After an almost five year hiatus, Dining With Strangers is back!
For the two or three people still reading this site (thanks mum and dad), I’m glad to restart the dinner interviews. The site launched in 2008, and I met many strangers for meals, writing 130 profiles. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, people suddenly weren’t keen on sharing a table with a random stranger, so I put the site on hold. Then life intervened in many different ways, and it was only last year that I was even able to consider more interviews.
And then my close friend, former roommate, Dining With Strangers editor and all-round great person John Curry died in April. He was this site’s biggest cheerleader. Ever since I paused it, he urged me to resume. And every time I would vaguely agree and change the subject. John, I’m sorry it took so long to keep my word. I miss you.
The first new interview — my 131st stranger — is something of a history lesson with an author. And given that John was an avid reader and could be a geek about certain subjects, I think he would have gotten a kick out of it.
While back in the UK to visit family over the holidays, I did a dinner interview in London with Jonn Elledge. He’s a British writer who recently released the book “A (Brief) History of the World in 47 Borders,” a collection of uniformly fascinating essays that offer a rough outline of world history through stories about borders. These compelling entries include discussion of the very first border, in Egypt, through to illuminating tales about how societies evolve and borders and boundaries fluctuate, not always for the better when it comes to peace and stability.
On a cold Friday night in late January, Jonn graciously took time to meet for dinner and to talk about the history of his book, the history of the world, his own history and more.