Catherine Blyth

 

Catherine Blyth grew up in Northamptonshire, and studied languages with the idea that one day she’d run away and be able to talk to anyone, anywhere. However she liked reading novels too much and settled for studying English. She has worked as a gossip columnist (which taught her that enjoyable conversation and scoops don’t mix), interviewer (and discovered that even the god of mirth Eddie Izzard isn’t funny at 6 a.m., New York time), and briefly as a publicist (her ardour flared and swiftly died as she watched my Naked Russian poets waggle their bits at Big Ben, before performing a shamanistic goat chant in a radio studio). She moved into publishing, then writing full-time.

She has written articles for The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, New Statesman and Mail on Sunday, and written scripts for the BBC and Channel 5. Her first book, The Art of Conversation, is published by John Murray in the UK in November and Gotham Penguin in the United States in the New Year, and will be translated into five languages. A rallying cry for this neglected yet vital pleasure, it offers a guided tour of the secrets and surprises, as well as tips for doing better.