What better way to kick off December than with a little creative project? Some of you may remember that I posted a literary picnic idea a few months ago, and I thought it would be fun to resurrect the concept in a more Christmassy setting.
Picture the scene: it is Christmas Eve. The presents are wrapped and nestled beneath a splendid and tastefully decorated tree. You are sitting in front of a roaring fire in a comfortable armchair, watching the flames flickering as you look forward to supping on mulled wine, eating mince pies, and listening to the dazzling conversation around you.
Five authors are due to arrive any moment, and you are in charge of the guestlist. Who would you invite – no stipulations; the authors can be either dead or alive – to your festive soiree?
theliterarysisters 
Lovely idea! I would choose:
Dickens, because he invented the modern Christmas
Virginia Woolf, because I would love to sit in awe of her brilliant talk
Italo Calvino, because I’d love to discussed literary cleverness with him
Bulgakov and Mayakovsky, because I’d love to hear them sparring and it would really shake things up!
Mind you, ask me tomorrow and I’ll give you a completely different answer…. 🙂
Fabulous choices! I feel that Woolf would be inundated with such invitations!
I LOVE this idea, it’s wonderful!
I think I would invite…J.K. Rowling, even though I think I would just fangirl at her; C.S. Lewis, for pure childhood nostalgia; Anne Frank, I have so much love and admiration for her; John Green, he seems like pure fun to be with; Roald Dahl, another childhood favourite and all round excellent story teller.
What wonderful choices! I imagine you’d have some wonderful conversations.
Mark Twain!!!
Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain would have been fun together – although perhaps no one else would get a word in edgeways…
Jane Austen, Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker would have been a rather eclectic but inspiring mix. Oh, dear, have I gonve over the allotted number?
What wonderful choices! I think with things like this, we have to work by the rule of ‘the more, the merrier’, so theoretically invite away!
What a lovely idea ! So many to choose!!
Charles Dickins, Jane Austen , Phillipa Gregory , J k Rowling, Ronald Dahl 😁 I’d like harper Lee and Truman capote too 👍📖📖🎅🏼🎅🏼🎄🎄
Fabulous choices!
Nice idea … I’d like a more contemporary ladies night I think….Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Maggie O’Farrell, Jackie Kay, Alina Bronsky & wouldn’t Elena Ferrante be a coup!
What a wonderful party you would have!