Fanfare

Fanfare Unplugged, Feat. The Awkward Fictional Dinner Party Awards

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 08:05:09 GMT

For our final episode of season three, we have tossed out the script. By (possibly soon to be regretted) popular request, it’s just us, Monica and Emma, chit-chatting. We share our favourite fictional dinner parties of all time, our thoughts on how social media has changed the dinner party, tips for hosting the Emilies, and so much more. Pull up a chair, won’t you?

Show Notes:

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com! F, don’t H B! (You’ll know what we mean soon.)

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV | Emma Knight @emmalknight

Thank you so much for listening! See you in season four.

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Ana Girardot Brings Alice Guy to Dinner

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 08:30:58 GMT

French actress and director Ana Girardot has brought the mother of French cinema, pioneering early 20th century filmmaker Alice Guy, to dinner. Alice qui??? You might well be asking yourself. And to that we answer: precisely. Alice Guy was all but erased from the history of cinema until recent years, when a handful of biographers and documentarians have done some digging, and shown the world that some of the first narrative films in the history of cinema were written, directed, and produced by a woman. QUOI?? But why have we never heard of her? Why were her contributions to this art form buried for a century? Well…that’s the story of today’s podcast. And who better to enlighten us than one of the brightest stars of contemporary French cinema, actress and director, Ana Girardot. Queue up a case of champagne and a Lipp-style feast, don as many or as few layers as you please, and join us in toasting an inspiring female visionary.

Show Notes:

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV | Emma Knight @emmalknight

Ana Girardot @girardotana

The podcast we mention: “Alice Guy,” featuring her biographer, author and historian Janelle Dietrick on Ephemeral from iHeartPodcasts

The Alice Guy short films we mention, available on YouTube:

“La Fée Aux Choux” or “Midwife, First Class” or “Midwife to the Upper Class” (!!), 1902

“The Consequences of Feminism” (we think this is a mistranslation – it should be “The Results of Feminism”), 1906

“The Race for the Sausage,” 1907

Some of the many recent films and articles correcting the record:

“Overlooked No More: Alice Guy Blaché, the World’s First Female Filmmaker” by Manohla Dargis in The New York Times

“Alice Guy-Blaché, Cinema’s First Woman Director in Newspapers,” A 2022 post on The Library of Congress Blog by Amber Paranick

“Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché,” TVO Docs, directed by Pamela B. Green

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Molly Johnson Brings Billie Holiday to Dinner

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 11:30:55 GMT

In this episode we are joined by Molly Johnson, one of Canada’s most celebrated jazz vocalists, and her imaginary dinner guest, Billie Holiday. Born Elinore Harris in Philadelphia in 1915, Billie Holiday – a name she later chose for herself – rose from a very difficult childhood in Baltimore and then New York City to become one of the greatest and most influential jazz and blues singers of all time. Nicknamed “Lady Day,” Holiday was a key and very influential early voice in the civil rights movement, refusing to stop singing the song Strange Fruit, even under immense pressure and at significant risk to herself and her career. Molly Johnson, who grew up in Toronto with parents who were devoted civil rights activists and members of Toronto’s musical and artistic scene, is an alum of Canada’s National Ballet School, and beyond her musical career which has spanned multiple genres, she is a mother, a philanthropist, the founder of the Kensington Jazz Festival, and a recent laureate of Canada’s Governor General’s Lifetime Artistic Achievement award as well as France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres, both awarded this year. You’ll want to stay until the wee hours for this one, and if you do, a friend peanut butter and jelly sandwich might just make its way into your hands.

Show Notes:

Listen to our Dinner with Billie Holiday playlist on Spotify

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV | Emma Knight @emmalknight

Molly Johnson’s website, Instagram @mollyjohnsonmusic, + Twitter @themollyjohnson

The NPR Through-line episode we mention: The United States Versus Billie Holiday

The BBC documentary: Billie: In Search of Billie Holiday

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Bethan Holt Brings Queen Elizabeth II to Dinner

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 09:00:16 GMT

It has been a season of mysteries wrapped in riddles, and the subject of this episode is the crowning (crowned) jewel of private/public enigmas: Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Our real-life guest is Bethan Holt, Fashion Director for The Telegraph and author of The Queen: 70 years of Majestic Style. Queen Elizabeth II, who took the throne at only 25 and went on to have the longest verified reign of any female head of state in history, was famous for what she did not say–and sometimes, she communicated through her clothes. An acid green suit here, a Burberry headscarf there…what was she trying to tell us? And what, for goodness sake, was in that royal handbag? Bethan has a pretty good idea. Whilst decrypting sartorial messages and helping us understand the nuances of diplomatic dressing for a female monarch who covered such a long period of history, she helps us plan a cozy TV dinner at Balmoral Castle involving large quantities of chocolate biscuit cake. (Plus-fours optional.) So, be you a monarchist, a disloyal subject, a monarchy-curious non-subject, an outright critic… etcetera… welcome. Pull up a priceless piece of furniture, and let us fix you a gin and Dubonnet.

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Listen to our Dinner with QE2 Playlist on Spotify

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Bethan Holt @bethanholt

Bethan’s book, The Queen: 70 years of Majestic Style, the second edition of which was released in November 2022

Bethan is Fashion Director at The Telegraph. Here are some of her articles.

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Laurel Pantin Brings Dolly Parton to Dinner

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 08:59:42 GMT

Good golly, Miss Dolly is coming for dinner! Texas-born Los Angeles-based fashion editor (and brand consultant, stylist, and writer) Laurel Pantin might be hiding under the table caressing a sheep, so nervous is she about meeting the legendary Parton — whom she has admired since childhood for her ability to put the Sunday sunset feeling into songs, for her carefully maintained independence, and for a sense of style that proves she has the courage to remain unashamedly herself (among other reasons) — but with our collective six children under six present, and with a spread that involves six kinds of potatoes, we are confident she will wrangle her Wranglers and get in on things. Dolly Parton, Queen of the Appalachians, author of over 3,000 songs, philanthropist, unifier of a divided America, arguable feminist by deed if not by label, and overturner of stereotypes of all kinds, we are ready for you.

Show Notes:

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com!

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Laurel Pantin @laurelpantin

Earl Earl | Laurel Pantin Substack

Your Mom | Laurel Pantin Substack

Dolly Parton’s America | The amazing podcast we reference several times From Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee @ WYNC Studios

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Barnaby Thompson Invites Noel Coward to Dinner

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 12:35:30 GMT

In this episode, British film producer and director Barnaby Thompson (who produced both Wayne’s World and Spice World, among 30+ other films) brings “the quintessential Englishman” and one of the twentieth century’s most famous wits, Sir Noël Coward, to a breezy (and piquant, we hope) imaginary dinner in Jamaica, where Coward spent a large portion of his later life. Cho cho and snapper escovitch are on the menu, but so are baked beans and bangers and mash (although we’ll spare you the unsuccessful cold soup Coward apparently made for the Queen Mother on one of her visits to Blue Harbour, Coward’s Jamaican residence). Barnaby Thompson’s latest film is Mad About the Boy – The Noël Coward Story, which is currently in cinemas in the UK and Ireland. The documentary “digs into the contradictions underpinning the life and work of one of the most prolific and versatile talents of the 20th century,” according to The Guardian, and is “a fascinating portrait of the man, and of an era – a time in which a wildly successful entertainer had to be wary of wearing a polo neck sweater in public, for fear of inadvertently outing himself.” Fix yourself a stiff gin martini (“Anyone can write books, but it takes an artist to make a dry martini that’s dry enough” says one of Coward’s characters), don your crispest summer suit or slip into a Molyneux gown, and join us as we delve into the exterior and interior worlds of the generation-defining playwright, actor, songwriter, and entertainer.

Show Notes:

Barnaby Thompson's IMBD

Watch Mad About the Boy (or, even better, in select theatres now!)

Listen to our Dinner with Noel Coward playlist!

Monica AinleyDLV on Instagram

Emma Knight on Instagram

The Guardian’s review of the doc

BBC Audio’s The Noël Coward Collection on Audible

“Tour de Gall,” A.A. Gill on L’Ami Louis

Molyneux gowns, exhibit A

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

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Rosh Mahtani Brings Dante Alighieri to Dinner

Fri, 26 May 2023 12:43:08 GMT

Rosh Mahtani, the founder of Alighieri Jewelry, began carving one piece of jewellery based on each canto of Dante’s Divine Comedy in 2014. Nine years later, she is a multi-platinum bijoutière based in London, and fans the world over are wearing a piece of poetry around their necks or in their ears. In this episode, Rosh, who spent her early childhood in Zambia and later studied French and Italian at Oxford, brings her 14th century Florentine muse to dinner. As you have probably already divined, it’s a hot ticket. Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and exiled from his native city at the turn of the 14th century, never to return in his lifetime. This dinner party is a homecoming on the banks of the Arno, and all are welcome. Don your red cloak and join us.

Show Notes:

Rosh Mahtani @roshmahtani

Alighieri Jewellery @alighieri_jewellery, www.alighieri.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Email us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Listen to our Dinner with Dante Playlist on Spotify

We mention this article by Jill Lepore: “The Data Delusion,” from The New Yorker, March 27, 2023

The Italian Rêve blog

Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the Eataly version

Ribollita (did Emma call it ribollata at one point? Dio mio.)

We mention a certain Sézane red cloak… see Monica’s Instagram for evidence!

The Alighieri pieces we mention:

Infernal Storm Earrings

Link of Wanderlust Necklace

Dante and the Lion Necklace

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Oliver Gee Brings Bob Dylan to Dinner

Thu, 11 May 2023 19:00:34 GMT

In our Fanfare Season 3 opener, Paris-based podcaster and author Oliver Gee, the creator of The Earful Tower, bravely invites Bob Dylan to dinner. The prospect had us trembling in our boots (of Spanish leather) at first, not only because we love Dylan’s music and are not at all sure that we’ll manage to play it as cool as he always does–even in our imaginations!–but also because there is an entire world of Dylanologists out there, puzzling until their puzzlers are sore over this enigmatic giant of American music. Born Robert Zimmerman in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1941, Dylan is, as former U.S. President Barack Obama put it, “still chasing that sound.” In this episode, we put on our thinking caps and wayfarers and reflect on the man, the masks, and most of all, the music.

Show Notes:

Check out Oliver Gee’s The Earful Tower! Listen here.

Oliver Gee @theearfultower

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Listen to our Dinner with Bob Dylan playlist

We mention this great podcast: Is It Rolling Bob? Talking Dylan with Lucas Hare and Kerry Shale

We mention the New Yorker editor David Remnick, who has written a few pieces about Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 2016

Patti Smith performing “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” when she accepts the prize on Bob Dylan’s behalf

President Obama awarding Bob Dylan the Medal of Freedom in 2012

The Clinton Heylin biography we mention: The Double Life of Bob Dylan

Cauliflower Tacos with Cashew Crema recipe via Bon Appetit

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Margaret Atwood Invites Joan of Arc for Dinner Bonus Episode

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:00:36 GMT

In this very special bonus episode, one of our dream dinner guests, Margaret Atwood, invites Saint Joan of Arc to dinner. A multi-award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer, critical essayist, graphic novelist, teacher, and environmental advocate, Margaret Atwood is the author of over 50 books published in more than 45 countries. Her most recent books include the aptly titled (for this dinner party) essay collection Burning Questions (2022), the poetry collection Dearly (2020), and The Testaments (2019), her Booker Prize-winning (she has won two of them!) sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). Margaret Atwood’s imaginary dinner guest is both “a tough cookie” and another powerful female visionary (quite literally): Saint Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was born in Domrémy, France in 1412, and raised on a farm. As a teenager, following visions that she said she received from God, she led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans in 1429 during the Hundred Years' War, escorted Charles VII to his coronation in Reims, and was later tried for heresy at the behest of the English and burned at the stake at age 19. She was eventually canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1920. We talk about the role cross-dressing played in Joan’s death, the subtleties of medieval cuisine, whether witches are real, and whether these days boys really do have it harder than girls. There are digressions involving lusty, disappointed peacocks, 3D-printed cookies, and Joan of Arc canned beans. Fasten your houppelande and join us!

Find Margaret Atwood on Twitter @MargaretAtwood, on her (free!) SubStack newsletter In the Writing Burrow, and on Instagram @therealmargaretatwood

Find her books and more at http://margaretatwood.ca/

Learn more about and support Equality Now at equalitynow.org

The books we mention in the interview:

Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Katherine J. Chen

The God of the Witches by Margaret Alice Murray

New book about Julian of Norwich: For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Learn more about and support Equality Now at equalitynow.org

See you soon for season 3!

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A Dinner Party for Peggy Guggenheim with Creative Director Alex Eagle

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 10:15:45 GMT

For our last episode of season two, we are packing a picnic of bellinis, spritzes, and fritto misto and taking a time-travelling gondola from New York at the turn of the 20th century to Paris in the ‘20s, London in the ‘30s, New York in the ‘40s, and Venice in the ‘50s with Creative Director Alex Eagle and her guest, Peggy Guggenheim. An art collector, champion (and lover) of surrealist and modern artists, courageous rescuer of priceless works, and open-book memoirist, Peggy Guggenheim defied expectations at every turn, and helped to shape “modern art” as we know it. She always kept colourful company–including Fanfare favourite Marcel Duchamp, onetime lover Samuel Beckett, Jackson Pollock (whose career she helped to establish), and pretty much any other twentieth century modern art luminary you can name–and from her Schiapparelli cellophane dress to her mismatched Alexander Calder/Yves Tanguy earrings, she knew how to make a statement. This rollicking audio mood board of a dinner party starts at Alex’s London loft and makes its way to Venice, home of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, for some late-night tiramisu.

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Alex Eagle @eagletta

Dinner with Peggy Guggenheim Playlist by DJ Monique DLV

Peggy photos by Man Ray

Peggy in the Schiaparelli Cellophane Dress

Fact check: Wikipedia says she inherited US$2.5 million, equivalent to US$39.1 million in 2021, which is quite a bit higher than we said.

Her memoir: Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim

The biography: Peggy Guggenheim, The Shock of the Modern by Francine Prose

The documentary: Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (2015)

Our Venice caterer: Rosa Salva

Venetian Spritz via NYT Cooking

Fritto Misto via Bon Appetit

Vitello Tonnato via Cook Eat World

Tiramisu by Chef Dennis

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Dinner for Mozart with Alexander Neef, Director of the Paris Opera

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 10:20:34 GMT

Find yourself a velvet cape and an ornate set of binoculars, because for this episode’s imaginary dinner party, Alexander Neef, the Director of the Paris Opera and a recent recipient of one of France’s highest artistic honours, has summoned the supremely creative and surprisingly hilarious spirit of music’s original starboy: Wolfgang Amadeus (there are other names but we will spare you) Mozart. Born in 1756 in Salzburg, Mozart composed over 800 works spanning virtually every genre of his time before his untimely death at 35 (!). He was considered a prodigy from childhood, playing the harpsichord magnificently at the ripe old age of 4, writing his first song at age 5, and performing for royals around Europe (to great acclaim and many majestic hugs and kisses) by age 6. His teacher, throughout childhood, was his father Leopold, who was, by all accounts, the ultimate showbiz dad. Bring your magic flute (no recorders allowed; sorry) and join us for a musical feast.

Show Notes:

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Alexander Neef @aneef_opera

Casual Dinner with Mozart Playlist by The Queen of the Knight

The biography we mention: Mozart: The Reign of Love by Jan Swafford

A deep dive (too deep?) into Mozart and scatology

Did Mozart *love* liver with dumplings? Did he not?! An exploration.

The schnitzel of which I speak is from Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinsphan and you can find the recipe here (ignore the sandwich and slaw parts; to be served with egg noodles for Mozart).

When you’re next in Toronto and in the mood for dessert: Go to Nadège and Roselle

All this cake is making me thirsty! → Drinkgreenhouse.com Use promo code: FANFARE25 for 25% off on your first order. (If you’re in Toronto + area, use the same code for 25% off of the whole menu at Greenhouse.ca.)

Thank you! See you in two weeks.

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Dinner in Space with Colonel Chris Hadfield

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 03:00:28 GMT

Today on Fanfare we are joined by one of the world’s most accomplished astronauts, Colonel Chris Hadfield, to host an imaginary dinner party in SPACE complete with theme, strict dress code, a chocolate wall, and some pretty astonishing views. It’s a good time to learn to eat without a plate (or gravity), because earlier this week, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission reached the moon with the most powerful space rocket in history. While the Orion capsule was unmanned, if we want to be aboard the next one, we’d better start training. Hadfield has spent a total of 166 days in space (we counted), beginning in 1995 when he first left Earth aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. On his second mission in 2001, he became the first Canadian ever to float freely in space, and in December 2012 he left the planet a third time and spent about five months as Commander of the International Space Station. From the ISS, he documented life in space for those of us on this planet, and recorded an entire album from up there, including his famous and moving rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity. On top of being a fighter pilot, engineer, astronaut, musician, and professor, Hadfield has written several books, including a bestselling memoir, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (2013), a children’s book, and a cold war moon mission thriller, the Apollo Murders (2021). Pack yourself a (literal) capsule wardrobe and join us–this episode is a blast.

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Col. Chris Hadfield on Twitter @Cmdr_Hadfield

Spacey tracks by DJ Monique: Dinner in Space with Chris Hadfield Playlist on Spotify

Chris Hadfield’s books:

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (2013)

The Darkest Dark (2018), a children’s books Emma’s kids love

The Apollo Murders (2021)

Greenhouse rocket fuel!

Drinkgreenhouse.com

Use promo code: FANFARE25 for 25% off on your first order!

If you’re in Toronto + area, use the same code for 25% off of the whole menu at Greenhouse.ca

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Dinner for Eve Babitz in LA with Journalist Alessandra Codinha

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 21:00:28 GMT

Eve Babitz, who immortalized L.A.’s louche ‘60s and ‘70s in books like Eve’s Hollywood and Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time, has been described as “the original artsy ‘it’ girl” (in LA Magazsine), as a “groupie-adventuress” (by herself, repeatedly) as a “dowager groupie” (scathingly, by Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunn), and as “L.A.’s secret genius” (by the writer who is arguably responsible for her late-life renaissance, Lili Anolik, of Once Upon a Time at Bennington College fame). But who was she?? In this episode, L.A.-based writer and editor Alessandra Codhina helps us understand why Eve Babitz has been adopted as an unlikely feminist hero by Gen Z and Millennial it girls, what it is about Los Angeles that makes east coasters so hot under the collar, and whether the city of angels is, in fact, a “wasteland” (spoiler: it is not).

Show Notes

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Katharine Fish, HiddenLight Productions

Dinner with Eve Babitz Playlist on Spotify

Books:

By Eve Babitz:

Eve’s Hollywood (1974)

Slow Days, Fast Company (1977)

Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time (1979)

L.A. Woman (1982)

Black Swans: Stories (1993)

Hollywood’s Eve (2019) by Lili Anolik

Articles:

“1970s Literary ‘It’ Girl Eve Babitz Is Having a Renaissance—at 76 by Merle Ginsberg” in LA Magazine

“My Favorite Year: In Los Angeles with Eve Babitz in 1971” by Dan Wakefield in LA Review of Books

“Joan Didion and Eve Babitz Shared an Unlikely, Uneasy Friendship—One That Shaped Their Worlds and Work Forever” by Lili Anolik for Vanity Fair

Extra Extras:

Someone found the Taquito Place!!

Eve Babitz’s Guide to LA, Curbed Los Angeles

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An Imaginary Dinner Party for Katharine Hepburn with FIlm Development Exec Katharine Fish

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 07:00:52 GMT

If your tastes run to Great Kates, you’ll want to listen in on this fictive feast. Katharine Hepburn, icon of the Fashion, Feminist, and Film varieties, has been summoned by Katharine Fish, Development Executive at Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s production company, HiddenLight, to help us understand how a strong-minded, highly-schooled, in-charge sort of woman––a wearer of pantsuits!–born in 1907 managed to go from “box office poison” in the late ‘30s to Hollywood gold until her death in 2003. Alongside our theories, we’ll be serving up American Sportswear at its best, lovingly dissected classic movies, Hollywood gossip, and waffles, as well as brownies from Hepburn’s own recipe. Katharine II is a close friend, so you can also expect Monica’s university hairstyles to come up. Trousers are optional, as always, but for this episode, a nice roomy pair might be just the ticket.

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Katharine Fish, HiddenLight Productions

Dinner with Katharine Hepburn Playlist on Spotify

Movies in Order of Mention:

Woman of the Year (1942)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

The Philadelphia Story (1940, originally a play by Philip Barry)

The African Queen (1951)

Adam’s Rib (1949)

Books We Mention:

Deborah Levy’s Living Autobiography trilogy: Things I Don’t Want to Know, The Cost of Living, Real Estate

Fashion Inspo:

Very Casual in a Chair

Tennis Lewk

Best Look Book Ever

Dick Cavett Interview (1973)

Food Inspo:

And/or pancakes <—this recipe from Mark Bittman at NYTimes is similar to the one I make most often, but —> Lemon Ricotta Pancakes this one from Bon Appétit (Rick Martinez) is incredible if you are feeling fancy. So fluffy. I don’t usually bother with the blueberry-lemon compote and put the lemon juice and zest in the pancake batter instead, but to each her own!).

Half a cantoloupe, à la Adam’s Rib (/as they do in France!)

Soft-boiled eggs (boil water, gently lower eggs in, turn off burner but put lid back on pot, let stand for 3-4 min, then run under cold water and serve in an egg cup) with toast soldiers (buttered toast cut into slivers for dipping).

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An Imaginary Dinner Party for Kazuo Ishiguro with Author Jessamine Chan

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 02:00:44 GMT

Motherhood, you’ve been on our minds, to misquote Bob Dylan… so it’s only fitting that in this week’s episode Monica and Emma are joined by Jessamine Chan, the author of the New York Times Bestselling début novel The School for Good Mothers (2022). Together we cook up a not-at-all-dystopian (believe it or not) imaginary dinner party for one of our literary heroes, Kazuo Ishiguro. The 2017 Nobel Laureate for Literature (there will be champagne), Sir Ishiguro’s brilliant and wide-ranging oeuvre includes The Remains of the Day (1989, winner of the Booker Prize), Never Let Me Go (2005), and most recently, Klara and the Sun (2021). From Chicago (Jessamine), Paris (Monica), and Toronto (Emma), we plan a Notting Hill soirée that, if not quite up to Darlington Hall standards, will certainly end on a memorable note.

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Jessamine Chan @jessamine.chan

Dinner with Ishiguro playlist on Spotify by DJ Monica DLV

Books we mention:

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

The oeuvre of Kazuo Ishiguro, including The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Movies we mention:

The Remains of the Day (1993), a Merchant Ivory Production, costumes (crucially) designed by Jenny Beavan and John Bright

Never Let Me Go (2010), directed by Mark Romanek, costumes by Rachel Fleming and Steven Noble

What’s cooking:

Emma’s Scottish Oatcakes recipe is in The Greenhouse Cookbook and sadly not on the inter webs, but here’s another from Healthy Little Foodies

Ditto Emma’s miso-glazed eggplant recipe (nasu dengaku), but here is a similar one from Pickled Plum

Hasselback butternut squash with maple and Fresno chilies via Bon Appetit

Gomae, aka blanched spinach with toasted sesame seeds and sesame dressing from Just One Cookbook

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Live from Paris: Lauren Collins Brings Edith Wharton for Dinner

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 02:00:36 GMT

No one panic, but do frost the grapes on your hat because a somewhat exacting guest by the name of Pussy Jones – A.K.A. Edith Wharton – is coming to dinner. Summoned by Lauren Collins, the author of When in French: Love in a Second Language and a staff writer for The New Yorker, Edith Wharton is coming all the way from the Gilded Age – so the least Emma could do was meet Monica and Lauren in Paris for a live recording near Wharton’s apartment on Rue Varenne. The New York “aristocrat” and author of The House of Mirth (1905), The Age of Innocence (1920, for which she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer for Literature in 1921), Wharton pulled no punches in her chronicling of her country’s fin-de-siècle elites. She moved to France in 1907 and stayed until her death in 1937; so it’s only fitting that this is where we will host a fantastical dinner party in her honour, complete with cold champagne, burning questions, and a certain amount of hilarity.

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Lauren Collins @laurenzcollins

Lauren is the author of When in French: Love in a Second Language and a staff writer for The New Yorker

Dinner with Edith Wharton playlist on Spotify by DJ Monica DLV

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An Imaginary Dinner Party for Werner Herzog with Filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 19:00:34 GMT

Aaand we’re back for a shiny new season of fantasy dinner parties, dress codes, recipes and cultural icons – in-person and imaginary. To kick off Season Two, we are joined by filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri, the Italian-born, London-based writer and director of the conversation-starting 2021 drama Wolf, starring Lily-Rose Depp. Nathalie’s imaginary dinner guest is none other than the great Werner Herzog in all his dead-pan, anti-capitalist, prolific filmmaking glory. There may or may not be boiled shoes on the menu.

Show Notes:

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Nathalie Biancheri @natbiancheri | IMDb

MOVIES:

Wolf (2021), written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri

Watch it on Prime Video

Watch the trailer

Premiered @ TIFF

Watch Nathalie and Lily-Rose Depp talking about Wolf

Nocturnal (2019), Nathalie’s first feature

Werner Herzog’s Movies (!!)

We mostly talk about:

Grizzly Man (2005)

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Into the Abyss (2011)

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Short 1980) by Les Blank

THE ORIGINS PODCAST INTERVIEW W/ WERNER HERZOG:

Werner Herzog The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss

BOOKS:

Conquest of the Useless: Reflections on the Making of Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog

FOOD:

Spaghetti Carbonara NYTimes Cooking by Ian Fisher

“Because America may have contributed to its creation, carbonara is Exhibit A in the back-and-forth between Italy and the United States when it comes to food.” Noted!!

How to cook a chicken on the BBQ by Dan Mikesell

SHORT STORY:

For Esmé with Love and Squalor by J.D. Salinger

PLAYLIST:

Listen here

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Bonus Episode An Imaginary Dinner Party with Joan Didion Featuring Special Guest Ellie Pithers

Thu, 05 May 2022 02:00:27 GMT

We missed you! And so we have hosted a surprise imaginary dinner party to tide us over until we meet again for season two. In this episode we sit down in a crumbling Hollywood mansion with essayist, journalist, author, playwright, and all-around cool customer Joan Didion to talk migraines, disguises, self respect, reporting on one’s own grief, John Wayne, and much else. Joining us for the whole Corvette ride, from parsley chopping through to a final bourbon, is British Vogue Contributing Editor, digital consultant, friend, and fellow Didion enthusiast Ellie Pithers. Pack your almonds and notebooks and come on over!

Thanks for listening! Send us your thoughts, feelings, reactions and ideas: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com

Our Dinner with Joan Didion playlist is here.

Mentioned reading & watching:

"On Self Respect" first published in Vogue, 1961.

"Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem 1967.

"John Wayne: A Love Song" by Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem 1967.

"In Bed" by Joan Didion, The White Album 1979.

"The Autumn of Joan Didion" by Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, January/ February 2012.

"The Elitist Allure of Joan Didion" by Meghan Daum, The Atlantic, September 2015.

Follow:

@ElliePithers on Instagram

& Read her writing here.

If you loved the episode, don't forget to rate & review!

See you next time!

M&E

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An Imaginary Dinner Party with Leonard Cohen Featuring Special Guest Denise Donlon

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 16:45:46 GMT

He’s been our man for some time (well, one of them), so it only made sense that for our season finale, we would dream up an imaginary dinner party for Leonard Cohen. With a Montreal-and-Hydra inspired menu and some rags, feathers, and pinstripes (maybe a Famous Blue Raincoat, why not), we plan a soirée that you won’t want to miss. We have the honour and pleasure of sitting down for a glass of Chateau Latour and a hot banana pepper with Denise Donlon, a friend and colleague of the late Cohen’s. As a host, producer, and record executive, including in her role as former President of Sony Music Canada, the author of Fearless as Possible (Under the Circumstances) worked closely with Leonard over many years. If all goes well, and with Denise’s help, we’ll stay up talking all night, and the famously thoughtful Leonard will make us a plate of scrambled eggs in the morning...

Show notes:

Leonard Cohen playlist

Henry Ainley Wikipedia

I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, by Sylvie Simmons (The biography Emma mentions repeatedly and quotes from)

The BBC Interview we mention

Leonard Cohen nicknames

Former Vogue UK Editor in Chief Alexandra Shulman on Leonard Cohen: Suzanne was the Ideal of the Age

Pinstripe suits (the Italian brand Monica mentions): Giuliva Heritage

Htipiti (roasted red pepper + feta dip) recipe

Cooking with Akis Petretzikis

Denise Donlon’s memoir, Fearless as Possible (Under the Circumstances)

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love — documentary

Thank you so much for listening, friends. We’d love to hear from you: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.

Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Bentley-Viney.

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Trending: A Makeover Story + An Interview w/ Trend Forecaster Iza Dezon

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:00:50 GMT

Episode Description: In this episode, it’s Emma’s turn to get schooled… about fashion. First, a survey of Monica’s industry friends yields many creative answers to the question, “What are you going to wear in 2022?” Next, Monica provides Emma, who has been in lockdown since 1900 or so, with a simple, durable formula for applying actual clothing (and not just to the top half of oneself, Zoom style) and liking it. Then, all the way from São Paulo, Brazil, we are joined by Iza Dezon, a specialist in forecasting trends, who shares her top three macro trends for 2022 and tells us what they mean for a changing fashion industry AND for those of us who are really just trying to remember to wear bottoms. (Spoiler alert: We may not have to.)

Show Notes:

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Iza Dezon @izadezon, @dezon____ ®

Shows and articles we mention (and where we think you can find them, as of writing):

Monica’s fashion tips + fave brands:

Bourienne shirts

Uniqlo shirts

Goldsign denim

AGOLDE denim, sister brand

Vintage websites:

Vestiaire Collective

Resee

Imparfaite Paris

Our guest, Trend Forecaster Iza Dezon joining us from São Paulo:

Iza Dezon

DEZON

Stella McCartney on the cover of Wired UK

OSKLEN Brazilian green luxury brand

Zendaya wet look

Fortnight Lingerie

Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Bentley-Viney.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Food Episode: Live from Cafe Pimpin in Paris + Stush in the Bush in Jamaica

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 07:00:35 GMT

In this episode, Monica calls on Emma and some food industry friends in France and Jamaica to help her figure out what tack to take in the eating department this year. While plant-led recipes are obviously the ordre du jour for both planetary and dietary reasons, dreaming them up can sometimes feel daunting. Conveniently, Emma has had not one but two cookbooks published in the last few years, and is on hand with an easy breakfast smoothie recipe that will please grown-ups and kiddies alike. Then, your trusty hosts venture into the field to gather more ingestible intel. Monica, to Cafe Pimpin, a favourite modern all-day cafe and eatery in Paris, and Emma, to Stush in the Bush, atop a breezy hill in Jamaica, to get the scoop from their respective chefs. Pencils at the ready! Easy recipes, culinary inspiration and approachable food philosophies abound.

Cafe Pimpin, Paris 17th & 18th arrondissements

Instagram: @cafepimpin

Stush in the Bush, Freehill, Jamaica

Instagram: @stushinthebush

The Greenhouse Cookbook by Emma Knight, Hana James, Deeva Green & Lee Reitelman

How to Eat With One Hand by Emma Knight and Christine Flynn

Some plant-based dinner recipes:

Cauliflower Crust Pizza via Greenhouse

Mac, Cheese + Kale via Greenhouse

Pumpkin Ravioli via Greenhouse

Coconut Curry on Brown Rice Noodles via Greenhouse

Grilled Asparagus and Kale Salad with Chimichurri via you guessed it!

Vegan Ricotta à la Stush in the Bush

Cashew Ricotta via Minimalist Baker

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Is This the Golden Age of Television?

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:59:45 GMT

Are we living in the Golden Age of television? Or are we just addicted to the binge? In this episode, an Omi-bliterated Monica and a toddler-addled Emma make it their New Year’s resolution to watch more television (manageable goals, people!). We call upon Hannah J Davies, a critic and culture writer for The Guardian, to be our TV guide. Hannah takes us on a tour of the infinite content available on streaming platforms, and brings an inside lens to our burning questions about television today. We discuss the curiously compelling antiheroes of Billions and Succession, the just-in-time cultural catharsis provided by shows like The White Lotus, the record-breaking steam train that is Bridgerton, the Seinfeld Factor™, and the one-too-many-Oreos feeling brought on by the 2000s Revival. Please don your ugliest pyjama pants, the ones that are turning grey and have lost all elasticity, and join us on the couch.

Show Notes:

Golden Age of TV? Spotify Playlist by DJ Monica DLV

Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com!

Let’s hang out on the Internet (it’s not like we’re going anywhere IRL!):

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Hannah J Davies on Twitter @hannahjdavies

Shows and articles we mention (and where we think you can find them, as of writing):

Billions (SHOWTIME, Prime)

Succession (HBO Max, Prime)

The White Lotus (HBO Max, Netflix)

Bridgerton (Netflix)

Go, Dog. Go! (Netflix)

The Grinch in question (Apple)

The Squid Game (Netflix)

Lupin (Netflix)

Seinfeld (Netflix)

“Emily in Paris” and the Rise of Ambient TV by Kyle Chayka via The New Yorker

‘Why do I want to write about these awful, rich, evil people?’: the making of Succession by Hannah J Davies via The Guardian

And Just Like That (HBO Max)

Podcast about “There’s Something About Miriam” → Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera Written by Agnes Borinsky and hosted by Trace Lysette via Wondery

The Crown (Netflix)

Hanna’s Top 3 Shows of 2021:

It’s A Sin (Prime)
The White Lotus (HBO Max, Netflix)
Succession (HBO Max, Prime)

Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Viney-Bentley. See you in two weeks!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(North) Americans in Paris: An Interview with Adam Gopnik

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 03:00:37 GMT

Ernest Hemingway first arrived in Paris in December of 1921. One hundred years later, Emily in Paris is back for another season. Why, chers amis, do we continue to be captivated by stories of Americans in Paris? To get to the bottom of this question, Monica and Emma enlist the help of one of our favourite writers (about Paris and in general): the author and essayist Adam Gopnik. A New Yorker staff writer since 1986, Gopnik moved with his wife and infant son from New York to Paris in 1995 and began filing real-life French dispatches under the New Yorker’s then-editor Tina Brown. Select essays from the “Paris Journal,” as the dispatches were known in the magazine, became his book Paris to the Moon (2000), which one might argue was responsible for rekindling North Americans’ infatuation with Paris for a new generation. In this interview with Gopnik, we seek to understand why it is that, as Oscar Wilde once put it, “when good Americans die, they go to Paris.”

Thank you for listening! Send us your thoughts, feelings, reactions in an email or voice note: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.

(North) Americans in Paris playlist by D.J. Monicuddles

Books, authors, etc. in order of mention:

Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik

At the Strangers' Gate by Adam Gopnik

Through the Children’s Gate by Adam Gopnik

Leaving Paris by Tigran Hamasyan

A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism by Adam Gopnik

“Why Don’t the French Celebrate Lafayette?” by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker

The Garden of Eden, a posthumously published novel by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada by Bruce McCall

“Is There a Crisis in French Cooking?” and “Couture Shock” by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker (also in Paris to the Moon)

Molière: The Complete Richard Wilbur Translations

Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Viney-Bentley.

C’est tout! Thank you for rating + reviewing + recycling + subscribing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hot Fiction for Cold Nights

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 03:00:46 GMT

Disclaimer: You may want to plug in your earphones for this one–it’s a bit spicy. In our second episode, Emma and Monica attempt to defrost the long, cold nights of winter with a conversation about sex in fiction. After a spirited game of two truths and a lie, we discuss our bedside reads of the year, from Sally Rooney’s new take on steamy millennial malaise in Beautiful World, Where Are You to Tia Williams’s Seven Nights in June, by way of Bridget Jones, Anne Boleyn, Jane Eyre, Jilly Cooper, Emma’s mom Colleen Flood, and more (see notes below). We talk about how books that *go there* have enlightened and entertained us over the years, read out some passages we love, and argue in favour of reading across the brows.

Thank you for listening! Send us your thoughts, feelings, reactions in an email or voice note: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.

Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Hot tracks for cold nights playlist by D.J. Monicuddles

Books, authors, etc. in order of mention:

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Female Spanish thriller writer Carmen Mola revealed to be three men (Three not four!)

James Joyce’s Love Letters to His “Dirty Little F***bird” by Nadja Spiegelman in The Paris Review

Middlemarch by George Elliot (Emma’s fanfic as yet unwritten)

Breath by James Nestor

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney (+ screen adaptation!)

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Emma’s early education in “Chick Lit” (said with love): Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, Marian Keyes, Meg Cabot

Judy Blume!! Where would the world be without her!?

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Hilary Mantel Trilogy: Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror and the Light

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

Allan Gurganus

Authors of Fiction Confront a Problem: How to Write About Sex by Sarah Lyall for NYTimes

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë + 2011* film adaptation (*not 2016! Another fact check) directed by Cary Fukunaga

Bridgerton written by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes

The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill

Emma’s mom, Colleen Flood, author of Bonding with Gravity

Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Bentley-Viney.

C’est tout! Thank you for rating + reviewing + recycling + subscribing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An Imaginary Dinner Party with Nora Ephron Featuring Special Guest Pandora Sykes

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 03:00:19 GMT

In our inaugural episode, we host an imaginary dinner party complete with menu and wardrobe for someone whose work we have been fanning out over since we were mere children in safari shorts and sweater vests: the journalist/writer/director/New York wit extraordinaire, Nora Ephron. Emma plans the menu, Monica plans the fashion, and special guest and fellow superfan Pandora Sykes arrives in time for pie. Trust us, even if you’ve never seen When Harry Met Sally or You’ve Got Mail, you won’t feel like a wallflower at this Nora Ephron fan orgy.*

*You’ll have to listen to see why we are talking about orgies.

Thank you for coming! Send us your thoughts, feelings, asterices, and addenda in an email or voice note: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.

Socialize with us:

Monica Ainley de La Villardière @monicaainleyDLV

Emma Knight @emmalknight

Zachary Kolomeir @thebusboy

Pandora Sykes @pandorasykes

Play(list) with us:

Ode to Nora Ephron Playlist on Spotify by DJ Monicuddles DLV

Cook with us, aka the Fare of the Fans:

Pommes Dauphine by Guy Savoy via NYTimes Cooking (similar to Zach’s wondrous instructions but w/ some measurements etc.)

Nora Ephron’s Mashed Potatoes for One from The Cut (in case you’re not in a choux pastry kind of mood)

Boeuf Bourguignon by Julia Child tweaked by Karina of Cafe Delites (don’t throw that pan at us! She saves you some washing-up)

Mushroom Bourguignon by Melissa Clark via NYTimes Cooking (an umami plant-forward alternative that’s just as comforting)

Nora Ephron’s Vinaigrette via Food and Wine (or just remember the magic formula: 2-2-6)

Nora Ephron’s Recipe for Curing Infidelity aka Key Lime Pie via People (!)

Raw, Vegan Key Lime Cups by Tara Tomulka via the Greenhouse blog six years ago (!!)

Watch with us:

Everything Is Copy by Jacob Bernstein, the source of most of Emma’s (fact-check pending) know-it-all assertions

You’ve Got Mail

When Harry Met Sally

Sleepless in Seattle

Julie & Julia

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Trailer

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 16:24:40 GMT

Fanfare is a fortnightly culture review podcast with fashion journalist Monica Ainley de La Villardière and cookbook author and Greenhouse co-founder Emma Knight. In every episode we discuss the books, movies, shows, and etceteras that are inspiring us, troubling us, or just getting us talking.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fanfare

Fanfare Unplugged, Feat. The Awkward Fictional Dinner Party Awards

Ana Girardot Brings Alice Guy to Dinner

Molly Johnson Brings Billie Holiday to Dinner

Bethan Holt Brings Queen Elizabeth II to Dinner

Laurel Pantin Brings Dolly Parton to Dinner

Barnaby Thompson Invites Noel Coward to Dinner

Rosh Mahtani Brings Dante Alighieri to Dinner

Oliver Gee Brings Bob Dylan to Dinner

Margaret Atwood Invites Joan of Arc for Dinner *Bonus Episode*

A Dinner Party for Peggy Guggenheim with Creative Director Alex Eagle

Dinner for Mozart with Alexander Neef, Director of the Paris Opera

Dinner in Space with Colonel Chris Hadfield

Dinner for Eve Babitz in LA with Journalist Alessandra Codinha

An Imaginary Dinner Party for Katharine Hepburn with FIlm Development Exec Katharine Fish

An Imaginary Dinner Party for Kazuo Ishiguro with Author Jessamine Chan

Live from Paris: Lauren Collins Brings Edith Wharton for Dinner

An Imaginary Dinner Party for Werner Herzog with Filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri

*Bonus Episode* An Imaginary Dinner Party with Joan Didion Featuring Special Guest Ellie Pithers

An Imaginary Dinner Party with Leonard Cohen Featuring Special Guest Denise Donlon

Trending: A Makeover Story + An Interview w/ Trend Forecaster Iza Dezon

The Food Episode: Live from Cafe Pimpin in Paris + Stush in the Bush in Jamaica

Is This the Golden Age of Television?

(North) Americans in Paris: An Interview with Adam Gopnik

Hot Fiction for Cold Nights

An Imaginary Dinner Party with Nora Ephron Featuring Special Guest Pandora Sykes

Trailer

Margaret Atwood Invites Joan of Arc for Dinner Bonus Episode

Bonus Episode An Imaginary Dinner Party with Joan Didion Featuring Special Guest Ellie Pithers