Got an interesting job, an odd hobby or a fascinating life story? Let me interview you about it over dinner.
Dining With Strangers is a long-running interview series I started back in late 2008. The premise is simple: I invite someone I’ve never met to share their story over a meal at a restaurant, bar, café or hot dog stand of their choosing, and then I write it up. I’ve been a journalist for more than 20 years, in newsrooms in the U.K. and U.S., and I love hearing other people’s tales. The Washington Post wrote about me a while back if you’d like the fuller story of how it started and what past guests made of it.
This year so far, I’ve eaten with a math teacher who reviews DMV restaurants on a scoring system only he fully understands (Mr. 8 That); a “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” actor who took four decades and a detour through an Australian sheep station to reach Hollywood (Pete Gardner); a Trenton kid who grew up around the mob and went on to write 8,000 songs, for Cher and for “Stayin’ Alive” (Tom Marolda); and a British political “battleaxe” who survived a 1990s scandal and, at 76, couldn’t be happier out of the spotlight (Christine Hamilton).
The full guest list runs to more than 140 people – Jane Lynch, Kate Flannery, the Swiss ambassador to the U.S., acclaimed New Orleans chef Frank Brigtsen, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, D.C. journalism legend Eleanor Clift, plus charity workers, artists, politicians and plenty of people you’ve never heard of.
I’m based in Washington, D.C. but happy to interview anyone, anywhere in the U.S. or overseas, depending on my travel plans. Reach out wherever you live, or check my upcoming travels to see if I’m heading your way.