Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on December 5, 1935, the son of Abe and Edyth Trillin.
Education and degrees: public schools of Kansas City; BA, Yale College, 1957. Honorary degrees: Beloit College, Albertus Magnus College.
Staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963. From 1967 to 1982, did 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, has done a series of longer narrative pieces under the heading "American Chronicles."
Syndicated columnist with King Features Syndicate since 1986. The column, "Uncivil Liberties," is distributed weekly to newspapers. From 1978 through 1985, "Uncivil Liberties" ran in The Nation every three weeks.
Before joining The New Yorker, served in the Army and worked for Time as a reporter in the South and as a writer in New York.
Contributor of a weekly comic verse to The Nation.
Books include: An Education in Georgia: Charlayne Hunter, Hamilton Holmes and the Integration of the University of Georgia (University of Georgia, 1964; an account of the experiences of the first two black undergraduates at the University of Georgia), Barnet Frummer is an Unbloomed Flower (Viking, 1969; short stories about trendiness in the sixties), U.S. Journal (Dutton, 1971; from the first three years of The New Yorker series), American Fried (Doubleday, 1974; subtitled "Adventures of a Happy Eater"), Runestruck (Little, Brown, 1977; a novel about a small town after the discovery of what could be a Viking artifact), Alice, Let's Eat (Random House, 1978; subtitled "Further Adventures of a Happy Eater"), Floater (Ticknor & Fields, 1980; a novel about working on a newsmagazine), Uncivil Liberties (Ticknor & Fields, 1982; columns from The Nation), Third Helpings (Ticknor & Fields, 1983; a sequel to American Fried and Alice, Let's Eat), Killings (Ticknor & Fields, 1984; New Yorker pieces on sudden death), With All Disrespect (Ticknor & Fields, 1985; more columns from The Nation), If You Can't Say Something Nice (Ticknor & Fields, 1987; columns, mostly syndicated), Travels With Alice (Ticknor & Fields, 1989; a book about traveling, mostly in Europe and the Caribbean), Enough's Enough (And Other Rules of Life) (Ticknor & Fields, 1990; columns from the King syndication), American Stories (Ticknor & Fields, 1991; nonfiction pieces from The New Yorker), Remembering Denny (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993; the true story of a golden boy's rise and fall), Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994; poems from The Nation, with rhymes that put Ogden Nash to shame); Tepper's Not Going Out, a novel (Random
House).
One-man shows: "Calvin Trillin's Uncle Sam," 1988; "Calvin Trillin's Words, No Music," 1990, both at American Place Theatre, New York City.
Married to Alice Stewart Trillin. Two daughters: Abigail and Sarah Stewart.
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