Olly Rowe writes about friendship, hosting and the increasingly lost art of spending time together.
Convivial is Olly’s weekly newsletter about the art of getting people together. Through personal essays and practical ideas, it makes the case for spending more time around the table.
CONVIVIAL
ABOUT
Olly Rowe has spent most of his adult life bringing people together.
Long before he began writing about hospitality, he was the friend who hosted the dinners, planned the weekends away and grabbed every excuse for a knees-up. Over years of cooking for friends, he became fascinated by the social mechanics of conviviality: what makes people relax, connect and unwind — and what makes getting together feel unnecessarily difficult.
In 2026, he launched Convivial, a weekly newsletter exploring friendship, hospitality and the pleasures of gathering around the table. His writing has also appeared in The Brighton Beat Magazine.
He lives in a small, damp Cotswolds village with his husband, Peter, and no dogs.
RECENT WORK
THE BRIGHTON BEAT MAGAZINE
A feature exploring the psychology of hosting — why having people over can feel harder than it should, and what helps us relax around the table.
For commissions and enquiries: ollyjrowe@gmail.com