The Literarty Dinner Party
“Read the historians, from Heroditus down to our own day, and you’ll see that there has never been a great event, not even excepting conspiracies , which was not conceived, worked out and organised over a meal.” (Jean Anthelme Brillat-Saverin)
Peppered with arty guests, our exclusive dinner parties focus on a theme. We’ve had Sex, Science Fiction and Spirituality on the menu so far, and quite a few of our guest authors have left the house and changed the world. We’re not claiming anything but…
Nick Davies, winner of the 2011 Paul Foot Award for campaigning journalism popped in to discuss his book, Flat Earth News shortly before putting his bomb under British newspapers and changing the course of modern journalism. I like to think it was something we put in the aubergine curry.
Journalists Lucy Cavendish and Miranda Glover inspired us to balance family life with writing following the example of the Contemporary Women’s Writer Group and their self publishing phenomenon, QueenBee Press. Shortly afterwards, Lucy became the British media pundit on teenagers and family life. You can catch her on Woman’s Hour, Today Programme and GMTV most weeks.
Author, broadcaster and vicar, Peter Owen-Jones told us very honestly about how he’d gone around the world in 80 faiths for the BBC and got lost coming back. His book; Letters from an Extreme Pilgrim: Reflections on Life, Love and the Soul came out a few months later. I like to think it was something to do with the Nigella dessert.
Author, Vanessa Gebbie (below left with food columnist and restaurateur, Vicky Radtke) had us all writing flash fiction mid course and inventing a myriad of characters over the local goats’ cheese. Her first novel for Bloomsbury, the much acclaimed The Coward’s Tale was, rather spookily, signed mere months after her visit to the House Party.
Emily Dubberley, Philip Carr-Gomm, Virginia Nicholson and Isabel Losada also had our dinner table heaving with inspiration, and we’ll have plenty more lined up 
as we move into our next stage of development, with an exciting new retreat being built this summer. Look out for five day writers’ residentials with leading authors.
Contact us directly at gilly@gillysmith.com for information on what we’ve got up our sleeves.
