We are excited to announce an event with the bestselling French author Cécile Tlili, who’ll be visiting London to speak about her debut novel, Just a Little Dinner, a contemporary Parisian huis clos tale that takes the reader behind the shutters of the Seventh Arrondissement.

Shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Goncourt
‘Full of soul, with characters who are real, relatable and flawed.’ – The Times 

In tired, hot Paris at the end of August, two couples, who’d rather still be by the sea, meet for dinner in one of their apartments. Étienne, the host, needs something from Johar in order to save his career, but Johar has her own future to worry about. Her husband Rémi is finding it difficult to keep his own well-guarded secret and Claudia, Étienne’s partner, is stuck, facing the reality of her life and relationship, cooking curry in the sweltering kitchen.

With delicious detail and a perfectly pitched plot, and a cast of characters that both delight and repel, Tlili lays bare fractured relationships, bad behavior and desperation – and what starts as just a little dinner ends up having monumental consequences for everyone.

‘In the cinema and the theatre, feasts that descend into disaster are a distinctly French speciality. Cécile Tlili manages to reinvent this tradition with her very first novel.’ – Paris Match

Un simple dîner is Cécile Tlili’s debut novel. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, won the 2023 Prix Littéraire Gisèle Halimi for women’s writing, and is being published in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. It was translated into English by Katherine Gregor, a literary translator from Italian and French.

She will be interviewed by Jo Hamya, author of Three Rooms and The Hypocrite.

This event is presented with support from The Institut Français.

Ticket price includes a glass of wine or a soft drink.