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Calvin Trillin began his career as a writer for Time magazine, and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963. For fifteen years Trillin wrote a series for The New Yorker called "U.S. Journal" — a 3,000-word article from somewhere in the United States, every three weeks. Since 1984, he has penned a series of longer narrative pieces under the heading "American Chronicles." He later became a columnist for The Nation, writing what USA Today called "simply the funniest regular column in journalism." That column became syndicated from 1986 through 1995. In 1996, he returned to Time magazine as a weekly columnist. To date the column has been collected in five books.
Born in Kansas City, MO, on December 5, 1935, Trillin received his BA, from Yale College in 1957. He served in the army, and then joined Time.
Among Trillin's many works are two comic novels, a collection of short stories, a travel book, an account of desegregation at The University of Georgia, family memoirs, and three antic books on eating: American Fried, Alice — Lets Eat and Third Helpings, which have been compiled into a single volume called The Tummy Trilogy. He lectures widely and has appeared often as a guest on such television programs as Good Morning America, The Today Show and Late Night with David Letterman. He has written and presented two one-man shows at the American Palace Theatre in New York — "Calvin Trillin's Uncle Sam," in 1988, and "Calvin Trillin's Words, No Music," in 1990. Both shows were critically acclaimed and played to sell-out crowds.
Trillin was married to writer Alice Stewart Trillin until her death in 2001. He published a book about her called About Alice, in 2006.
Last updated: December 15, 2008.
