You know the old question: if you could invite five people, past or present, to a dinner party, who would you invite?
I’ve been pondering the author-specific version of this question lately: which authors would I like to gather around the table? This month I’ve been re-reading Alissa Wilkinson’s nonfiction book Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, our November selection for the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. When our Community Manager Ginger Horton first put this book on my radar, she described it as the book form of that question.
In her opening lines, Alissa highlights why the dinner party question is such a good one: “But really,” she says, “a dinner party is an excuse to create and deepen friendships, to form alliances, to encounter new ideas, to stretch yourself. It’s an invitation to risk something, to put yourself out there just a little, with the comforting universal activity of eating dinner as an excuse and a task to accomplish. A dinner party creates a universe.”
If Salty is a dinner party, then its guest list is exquisite: the roster of “revolutionary women” in these pages is truly impressive. (To the point of being intimidating—and so I’m comforted by Alissa’s insistence that this is not a proper dinner party: we’ll be using paper towels instead of linens, the dishes won’t match, and I may drink wine from the wrong kind of glass.) We’ll enjoy good food, yes, but the main draw here is the people.
And the people in these pages! Laurie Colwin, Edna Lewis, Hannah Arendt, Alice B. Toklas, Maya Angelou, Octavia Butler, look, I’ve already more than used up my allotted guests and I’m not even through the table of contents yet! Have you had the experience, as I have, of attending a gathering and connecting with a kindred spirit you didn’t even know you were longing to meet? This dinner party brings together some of the cultural and literary icons I was already eager to learn more about, plus a few more I didn’t even know existed but was so happy to make the acquaintance of.
After reading Salty I’m tempted to say I’d happily ditch my own party if I could just attend one of writer and philosopher Hannah Arendt’s 1950s cocktail parties in her Riverside Drive apartment, which gathered together a group now known by historians as the New York Intellectuals. Their purpose, Wilkinson says, was to “hash out what was going on in the world while nourishing the soul (and the stomach, too).”
But I fear opting for Arendt’s party is cheating, especially since I’m asking you to answer this question for yourself. To answer this question it’s imperative not to overthink it; I reserve the right to change my list from day to day. But at this moment, around my own table, I’d love to gather Jane Austen, of course. I have endless questions for the Brontë sisters, but because seats are at a premium I’d invite Charlotte. (Will is reading Jane Eyre right this very minute so her work is top of mind.) I want to hear more about Octavia Butler’s writing life (and time in the kitchen, and what she thinks of her posthumous bestseller status). Editor Genevieve West whet my appetite to know Zora Neale Hurston better with her excellent introduction to Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Rennaisance. And—for the one author whose attendance is actually in the realm of possibility—I’d invite contemporary British writer Maggie O’Farrell to join us.
Now it’s your turn to answer: if you could invite five people, past or present, to a dinner party, who would you invite? Don’t overthink it, and don’t sweat it if only three names come to mind, or you can’t limit yourself to fewer than ten! We’re just interested in hearing who you’d gather around your table, if you could.
101 comments
My favorite books are written by a male authors and I’d invite them all: Michael Cunningham, John Irving, the late Pat Conroy. No one else – that would be enough.
James Lee Burke, Anthony Horowitz, Louise Erdrich, Gabrielle Zevin, J. K. Rowling, and SOO many others!
Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, (those two for the serious/literary side) Dani Shapiro, Liz Gilbert, (those two for the memoir and crazy fun factor) and you of course. And you could bring a +1, which would need to be Ariel. Can you imagine how fun that would be?
Gosh, it’s a tough question! I’d love to dine with Malcolm Gladwell, Amor Towles, Kazuo Ishiguro, Madeline L’Engle, and L.M. Montgomery.
Definitely David Sedaris! I just had the pleasure of hearing him read and speak in Asheville and he was a delight!
Laura Morelli would be an excellent dinner guest with talk of art and Italy.
Louise Penny is an attractive lady and writer, and I love her Three Pines novels and characters.
David McCullough could fill an evening with all kinds of interesting and exciting topics.
I’d have a table of 12 counting me and enjoy interacting with all of them as well as observing their interaction with each other
Off the top of my head: Jane Austen, Bill Bryson, Amor Towles, Monica Wood and Tom Hanks (in his author persona!)
My first pick would be Louise Penny. I love the way she brings her characters to life and she seems very “down to earth” so I think she would be great to share a conversation. I would also like to dine with George R.R. Martin (could we get him to hurry up?), J. K. Rowling, and William Kent Krueger. I’ve heard Mr. Krueger speak and he has such a calm, relaxing manner – he would be easy to talk to!
I have actually had dinner with William Kent Krueger and his wonderful wife Diane. They are both friendly, interesting and genuinely nice people!
So hard to choose!
I’m thinking Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Tayari Jones, and Daphne du Maurier.
Can I come?! Love this party!!
Absolutely! The more the merrier..
C.S. Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Madeline L’Engle, and Michael Ondaatje. I know that’s 6, but what excellent conversation might ensue!
Zora Neale Hurston tops my list and I would also invite Alice Hoffman, CS Lewis, Agatha Christie and Angie Cruz. Angie and Zora would be my spice. CS Lewis would be my bread of life. And Agatha and Alice would be stopping over the next morning for tea and discussion as they would help me understand what went down the night before.
I also love your party!!
I’m gonna go a little rogue- not all authors.
The Obamas, Mark Twain( because I would love a humerous take on our country today), Peyton Manning( so I don’t have to provide entertainment) and Judy Collins( always has wise, gracious and kind commentary at her concerts). If Michelle could sit on Barack’s lap ( or vice versa) I would add Tom Hanks😉
I love this!
Haha!! So good!!
Ruth Rendell, Louise Penny, Laurie R King, Amor Towels, Anthony Doer, PD James, Charlie Lovett, David Baldacci, Becky Chambers. That list took five minutes and I could go on…Lindsey Faye, Michael Connelly, Daniel Silva, Will Thomas then there’s Elizabeth Acevedo, James McBride, Elsa Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Isabel Wilkerson. I believe in abundance!!!
What a fun question! Today, my 5 writers would be Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood and…..Carl Hiaasen….because a little levity is a very good thing.
I see I am not alone in choosing Louise Penny, and Agatha Christie, then I would add the brilliant Lisa Scottoline and that would be perfect!
My favs…
Jane Austen
Beverly Cleary
Willa Cather
Samuel Clemens
Rick Bragg
…and so many more!
Oh, Rick Bragg! He’s a good one.
Sean Dietrich, too.
Amor Towles. LM Montgomery. Taylor Jenkins Reid. William Kent Krueger. Barbara Brown Taylor. The Apostle Paul (I have several questions for him!). Richard Osman. Richard Rohr. Beth Moore. Emily Giffin.
That’s TWO dinner parties. 😉
Love this question – Top of my list would be Anita Shreve, I am still saddened that I won’t be reading any more books from her. I own all of them and just loved reading them. Of course, there’s too many to list but I’m super introverted so my dinner party would have to be with authors I feel I would be comfortable with so they would be: Helen Hoang, Abby Jimenez, Elle Cosimano, Christina Lauren (I know this is two people, cheating a bit), Daphne du Maurier, LM Montgomery, Jonathan Kellerman, Khaled Hosseini, Gabrielle Zevin.
First choice is Pat Conroy, along with Candice Millard, Kristen Hannah, Will Roger’s and Isabel Allende. What a good time that would be.
Ted Chiang, David Sedaris, Pat Conroy, Tim Cotton, Daniel Silva, Bill Bryson, Madeleine L’Engle, Mary Stewart, Octavia Butler, Penelope Lively, Wendy Sherman.
Very eclectic and interesting crowd and I’d have questions for each one.
Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett and Emily St. John Mandel. Elizabeth and Ann could keep us grounded while we traveled to Dystopiaville with Emily.
Frederick Buechner
Madeleine L’Engle
Louisa May Alcott
Barbara Kingsolver
Anne Bogel
Glad someone thought of Anne. 🙂
Ray Bradbury, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, JK Rowling, and WH Auden
This is a very interesting question! I think my choices would be: Robyn Carr, Mary Higgins Clark, Michelle Obama, Drew Barrymore, and Elizabeth Acevedo. I love the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr and would love to hear more about her process and her two adorable pups! Mary Higgins Clark got me started reading again as an adult out of college and mysteries have always been my comfort reads. Michelle Obama because she is a fascinating yet real person (at least I feel that way after reading Becoming). Drew Barrymore rekindled by love of memoir plus she is someone I’d like to hang out with. And Elizabeth Acevedo made poetry approachable for me which had never happened before. This group of strong and talented women would be a delight to spend an evening with!
Alexander McCall Smith
Rick Bragg
Fredrick Backman
Louise Penny
Peter Mayle
John Lewis! His approach to nonviolent resistance and making change from the inside is something that I aspire to. Also Jon Meacham–he has so many great stories! Harper Lee too, and Tony Hillerman.
Abraham Lincoln, Henri Nouwen, Harriett Tubman, Jane Austen and C.S.Lewis- love all of these people and would love to pick there brains about their lives. I would wear my most comfortable lounge wear set since I plan on being there for a very long time!
I’d love to be an uninvited guest at any of these parties! Mine (also double-breaking the 5 limit):
Roald Dahl, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Judy Blume, JRR Tolkien, James Baldwin, and David Sedaris (hoping for a drop-in of Erma Bombeck and Maya Angelou who’d be together and in the neighborhood)
The ladies I’d love to have for tea: Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy, Dorothea Benton Frank, Lisa Samson, and Anne Tyler. I love a character driven book and quirky characters are a plus. I think these ladies would make for lots of lively conversation and laughter. For the dinner party it would be Harper Lee, Wendell Berry, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Temple Grandin and Lauren Hillenbrand (for her interviewing skills and tying it all together. We’d probably know and understand the reclusive Harper better by the end of the evening!) Oh, the topics that could be touched on around this dinner table!
Temple Grandin!! Fantastic choice!
I would enjoy sitting down with Michelle Obama, Kate Quinn, Jane Harper, Louise Penny and Jacqueline Winspear.
Love your list!
Joyce Maynard
Anne Lamott
Lionel Shriver
Chris Bohjalian
Jon Katz
Kate Atkinson, Stephen King, L Frank Baum, CS Lewis and Jennifer Egan. And Diana Gabaldon. And James Herriott. And Louisa May Alcott. 🤓
Ooooh, that is a VERY good list!
I love this question! I’d have to go with Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Mary Karr, Stephen King, and Malcolm Gladwell. All curious authors who write about writing.
Fredrik Backman
Charles Dickens
Stephen King
Adam Hamilton
F Scott Fitzgerald
When I lived in Baltimore, my former boss and his wife were good friends with Anne Tyler, and often dined with her and her late husband. I was VERY envious, so of course I have to say Anne Tyler, along with Linda Holmes, Kelsey McKinney (author of “God Bless the Girls” as well as host of the excellent podcast “Normal Gossip”), Jasmine Guillory, and Deanna Raybourn. That would be a fun evening!
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Michelle Obama, Charlotte Bronte, Becky Chambers,TJ Klune and Charles Dickens.
LOVE this list!
Since I’m Canadian I’m going to pick all Canadian writers but I’m going to leave Louise Penny out because she’ll be so busy attending all the other dinner parties I don’t think I’d get a chance to schedule her.
Margaret Atwood would be my first pick because she is so interesting
I would seat her beside the great nature writer Trevor Herriot and I know they would have lots to talk about.
Another of my favourite fiction writers is Frances Itani and she would be able to discuss the Japanese internment during WWII with another of my picks, David Suzuki.
And because we are living on treaty land I would want to include indigenous writer and very funny guy Tomson Highway.
All of these are still alive but quite a few (including myself) are getting up in years so I’d want to have this dinner party soon while we still can.
Lovely!!!!
Amor Towles
Ann Patchett
Fredrik Backman
J.K. Rowling
Jane Austen
Mark Twain, always and always.
JRR Tolkien, b/c dude, he invented not only a new world but a new LANGUAGE in that world!!!
George RR Martin, b/c I want to know how inspired he was by the English Wars of the Roses to create his world in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.
An historian/novelist, such as Alison Weir, to help me make sense of my questions for the above gentlemen.
Deborah Harkness, the author of the “All Souls’ Trilogy”,” b/c I love the trilogy and I’d want to see Twain’s reaction to a professor of “the history of science (especially alchemy)” (which Harkness is).
Love this list!!
I’ll help with the dishes and listen thru the door!
Oh my goodness…so hard to decide. But bypassing the overthinking temptation, I’m going to go with Louisa May Alcott, Jan Karon, Louise Penny, and – yes, of course – Tom Hanks!
Stieg Larsson (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo)
Gillian Flynn (is she really as twisted as her books make me think she is? )
Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians)
Beverly Cleary (Ramona)
Fredrik Backman (Beartown)
I literally just went through my ‘read’ books on Goodreads for some but some just popped into my head. What a fun question to consider!
My table sits 8 people and I will take advantage of that! I am one and the other seven are Homer,Plato,Nikos Kazantzakis,Mo Hayder,Alex Michaelides,Jo Nesbo,Elisabetta Dami.
I love this!
Mary Oliver, Anne Lamott, RBG, Madeleine L’engle, Margaret Atwood, Anne Bogel and C.S Lewis
I would be much to nervous to talk about their books so I would like to have Abby Jimenez and her pups. We can talk dogs!
Michael Ondaatje, Emily St. John Mandel, Donna Tartt, Cormac McCarthy, Barbara Kingsolver, Anna Quindlen, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce – if the latter two were alive.
Nora Ephron she would have us all laughing Amor Towles I have a huge crush on him Jhane Barnes his command of the English language is breathtaking Ann Patchett I would want her as a true loyal friend and Fredrick Backman his inventive mind would keep the conservation going. That’s five quick ones but I think I would have to have a month of dinner parties. Oh I forgot Pat Conroy my most favorite southern author
Only one comes to mind and that’s Ariel Lawhon! I think we would be great friends.
I would have to go with the Southern Gothic group: Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Harper Lee, William Faulkner, and Truman Capote.
YESSSSSS!!!!!!
Be sure to have your bar stocked! 😉
Jane Austen – period appropriate dress of course, P D James – jeans and a smart blouse, Fred Rodgers – a dress with a cardigan of course. 😉
Laurie Colwin who would choose our meal, Elena Ferrante whoever she is, Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny, Patti Smith, and, as someone else said the Apostle Paul (I, too, have questions.). Oh, and Anne Frank to say thank you for your words, your courage, and the lessons we still learn from you.
I know you said author…. I would love to have dinner with the editor
Maxwell Perkins.
I think I’d have to say Georgette Heyer (three generations of my family loved her books), L.M Montgomery (gotta love Anne!), Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock!), C.S. Lewis (Narnia!) and A A Milne (Winnie the Pooh!) for the classic authors. Although Beatrix Potter, Michael Bond, Oscar Wilde, Louisa May Alcott and Frances Hodgson Burnett are all tempting too. For modern authors, I’d probably say; Kelly Oram, Dee Henderson, Emily Henry, Francine Rivers and Sariah Wilson. If I had to pick just five though overall then it’d probably have to be Kelly Oram, Dee Henderson, Georgette Heyer, L.M Montgomery and Arthur Conan Doyle, although I’ll admit to it being a close run battle between Conan Doyle and Lewis for the fifth spot at the table (I think Conan Doyle might win as a physician because of my interest in medicine).
Trina Schart Hyman (illustrator and writer), Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain), Phillipa Pearce (Tom’s Midnight Garden), Madeleine L’Engle, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien.
Sybil Marshall, Liz Byrski, Alexander McCall Smith, C S Lewis, Tracy Chevalier.
Reading these comments was so much fun! I’d invite Jan Karon, Fannie Flagg, Diana Gabaldon, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Rachel Joyce. Sure to be a lovely party with amazing conversation!
I would invite Pat Conroy, Joan Chittister, Louise Penny, Victor Hugo, Rumer Godden, Rosamunde Pilcher, and David Whyte. That would cover my dinners for a week. Some would require a séance – and that would just add that much more to the allure.
What fun!
Margaret Mitchell
Francine Rivers
Karen Kingsbury
Matthew McCaunehey (sp?)
Apostle Paul
Terry Pratchett, Anne Patchett, Anna Quindlen, Elizabeth George, and Anne Lamott.
I’ve loved books by all of these authors, but I also feel that they would be warm, wonderful people to share a meal with.
Anne Tyler would be my pick!
Isabel Allende
Lisa Genova
Colleen McCullough, Louis L’Amour, Frank Herbert, Rex Stout
Maybe not all at the *same* dinner party
Jrr Tolkien, CS Lewis, Alexander Dumond, Georgette Hayer, Agatha David McCoullah, Moses, Paul and Peter, Brandon Sanderson, Jane Austen. Though I think I’d need to have them spaced out so I’m not completely overwhelmed!!
Anne Tyler
Fredrik Backman
J Ryan Stradel
Wendell Berry
Beverly Cleary
Louise Penny, Joan Didion, Ann Patchett, Dani Shapiro, Simone de Beauvoir
All amazing women!
Fredrick Backman, Stephen King, David Sedaris, Harper Lee, Anne Lamott — four living and one gone. If I can add one more, Mark Twain please!
I’ve always wanted to meet Mark Twain! But also Laura Ingalls Wilder and O.E. Rolvaag. I would round it out with Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.
If I could only pick one, I’d say Kate Morton! But there are so many others! Sarah Blake, Lisa Barr, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Taylor Jenkins Reid, J. Courtney Sullivan, Patti Callahan Henry, Maggie Shipstead………
Louise Penny
Jenny Lawson
Madeleine L’Engle
Jane Austen
RBG
Stephen King, Sue Grafton, Marian Keyes, Maeve Binchy, Elizabeth Jane Howard, R.F. Delderfield.
I thought about this all night, and can’t narrow it down to five or even ten, so how about this? I will come to anyone else’s dinner party to help with the behind the scenes in the kitchen, setting up, serving, clearing dishes, serving coffee and dessert (I might sit sown with you all for this part 😉 ), and cleaning up and doing dishes. Then I can still overhear great conversations, say hi, and be helpful without having to choose authors for myself!
Wendell Berry
Janice Holt Giles
Dani Shapiro
Barbara Taylor Brown
Patti Callahan
Recent Day of the Dead festivities combined with Anne’s question (and her link to article on “How to Nurture a Personal Library” with link to Italo Calvino essay “Why read the Classics”) lead to my dreaming of an afterlife where authors continue to write and can observe and comment on life on earth AND (perhaps their idea of heaven) have relaxed conversations with their own favorite authors. Off the top of my head list of five dinner guests was Fernando Gaitan, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and J.K. Rowling, all multi-lingual, with combined knowledge of English, Latin and related languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese) could communicate and understand others who love reading and words. All are interested in entertainment and performance/acting, one reason I’d opt to be “fly on the wall” and let dinner party be hosted by actor & screenwriter couple with Latin American cultural background (so menu would include savory dishes perhaps new but intriguing for some of the British guests–and host’s “famous” lemon drop margaritas…) Wikipedia entry for Gabriel Garcia Marquez cites book of essays POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, LOVERS on noted Spanglish writer of novel in which “characters debate the importance of Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende during a heated dinner party scene”–but my idea of a sort of literary Shangri-La (see novel LOST HORIZON) would be more fun!
My dinner guests would be Jen Hatmaker, Richard A. Swenson, Aggie Hurst, Ian Crone Morgan, Courtney Carver, Francine Rivers, Anne Bogel, and Emily P. Freeman – 2 of them because they wrote books that I could.not.put.down, and the others because they wrote books that challenged me to be a better me.
The authors that quickly came to mind are Louise Penny, Jayne Ann Krentz, Maeve Binchy, Sue Grafton, and Fredrik Backman.
I would invite Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich, NK Jemison, Octavia Butler, and movie director and author John Sayles. What an interesting evening we would have!
Walter Mosley
Louise Erdrich
Toni Morrison
Victor Hugo
Emily Dickinson
Colson Whitehead
Oh my gosh! What a fun idea! Popping instantly to mind are Daphne DuMaurier, Jan Karon, G. K. Chesterton, Diana Gabaldon, and Agatha Christie. Maybe a bonus place for Amanda Dykes? But there are so many more!
OK 2 separate parties here.
First, the literary serious party: Jane Austen, Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Charlotte Bronte, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Second, the genre fiction party: Julie Ann Long, Fonda Lee, V.E Schwab, Emily Henry, Emily St. John Mandel
Brennan Manning – The Ragamuffin Gospel
Agatha Christie since she’s my favorite author. Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker – they would be very entertaining. Ian Fleming because he would have great stories to tell. And George RR Martin, just because he seems like a cool guy.
Jason Reynolds
T.J. Klune
David Sedaris
Jane Austen
Zora Neale Hurston
Agatha Christie, Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller and Rhys Bowen
JANE AUSTEN EDITH WHARTON HENRY JAMES F.SCOTT FITZGERALD and for a kick favorite romance writer MARY BALOGH.
My table can seat six, so here’s my guest list:
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Beverly Cleary
C.S. Lewis
Carol Ryrie Brink (Caddie Woodlawn)
Marguerite Henry
Jean Little
Whew, difficult to only choose six!😅