Now,almost two decades aftershe launched the literary festival,DeNeefe’s daughter is taking Bali to the world,motivated by aiding a recovery of a different kind.
Laksmi DeNeefe Suardana,26,is representing Indonesia at the Miss Universe pageant,which concludes on Saturday in New Orleans,US. She entered and won the domestic contest last year after being prompted by the suffering she saw wrought by COVID-19 on Bali.
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“It’s a bit like the writers’ festival … it’s a festival with a cause. It grew from the tragedy of the Bali bombings,” said DeNeefe,a renowned restaurant owner and author of a Balinese cookbook,who has lived on the island since meeting her husband Ketut Suardana there in the mid-1980s.
“It’s the same thing with[Laksmi]. This came about because of the devastation of Bali with a lack of tourism.
“She came back from Italy,after completing her studies in fashion,and she was deeply saddened to see this absolute ghost town of Ubud,knowing everybody was struggling.”
In a nod to her Australian mother,Laksmi,who attended Melbourne’s RMIT University before graduating from the illustrious Polimoda fashion institute in Florence,has made books a centrepiece of her Miss Universe bid.