Olly Rowe writes about friendship, culture and the ways we spend time together.
Convivial is Olly’s weekly newsletter about the art of getting people together. Since launching in 2026, Convivial has grown to more than 4k subscribers, sparking hundreds of conversations with readers about what helps — and stops — us spending more time with our favourite people.
CONVIVIAL
ABOUT
Olly Rowe writes about people, places and culture. His preoccupation is how to build a social life that makes you happy.
His career has taken him through film, media and running his own agency. Through all of it, he has been interested in what makes people tick, and how we build better relationships.
In 2026, he launched Convivial, a weekly newsletter exploring friendship and hospitality. His essays draw on reader experiences, expert conversations and his own experiments in bringing people together.
He also writers a series on the psychology of hosting for The Brighton Beat Magazine.
Olly lives in a small, damp Cotswolds village with his husband, Peter, and no dogs.
RECENT WORK
Simple (and sometimes counter-intuitive) ideas for becoming a better host, gleaned from keeping a beady eye on how other people do it.
An essay about the fraught business of giving people our full attention in the age of phone addiction.
The Art of a Good Night In
A feature in The Brighton Beat Magazine on the psychology of hosting and why having people over can feel so daunting.
Print · May 2026 For commissions and enquiries: ollyjrowe@gmail.com