (but we ask that you purchase at least one drink to show the host venue how much we appreciate them).

Don’t miss this special event in Nice!

For more information, contact Margo Lestz

 Meet the Authors…


JuliaJulia Allen moved to France in 2013 from Los Angeles, California. Having spent a year at the University of Nice during her undergraduate studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, in the 1980s, she fell in love with the South of France and resolved to return one day. Julia spends most of her time in France but enjoys traveling the world and has visited six of the seven continents. She is a retired attorney who is currently embarking on a second career as a writer.

Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 08.57.40Her first work, Facets, is a collection of nine short stories, each depicting various sides of life from the macabre to the romantic to the everyday slice of life.

The title reflects the diversity of genres within the collection. In the book you will meet characters both young and old who fall in love, who run away from an abusive home life, who are tortured by ghosts, and who face death.

Julia will read a selection from her work and discuss her foray into the world of short stories which began as a tool to break through bouts of writer’s block that she encountered while working on her novel.


Lisa Anselmo-Author-My (Part-Time) Paris Life-by Carla CoulsonLisa Anselmo has spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing, working on such iconic brands as Allure, Mademoiselle, InStyle, and People. She started traveling to Paris regularly more than ten years ago and eventually built another life across the ocean. After losing her mother to breast cancer, she was motivated to make her other life official, buying an apartment on the Right Bank. She now splits her time between New York and Paris, where she writes full time about her part-time life in the City of Light.Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 08.51.51

Lisa will be discussing My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home (©2016, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press).

“Lisa wrapped her entire life around her mother, a strong woman who was a defining force in Lisa’s life—maybe too defining. When her mother dies from breast cancer, Lisa realizes she hadn’t built a life of her own and struggles to find her purpose. Desperate for answers, she turns to her favorite city, Paris, and impulsively buys a small apartment, refusing to play it safe for the first time. What starts out as an act of survival sets Lisa on a course that reshapes her life in ways she never could have imagined.” Visit Lisa’s Website


Kristin 1inchKristin Espinasse is the creator of the French Word-A-Day blog and author of the books Words in a French Life, Blossoming in Provence, and First French ‘Essais.’ She lives near Bandol.
Kristins book
She will read from: Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France. Vignettes and vocabulary create the base for this lighthearted memoir by Espinasse, whose blog French Word-A-Day spawned three self-published books. Visit Kristin’s Website.


MARGOMargo Lestz is American by birth, but now divides her time between London, England and Nice, France. She describes herself as a perpetual student because she’s always taking some kind of course or researching a moment in history that has caught her fancy. She’s curious by nature and enjoys digging up quirky stories from the past—and then writing about them, of course.

Small cover copy400She will be discussing her new book, Curious Histories of Provence: Tales from the South of France. What better way to understand a region than by learning its history and listening to its stories?

In this book, Margo shares some intriguing tales from that magical place known as Provence. From cicadas to dragons and Nostradamus to Buffalo Bill, this book is filled with informative and entertaining stories about the south of France.

Margo’s Books:
French Holidays & Traditions
Curious Histories of Nice, France
Curious Histories of Provence: Tales from the South of France

Visit Margo’s Website (Curious Rambler)


Patrick MurphyPatrick J Murphy is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and was a banker, brewmaster, malt exporter and fine arts consultant before retirement. He has a lifelong passion for the arts and has written three books and contributed to a number of others, all published. His latest is An Art Lovers Guide to the French Riviera. He divides his time between Dublin and Nice.Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 08.41.52

Patrick will feature his recently published An Art Lovers Guide to the French Riviera. It is an attractive guide to all of the important ancient and modern art on view throughout the Côte d’Azur including museums, churches, some hotels and public sculptures, and contains some additional historical and biographical data that will appeal to both art connoisseurs and regular tourists. It is illustrated with 130 color reproductions of master works by Matisse, Picasso, Leger, Bonnard, Derain, Chagall and other French artists and is a most useful reference book.


PatriciaPatricia Sands – Bestselling author Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, Canada, when she isn’t somewhere else, and she calls the south of France her second home. I Promise You This, Book 3 in her award-winning Love in Provence trilogy, was published May 17, 2016. Her next novel, Drawing Lessons, will be released by Lake Union Publishing on October 24, 2017.

She will be presenting the award-winning novel The Promise of Provence, Book One in the Love in Provence series. It follows the sudden change in the rather ordinary life in Toronto of Katherine Price.”Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 08.46.56

Stepping out of her comfort zone, she discovers that at fifty, suddenly divorced and alone, can be an opportunity to begin something better than she ever dreamed. A mid-life coming of age unfolds in the charming countryside of Provence, sophisticated boulevards of Paris and sun-kissed Côte d’Azur. Lavender perfumes the air, and chance encounters hint at romance and passion. But memories of heartbreak and betrayal linger—and her former life awaits her back home. Can she find the courage to begin again? An enduring story of hope and change in life’s later years is woven through the author’s love letter to France.”

Patricia is represented by Pamela Harty of The Knight Agency. Visit Patricia’s Website.


Alice AlechAlice Alech, co-author of 7 Wonders of Olive Oil, is a writer and a qualified X-ray technologist (radiographer), specializing in mammography. She has worked and lived in France, the UK, Australia, and the West Indies. She discovered the wonderful world of olive oil when she moved to the South of France, to Provence – olive oil country – where the taste, flavor, and quality of olive oil are crucial. Drawn into olive oil culture, she has been covering olive oil news in France for many years, meeting olive growers, olive oil producers, and chefs – men and women who work hard and believe in what they are doing. It started a real thirst for more knowledge.The7WondersofOliveOil.jpg 1

  • How Can Olive Oil Significantly Improve Your Health?
  • Which single ingredient is proven to fight cancer, lower cholesterol, and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease ?

In 7 Wonders of Olive Oil authors Alech and Cécile Le Galliard combine in depth research by internationally renowned doctors, nutritionists, chefs, and other specialists to uncover seven  benefits behind the miracle ingredient olive oil.

The book also has a special section on how to purchase, taste, cook with, and store olive oil. The authors discuss the importance of buying the best quality of extra virgin olive oil, which in turn will give readers the best quality of life.  Visit Alice’s Website.


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Adrian Leeds, Moderator – Adrian Leeds is founder and director of the Adrian Leeds Group, based both in the U.S. and France to provide a full range of services to “Francophiles” living in North America and France: a complete property consultation services including property search, purchase and sales assistance, financing, sales and marketing and development of fractional ownership properties. She speaks at conferences and seminars in both the U.S. and France on a variety of related topics to living and investing in France and hosts financial seminars and a variety of workshops.

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Her site AdrianLeeds.com provides a wealth of information for Francophiles as well as reservations and booking services of luxury apartments for a select group of property owners in Paris and Nice. She is the author and editor of the Parler Paris and Parler Nice Nouvellettres®, editor of French Property Insider. Adrian is the celebrated real estate professional on more than 25 episodes of HGTV’s House Hunters International and an episode of FYI’s Tiny House World. In addition, she hosts a monthly coffee-gathering in Paris, Après Midi, where a speaker on a different topic every month enlightens attendees from all over the world. Visit Adrian’s Website


Don’t miss this special event in Nice!

Participation is free (but we ask that you purchase at least one drink to show the host venue how much we appreciate them).

For more information contact Margo Lestz today!

2 comments

  1. Thank you, Margo, for organizing such an inspirational event. I learned a lot from all the speakers.

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