TURNING POINTS IN FRANCE
INTERVIEWS
The time you realise Paris has become ‘home’! A 25-minute interview series hosted by Patricia Killeen.
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
Nick Falcon – Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
On this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomes Nick Falcon. Nick grew up in Miami and is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Paris. ‘Bralitz’ is the name he uses for his solo music project, through which he writes, arranges, records and performs his own material. ‘Bralitz’ is a small town in northeastern Germany where he regularly attended a music festival hosted by the netlabel ‘Aaahh Records’. Since 2024, Nick has also been releasing a more stripped-down acoustic version of all his songs under his own name (Nick Falcon).
His style as Bralitz blends international indie folk with diverse classical and regional influences. His music draws heavily from folk, rock ‘n’ roll, bossa nova, French chanson, manouche, and Brazilian music, creating a distinct cross-genre signature. His compositions prioritize melodic immediacy paired with imaginative, often narrative-driven or witty lyrics. In addition to writing and performing in his native English and Spanish, he incorporates French and Italian into his catalogue and live performances.
During the episode, we hear about his travels before he settled in Paris, his writing process and his life as a musician living in Montmartre. The cherry on the cake is that we get to hear three of his songs and the backstories behind them, which make for great listening.
Patricia saw Nick perform at a party at the Cave Café and can highly recommend him for private events. He can be contacted at: Bralitzmusic@gmail.com
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomes John Buckley McQuaid, a modern-day storyteller, poet and songwriter in the great Irish bardic tradition.
Born in Dublin and now based in Denmark, John is a singer with a powerful voice and is a gifted writer of lyrics, songs and fairy tales. Performing “live” with guitar and video backing, he brings passion, warmth and Celtic humour to the stage, engaging and charming audiences wherever he goes.
Over the years, John has performed in clubs, pubs, museums, prisons, schools and festivals all across Europe. He is also a prolific painter and has exhibited his work widely, often combining exhibitions with live concerts.
Through his songs, videos and paintings, John creates a vibrant and colourful universe filled with imagination, hope and optimism, which is difficult to describe but wonderful to experience.
John Buckley McQuaid will be performing at The Dissident Club, 58 Rue Richer, 75009 Paris.
Music: https://johnbuckleymcquaid.bandcamp.com/
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
On this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Bill Nelson, author of ‘A Miracle on Djouce’. Born in Dublin, Bill spent most of his career in the aviation industry and was based in France for many years. Today, he divides his time between Le Frêche in southwest France and Ireland.
For the past 30 years, Bill has devoted himself to an extraordinary passion—one that brings together his love of France and Ireland, aviation, writing, and communication.
In 1946, a Junkers 52 aircraft carrying 21 Girl Guides and its crew, from Paris to Dublin crashed into Djouce Mountain in County Wicklow. What should logically have been a devastating tragedy became a remarkable miracle: everyone on board survived.
In 1995, a historian and writer presented Bill with a small piece of the wreckage from the Junkers aircraft. To mark the 50th anniversary of the crash, Bill wrote an article for the Wicklow Times. He explains how that single article forged an extraordinary and enduring connection between people in Ireland and France—a bond that continues to this day.
Now, with the support of the Wicklow County Council Heritage Department, Bill has written a bilingual commemorative booklet, A Miracle on Djouce, to mark the 80th anniversary of the crash. The booklet will be launched at Wicklow Library on 18 August.
A passionate writer, Bill has authored plays and numerous articles for The Irish Times and the Wicklow Times. He also gives lectures and interviews on the remarkable Djouce story and its lasting legacy.
https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/topics/a-miracle-on-djouce-1946-80th-year-anniversary
Photo (c) Bill Nelson
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Patricia Nolan.
Following her career at Newsweek International, Patricia taught Media and Communications at both the Sorbonne University and Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. She is a board member of Les Amis du Monde Diplomatique and of PEN Club France.
During the interview she read three poems from her new poetry collection Cabaret, which will be available for purchase at the Fnac and on Amazon.
Her previous collections include Travelling and Striptease, published by Éditions Le Castor Astral (Paris); Dragons and Roses, published by Escales des Lettres (Arras); and Champion, published by Pen Unchained (UK). Her work has appeared in more than 100 anthologies and has been translated into several languages. For the past three years, she has read at the Chichester Poetry Festival.
Her book L’Irlande, published in 1990 by Romain Pages Éditions, sold more than 100,000 copies. A fiddle player and committed feminist, Patricia is currently writing a novel set in Ireland during the Great Famine.
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen speaks with Shellie Kara
Bell and Elaine Cobbe. Shellie is the Editor-in-Chief of Reporting From Paris, and Elaine is its Deputy Editor.
Reporting From Paris is a free monthly online news magazine produced by journalists from the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris. It is aimed at a global English-speaking
audience with an affinity for Paris and a desire for more than tourist tips and pretty pictures.
The publication offers in-depth reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues shaping France, Europe, and the wider world.
Shellie and Elaine believe that the future of journalism lies online. While many journalists have already launched their own bespoke digital platforms, Shellie maintains that solo ventures can only go so far. By bringing experienced journalists together under one banner, there is more to be gained for journalists, readers, and the future of quality journalism.
Reporting From Paris seeks to harness the technical and distribution advantages of digital media to deliver real news and insightful analysis from professional journalists.
Shellie Karabell has spent more than 40 years in broadcast journalism as a news executive, anchor, producer, and field reporter in her native United States, across Europe, in the former Soviet Union/Russia, and in the Middle East. She has worked for ABC/WTN, PBS, Dow Jones Broadcast, CNBC, and Forbes.com, covering many of the major news events of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. She currently serves as Vice-President of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris.
Elaine Cobbe is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist based in Paris. A former foreign correspondent for CBS News, she has covered many of the major international stories of the past three decades. A regular commentator on French and international politics for news outlets in France and her native Ireland, she is also a researcher and trainer in journalism and trauma. Elaine also serves on the committee of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris.
Full biographies for Shellie and Elaine:
https://www.reportingfromparis.fr/about
Free subscription:
https://www.reportingfromparis.fr/
Instagram:
@reportingfromparis_social
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen chatted with Jack Hogan. Jack is an artist, music producer and lapsed architect. Born in 1986 in Waterford, Ireland, their work focuses on the rich sociality of everyday life, foregrounding friendship and what constitutes good shared lives and places. Life can be hard and seem meaningless. Art and music are good ways for Jack to make meaning or find beauty in that meaninglessness. Their diverse artistic investigations, in terms of subject matter and media, are driven by intensive studies, but the end result is always deeply personal and subjective.
In addition to Stream, their ongoing solo exhibition of drawing, photography and video at 15 Beautreillis Gallery in Paris, Jack has had solo exhibitions at Performance Epistemology Gallery in Taipei and Flux Factory in New York. They will have a solo presentation at Sukhdev Sandhu’s Colloquium for Unpopular Culture in New York in May this year, and a further solo exhibition at Starling in Limerick at the end of the year.
Jack has shown work in the ICA London, Whitney Museum, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios Dublin, New York University, Athens Biennale, Starling Limerick, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Hellerau Europäisches Zentrum der Künste, Artists Space New York, Documenta Fifteen, Cork International Film Festival, Zurich University of the Arts, Spectacle Theater Brooklyn, aemi Dissolutions Dublin, Ballhaus Ost Berlin, Conditions Croydon, Sydenham Community Garden, and Beta Biennial Timișoara.
Photo credit: Sara Sassanelli
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Nadia Sardjoe, a Dutch/Indonesian/Surinamese singer-songwriter whose artistic journey bridges the Netherlands and France.
Nadia began playing the violin at a young age and performed with several Dutch bands before a defining moment changed the course of her life: falling in love with a French man and moving to Paris in 2012. Her daughter was born there.
Another change came in 2019, when Nadia started writing her own material and learnt to play the guitar to deliver her songs after being part of several French old-time and bluegrass bands, like Les Cartiers de Paris, a Carter Family Tribute band. Immersed in Paris’s dynamic music scene, Nadia performed in local bars and venues. With a voice that combines warmth and power, she crafts songs rooted in truth, honesty, transformation, and raw emotion. Her sound draws on influences from American folk, country, and blues, woven together with her distinct personal touch.
During her Turning Points interview, Nadia performed three of her original compositions live in the WRP studio:
Valkyrie
Lucilla
There’s a Way Out
She shared the inspiration and stories behind these songs—lyrics that are deeply personal, often spiritual, and emotionally resonant.
Beyond her musical career and being a single mother, Nadia is an entrepreneur. After her first activity in digital marketing she has her own corporate wellness practice, offering light-touch ASMR massage therapy providing instant nervous system regulation and stress relief at the office – and can be contacted at AyonaASMR@gmail.com for enquiries.
Click here to explore more of Nadia’s music and projects.
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen speaks with Rose Burke, a Pittsburgh native who has made Paris her home since 1994.
Rose’s life took a turn for the worse in 2023 when her daughter Emma, then 22, was killed in a bicycle crash in Glasgow, where she was studying architecture and working.
Following this tragedy, Rose retired and, together with her husband John Newman, founded the nonprofit Emma Builds A Better World, Association EBN. The association is dedicated to honoring Emma’s legacy, advocating for safer streets, and creating opportunities for young people. Among its initiatives is a €5,000 annual arts grant awarded to emerging young artists, covering art, architecture, and the performing arts. It was recently announced U.K. artist Pax Alberto is the winner of the 2025 ‘EBN Art and Architecture’ grant.
Rose spent a decade freelancing in Paris for outlets such as USA Today, BusinessWeek, and The Washington Post. From 2004 until her retirement, she was a senior writer at S&P Global. She also contributed to journalism education, designing and teaching Issues in Journalism at the University of Paris 8 and creating a journalism curriculum for the Sorbonne.
Earlier in her career, Rose worked as a policy analyst in Washington, D.C., before becoming an editor at Dow Jones and later writing for the international editions of the Wall Street Journal. An accomplished public speaker, she earned the title of Distinguished Toastmaster in 2020.
Find out more about Rose Burke on her LinkedIn. Discover the Emma Burke memoriam blog here. Check out the Association EBN website as well.
Created by World Radio Paris and recorded by Patricia Killeen in Paris.
On this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen spoke with John McLachlan, an Irish composer. John was born in Dublin and is currently residing in Donegal. He studied music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a PhD in musicology, focusing on the compositional techniques of Boulez, Xenakis, Lutoslawski, and Carter. His composition teachers include William York, Robert Hanson, and Kevin Volans.
John’s works have been performed internationally across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa, and by many prominent ensembles and soloists. He has received commissions from major organizations including RTÉ NSO, New Music Dublin, Music Network, and the National Concert Hall.
His music is featured on several recordings and anthologies, and his pedagogical piano works have been published in the Royal Irish Academy of Music syllabus. Notable releases include First and Drinking the Stars, both on Farpoint Recordings.
In 2022, he edited and published two books by his mother, writer Leland Bardwell, and organized a literary festival in her honor. He also created a Leland Bardwell website.
He is an active writer and broadcaster on contemporary music, and has contributed to the promotion of Irish music through his roles in the Association of Irish Composers and the Irish Composition Summer School. His music is available through the Contemporary Music Centre.
Paris has played a significant role in John’s work. During a month spent in the CCI (Centre Culturel Irlandais) in 2023, he created a piece called: Le Dernier Bourgeon de L‘avenir. Patricia met up with him the day before he returned to Ireland after spending another month in the CCI.