David Downie

David Downie

David Downie Biography & Books

Speaker Biography:

A native San Franciscan, David Downie lived in New York City, Providence, Rome and Milan before moving to Paris in the mid-1980s. He divides his time between France and Italy. His travel, food and arts features have appeared in over 50 leading print publications worldwide.

Downie’s latest book is A PASSION FOR PARIS: Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light (Spring 2015, St. Martin’s Press), a lively literary romp through Paris from the Romantic Age to the present. Among Downie’s many other nonfiction books are the classic critically acclaimed collection of travel essays PARIS, PARIS: Journey into the City of Light, and the bestselling PARIS TO THE PYRENEES: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James. An authority on Italian and French food and wine Downie has authored half a dozen works on these topics, including COOKING THE ROMAN WAY: Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks of Rome, and three award-winning volumes of Terroir Guide/Food Wine travel-food-and-wine books. He is also the author of two thrillers including PARIS CITY OF NIGHT. Downie’s Paris Timeline and Food Wine Rome travel apps are available from iTunes.

A frequent speaker about Paris, France, Rome and the Italian Riviera, Downie is co-owner with his wife Alison Harris of Paris, Paris Tours which offers custom walking tours of Paris, Burgundy, Rome and the Italian Riviera.

(author photograph by Alison Harris, (c) 2014)

Further Reading:

David Downie's Wikipedia page

Reviews:

PARIS, PARIS is beautifully written and refreshingly original…Curious and attentive to detail, Downie is appreciative yet unflinching in describing his adopted home…makes us see [Paris] in a different light

-San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

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The delightful and insightful essays in PARIS, PARIS meld history, atmosphere and observations on Paris places, Paris people and Paris phenomena.

-Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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PARIS, PARIS…gives fresh poetic insight into the city… a voyage into ‘the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors’ [of Paris].

-Departures

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Perhaps the most evocative American book about Paris since A Moveable Feast.

-Jan Morris

[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people. Residents will recognize a place they can vouch for and not the clichés so frequently conjured up to match the legends. Visitors and newcomers are bound to find Paris, Paris reliable company as they discover the city’s beauties and pleasures and its problems too.

-Mavis Gallant

Like the guide who leads us through The Hermitage and its history in Sokurov’s 'Russian Ark’, David Downie is the master of educated curiosity. With him we discover Paris, a seemingly public city that is, in fact, full of secrets—great lives, lives wasted on the bizarre; forgotten artisans; lost graves (lost till now); the ‘papillons nocturnes’; and the ‘poinçonneur des Lilas’. I have walked some of the city’s streets with him, and reading this book is just as tactile an experience.

-Michael Ondaatje

Compelling... PARIS, PARIS is a rapturous, history-rich love poem.

-Pauline Frommer for Toronto Star

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PARIS TO THE PYRENEES is an extraordinary account that illuminates France past and present and casts a light on something even greater: the truth that, however we choose to label our journey, we are all pilgrims on a common quest, to answer why we wander life’s question-paved path.

-Don George for National Geographic Traveler

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PARIS TO THE PYRENEES is an entertaining read… fabulous company!

-Jacki Lyden, NPR's All Things Considered

Books:

  • A PASSION FOR PARIS: Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light (St. Martin's Press), to be published in 2015
  • PARIS, PARIS: A Journey into the City of LIght (Broadway Books/Random House)
  • PARIS TO THE PYRENEES: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James (Pegasus Books)
  • COOKING THE ROMAN WAY: Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks of Rome (HarperCollins)
  • PARIS CITY OF NIGHT (thriller - Pegasus Books)
  • Three Terroir Food/Wine Guides: Food, Wine - The Italian Riviera & Genoa; Food Wine - Rome; and Food, Wine Burgundy (Little Bookroom)
  • ENCHANTED LUGURIA (Rizzoli)
  • QUIET CORNERS OF ROME (Little Bookroom)

Speaking Topics:

  • General topics: Paris, France, Burgundy, Rome, the Italian Riviera: history, culture, architecture, food and wine, travel, pilgrimage routes in Europe.
  • Specific to France: Romanticism and Romance in Paris; architecture and urban planning in Paris; the creation of the City of Light during the Second Empire in Paris; the Roman heritage in France; hidden/secret/quiet corners of Paris; The Way of Saint James pilgrimage route across France and into Spain (to Compostella).
  • Specific to Italy: Americans in Rome since the mid-1800s; hidden/secret/quiet corners of Rome; the history, art, architecture and culture of the Italian Riviera.
  • Food and wine: the history of wine and winemaking in France and Italy; the food and wine of Paris, Burgundy, Rome, and the Italian Riviera.

Speaking History:

  • Alliance Francaise USA - (nationwide tours, venues in Boston, Washington DC, SF Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, Chicago and others): many different topics, from the history of Paris to the art, architecture, urban planning and contemporary culture of the city; also topics related to the food and wine and history of the Burgundy region; and the Way of Saint James pilgrimage route, its history and traditions
  • The American Library in Paris (multiple engagements): same as above
  • The American Academy in Rome: the history of the food and wine of Rome
  • The Adrian Leeds Group (various venues in Paris, multiple engagements): Paris and Americans, Paris during the 19th century, Paris since the turn of the 20th century, life in Paris today
  • Jewish Cultural Center San Francisco: Paris and Americans, Paris during the 19th century, Paris since the turn of the 20th century
  • Book Passage Travel Writers Conference (Corte Madera, CA, multiple engagements): the art of travel in France and Italy
  • King County Library System (Washington state): the Way of Saint James pilgrimage route, its history and traditions
  • Marketbase - MC and speaker about American and French food and eating traditions
  • Left Coast Writers “Wandering in Paris”: Paris history, literature and American ex-pats in Paris (the seminar resulted in an award-winning anthology titled “Wandering in Paris”)
  • Spalding University (Louisville, KY): Americans in Paris, a two-day lecture and discovery experience for MFA writing and other Spalding students
  • The National Press Club - "The Cooking of Rome, Ancient and Modern"
  • Chicago Gourmets/Charlie Trotter - "The Food and Wine of France and Italy"