‘Rich and fascinating’: a new literary festival in France has a Hong Kong connection
Michelle Garnaut, founder of M at the Fringe in Hong Kong, has launched a festival in France blending literature, music and community spirit
The first time Michelle Garnaut visited Nanteuil-en-Vallee in southwestern France was in 1990.
The previous year, she had opened M at the Fringe in Hong Kong, a restaurant that set such a high standard for fine dining that it had already attracted a devoted clientele. Some of these patrons invited her to Nanteuil, a village of historic charm – an 8th century abbey, a medieval church – listed as one of France’s “small towns of character”.
On that initial trip, Garnaut, who is Australian, remembers passing through a nearby hamlet called Chez Garnaud. You might say that her name was – almost – written on the landscape from the start.
