Calvin Trillin: The Lede

Join us for an in-person event with long-time New Yorker staff writer, Calvin Trillin, for the release of his new book The Lede: Dispatches From a Life in the Press. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

Can’t make the event? Purchase a signed copy of The Lede here. 

STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY:

Masks and vaccination checks are not required for entry.

Attendees are welcome to wear a mask if they choose. If you do not have a mask and would like one, The Strand will provide masks at the door.

Please note this is subject to change any time before or during the event per the author’s request.

ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by January 31st to request.

Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected]

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Calvin Trillin has reported serious pieces across America for The New Yorker, covered the civil rights movement in the South for Time, and written comic verse for The Nation. But one of his favorite subjects over the years has been his own professional environment: the American press. In The Lede: Dispatches From a Life in the Press, Trillin gathers his incisive, often hilarious writing on reporting, reporters, and the media world that is their orbit.  ‘I’ve been writing about the press almost as long as I’ve been in the game. At some point, it occurred to me that disparate pieces from various places in various styles amounted to a picture from multiple angles of what the press has been like over the years since I became a practitioner and an observer.’

“Best known as a veteran staff writer for the New Yorker, Trillin gathers columns, long-form pieces, and vignettes about the mechanics and practices of the American press and its subjects, yielded from his six decades in the profession, during which he also worked as a correspondent and columnist for outlets such as Time, the Nation, and Brill's Content…. Trillin’s pieces, which range appealingly, include a 1986 profile of the incomparable Miami Herald police reporter Edna Buchanan; an absorbing account of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance and M**der of a scion of a prominent family in Savannah, Georgia; an explanation of how Texas Monthly magazine selected the state's best BBQ joints in 2008; and a poem about Al Gore's weight gain. Much of this book is hilarious, and it seems impossible to suppress a grin even when reading essays about the most serious of subjects, particularly Trillin’s elegant tributes to fallen colleagues and friends like Molly Ivins, Russell Baker, and Morley Safer. The author saves his best for last: a piece about the commemorations of the Freedom Rides in the South in 1961, which he covered when Atlanta bureau chief for Time. Trillin’s writing about the various people who marked the anniversary is the author at his finest, mixing his wit, sharp observational powers and recall, reporting skills, and poignancy. This book should be savored by admirers, critics, and practitioners of journalism and journalists, as well as anyone who appreciates first-rate writing, humor, and engaging reporting. A brilliant compilation.” – (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Calvin Trillin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1963, when the magazine published “An Education in Georgia,” his account of the desegregation of the University of Georgia. He is the author of thirty books. His nonfiction includes About Alice, Remembering Denny, and Killings. His humor writing includes books of political verse, comic novels, books on eating, and the collection Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin.

Photo credit: Richard Stamelman

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway, New York, United States