Deadline Distinguished

UC Irvine's annual Pereira Distinguished Lecture brings prominent writers to campus (last year, Susan The Orchid Thief Orlean) to deliver a free public talk and hang with undergrads in literary journalism. But don't let the "distinguished" discourage you. This year's guest is legendary Calvin Trillin, author of novels (including one about parking in Manhattan), short stories, nonfiction, food writing and memoirs. He's a staff writer for The New Yorker and, lately, The Nation magazine's "Deadline Poet," where he penned an ode to Dick Cheney's head and the instant classic "The Effect on His Campaign of the Release of George W. Bush's College Transcript": "Obliviously on he sails/With marks not quite as good as Quayle's." Pay attention, please: Trillin is the funniest, smartest, most honest chronicler of our brave, nutty republic you can sit and listen to on a Wednesday night in America.
Wed., April 30, 7 p.m., 2008