Monday, Jan. 16, the Key West Friends of the Library will present distinguished journalist and author Calvin Trillin as the first speaker of their annual lecture series. Lectures are at the Key West Theater, 512 Eaton St. and admission is free. The talks begin promptly at 6:00 p.m., but seating begins at 5:30 on a first come first serve basis.

Calvin Trillin began working at Time magazine in the early 1960s after studying at Yale and a stint in the army. Since 1963 he has been a frequent contributor to the The New Yorker.

His series of stories about the desegregation of the University of Georgia were later published in the book An Education in Georgia. His columns in “U.S. Journal” have resulted in two books – U.S. Journal and Killings. Trillin’s in-depth pieces to the magazine are under “American Chronicles.”

Trillin has published more than 20 books, among them Remembering Denny, Alice Let’s Eat, and About Alice.

His book Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2012. Trillin also writes a weekly poem for The Nation.

A Time magazine reporter once referred to Trillin as “part of that small, infuriating group of people who can write well about anything.” His articles are diverse, both serious and whimsical. They include politics, the cultural importance of Texas barbecue, itinerant chefs with unwanted followings, the effect of New York City water on buffalo mozzarella, and the tic-tac-toe playing chickens of Greenwich Village.

“What interests me is what you might call vernacular writing, writing that connects you to a place,” Trillin once told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

His two most recent books are Jackson, 1964: And Other Dispatches from Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America and No Fair! No Fair! And Other Jolly Poems of Childhood, a collaboration with the cartoonist Roz Chast.

Calvin Trillin’s appearance is made possible with the support of the Key West Literary Seminar.

For more information go to http://friendsofthekeywestlibrary.org and click on lecture series.