Pittsburgh Cultural TrustGo to the home page

This event is a Core Conversation at the 2018 Pittsburgh Humanities Festival. See the full Core Conversation lineup here.

Anthony DeCurtis is the author of Lou Reed: A Life, and he and David Shumway will discuss the life and work of rock music icon Lou Reed.

Anthony DeCurtis is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where his work has appeared for more than thirty years. He holds a PhD in American literature from Indiana University and is a Distinguished Lecturer in the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. His latest biography, Lou Reed: A Life was published in October of 2017. DeCurtis has also published In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work, and Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters. He is the editor of Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture and coeditor of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll and The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd edition). He occasionally writes for The New York Times and many other publications. His essay accompanying the Eric Clapton box set ""Crossroads"" won a GRAMMY Award in the ""Best Album Notes"" category.

David Shumway is Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He researches and teaches in American culture and cultural theory. Shumway's special interests are in American culture include film, popular music, and late nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction. His most recent book is Rock Star: The Making of Cultural Icons from Elvis to Springsteen.

A production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and The Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University.