December 5: Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin, “Deadline Poet” for The Nation and one of America’s finest humorists and memoirists, was born on this date in 1935. Trillin has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963. His many books include An Education in Georgia, on racial integration; Barnett Frummer Is An Unbloomed Flower, a collection of short stories; About Alice, on his late wife, Alice Stewart, a writer and teacher who died in 2001; and Tepper Isn’t Going Out, a novel about parking on the streets of New York City. Trillin is also a well-known food writer.

“The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.” —Calvin Trillin