William S. Burroughs
Isaiah Berlin
Oscar Wilde
Mary McCarthy
Dorothy Parker

Jane Austen
Sylvia Plath
Virginia Woolfe
Anne Bronte
Sue Townsend

Vonnegut
E.M. Forster
Dickens
Hemingway
Twain

I think this group would make for a fine evening's conversation:
Edith Wharton
Jane Austen
Mark Twain
Truman Capote
Hillary Mantel
Formerly Nothin_but_the_Rain

Robert A Heinlein
Issac Asimov
Alan Watts
Terry Prachett
Eknath Easwaran

Dorothy Parker
PD Wodehouse
CS Lewis
Homer
Bob Dylan

in no certain order:
Alfred Bester
Steven Pinker
Ambrose Bierce
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Edgar Allen Poe
we would drink from a "Cask of Amontillado"

I kinda feel like most writers - even my favourites - would be obnoxious insufferable beep
Wanted to just pick living ones but fúck, it's hard to restrict it
Margaret Atwood
Paul Auster
Thomas Lynch
Roddy Doyle
Joe Sacco (Do comic book writers count?)

Mark Twain - Why wouldn't you?
Ian Rankin - At least I could chat about music to him.
Iain Banks - Hoping he'd bring the whisky
Scarlett Thomas - So it's not a total sausage fest
Douglas Coupland - Try to convince him that I should be a character in his next geeky novel
Rusty chains and armoured pillows stuffed with silver pins

Herman Wouk
Daphne du Maurier
Michael Crichton
John Steinbeck
Shirley Jackson
Listen to themthe children of the night. What music they make!

Robert McCammon
Stephen King
J.K. Rowling
Ray Bradbury
J.R.R. Tolkien
Books are a uniquely portable magic.
~Stephen King

JRR Tolkien
Charles Dickens
Mario Puzo
HG Wells
HP Lovecraft
Slipknot and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan

Astrid Ehrencron-Kidde
Benito Perez Galdós
Hitomaro Kakinomoto
Orhan Pamuk
Maxwell Anderson
Anyone is welcome to comment on my list

Maya Angelou
Stephen King
L. Frank Baum
Judy Blume
Harper Lee
Don't
eva
let nobody tell you you ain't
strong enough

Roddy Doyle
Michael Crichton
Michael Connelly
Will Ferguson
Daniel Kalla
"Hogs have futures, I don't."
Dr. Johnny Fever

John Grisham
Stephen King
Louis L'Amour
James Ellroy
Brad Meltzer

Mailer with Gore Vidal would be a hoot.
You're my wife now.

but its a nice a idea for a thread. so i'll play along.
i would invite IRVINE WELSH and put him next to MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ so that WELSH who is supposed to be a punk would be humiliated when he drinks green tea and HOUELLEBECQ drinks wine. he might also feel awkward because HOUELLEBECQ writes novels that deals with issues that the likes of WELSH wouldnt dare discuss in his novels.
i would seat V.S.NAIPAUL next to ARUNDHATI ROY. i'm sure they'll get along because NAIPAUL has calmed down over the years and ROY did say that NAIPAUL is a barrel of laughs.
i would invite NORMAN MAILER as my drinking buddy. i'm sure he'll try to hit on ROY as he thinks society reduces males to masturbation.

i prefer one to one interactions.

Lorca - so I could ask him how he died.
Ben Traven - very interesting life and confusing death!
Brendan Behan - great (tall) story teller.
Shakespeare - I'd ask him if he really wrote all his plays. Make him take a lie detector test.
Bukowski - so I could watch Behan drink the jessie under the table!
You're my wife now.

So many I would like to meet, but how about this selection:
Shakespeare - I would also ask him to bring some proof, that he really did exist, to shut up those bloody conspiracy theorists forever.
Dorothy Parker - we would need someone who could make witty conversation
Mikhail Lermontov - I have always been a bit obsessed with this Russian poet. He had the perfect romantic life. He lived fast and died young.
Edgar Wallace - This man had such an adventurous life, he came from humblest beginnings and made it to a best-selling writer. Even though he was broke almost all the time, he loved to host lavish dinners inviting numerous folks. So, he was quite a generous guy, and someone who, Im sure, could tell some interesting stories (not only about the making of King Kong).
George Sand A fine, classy lady, admired by men and women alike, who led quite a tumultuous social life and was friends with many famous people of her time.
Hang on tightly, let go lightly

And please choose actual authors famous for writing. Not, say, Hitler.

Well no, in this fantasy situation you can select deceased authors.
And please choose actual authors famous for writing. Not, say, Hitler.