the past 40 years. topics range from the economy to politics and the media. this is about 40 minutes. >> tonight i'm thrilled to be welcoming the dashing and legendary calvin trillin on the occasion of his new book, "quite enough of calvin trillin" 40 years of funny stuff. galvin has been a good friend to the strand. he has been a guest speaker here before. is also frequently seen cruising our stats. contrary to the title of this featured book we can never get enough of calvin trillin. ..

his works of nonfiction include one struck loader, templars and going out and american stories. his books of birth include oblivious sales, which is the bush administration and brown, a heckuva job, which is more of the bush administration in rhyme. calvin has written and performed two inches at the american place theatre in new york city. and "quite enough of calvin trillin" coming addresses subjects including the horror of what this scene we do economics ceremony, the collection features poems about sir paley, john edwards, bill clinton and chris christie. frankly i think it's hard to

beat dole with material like that. tonight's format, calvin will talk and then we will open up the mic for questions from you. if you don't mind i'll pass on to mic if you don't mind standing up because we have a really big audience who everyone can hear. and then, calvin will stick around and sign copies of his book. please spoke on me and joining one of america's great humorous, "quite enough of calvin trillin: forty years of funny stuff." [applause] >> well, one thing i should say uction is nancyod asked me if there's anything special i wanted her to say and i said it would be nice to work the word dashing. let me explain that. it's nice to be a strand mc fred whom i've known for years. said nancy is a third-generation

of strand proprietor of note. this is the book of so-called humor and i'm sometimes asked, aren't you ashamed give me living by writing snide underhanded remark about respectable people. my young defense if it is not much of a living. [laughter] there is a piece in here about dealing with the wily parsimonious picturesque than ascii. i think the first humor piece i publish was in a magazine called monocle that he edited. they were not big payers, monocle. i sent them a piece and they accepted it and sent me a bill. [laughter] and then went on to become the editor of the nation and asked

me if i would write a column for the nation. and i said, how much were you thinking of paying for each column? and he said something in the high two figures. [laughter] and i said what you mean? is that what we have been paying 65. he said that sounds like the middle two figures to me. so i got my high-powered literary agent, robert louis on the phone and i said play hardball. and slowly cut them up to 100. and a month or two after he started, came to me and said what about these quotes? they said were quotes at those? he said that john foster dulles really say you can't fool all the people all the time, but you may as well give it your best shot?

>> i said, at these rates you can expect real quotes. [laughter] so, there are some things in the book about the wily parsimonious big jury and there are various sections of the book. there is a biographical section. and i thought since we are at a bookstore, i would start by reading something from the biographical section from i guess he would collect my childhood in kansas city. there is a quote at the beginning of each section and the one in the biographical section says, i found that a lot of people say they are from qvc when they aren't, just for the prestige. [laughter] this is a piece called. it's common these common these days the members no more childhood to concentrate on some dark secret within the authors extensively happy family.

it's not just common. it's pretty much mandatory. mr in america is an atrocity arms race. and then lied that reveals and fastest trounced by one that reveals the theology and that in turn is driven from the best-seller list by one that reveals incestuous piece dod. when i went into the number game, i knew i was looking at a disadvantage, a horrible disadvantage. as much as i would hate this getting around in literary circles in new york, the fact is that i had a happy childhood. at times i've imagine how embarrassing this background would be if i found myself discussing childhoods with other memoirs. late at night, some of moore's hangout. after talking about their opinions for a bio, a glue sniffing and sporadically violent grandmother, for instance, or the family tapeworm. he looked towards me. their looks are not totally respectful.

they are aware that i've admitted in print but i've never heard my parents raise their voices to each other. they have reason to suspect from bits of information i flipped off from time to time that i was happy in high school. i trade best way to think of a dark secret of my upbringing. all i could think of this akali dal. well, there is chevy the collie dog i say tentatively. it's a true story. chevy the collie.they repeat. there really was a collie named chevy. i wouldn't say certifiably traumatic, but maybe it explains another mysterious loyalty i had as a boy to the college stories of albert payson guccione. we have chubby when i was two or three years old. he was sickly. one day chubby disappeared. my parents told my sister, sue key, the recall her and me that he had been given to some friends who lived on a farm so that he could drive in a healthy country air.

many years later, if i remember i was home on vacation from college, chubby name came up my parents and suki and i were having dinner. i asked why we've never gone to visit him on the farm. suki looked at me as if i'd suddenly announced i was thinking about eating a mashed potato with my hands for a while, just for a change of pace. there wasn't any fun she said. that was just that they told us. chubby had to be put to sleep. put to sleep i said? chubby is gone? somebody come in that very thing, pointed out that chubby with a gun in any case ordinarily live to the age of 18. isn't that sort of late for me to be finding this out i said? my father said it's not our fault if you are slow on the uptake. [laughter] i never found myself in a memoir gathering the required me to sell the story of chubby, does it happen i did relate the story in a book.

a week or two after it's published i got a phone call from suki. the collie was not called chubby she said. cawley was called george. you are called. [laughter] there is one section here called 20 years of poems, one poem each. and the quote in that section as i believe that an inclusive political system that prohibits a public office only those whose names have awkward meter or difficult turbine. such as george bush. i mean, i know it sounds like an easy find. that's disrespectful. fortunately, when george h.w. left office, he had a lot of middle names, so i wrote a poem. farewell to you, george herbert

walker, though never treasured as a talker. your predicates were pro-to wander nobelist off a log. you did your best in your own way, the way of greenwich country day. so just relax and take your ease and never order japanese. here's one about mitt romney. that run the install is called. yes, and it is so slick of speeches at the guard, he reminds us all if ken is and barbie, so quick to shed his moderate regalia. he may lakehead be lacking. [laughter] in here is one about sarah palin. if i combined it. it's a barbra streisand standard is sung by sarah palin.

on a clear day i see that if i start. on a clear day as the vladivostok, so i know world affairs. don't say no way, though i know elite snob. it's acidosis that test it. well, back in our prayers. and joe biden sees new jersey from his shoulder and that's just the state that doesn't rate. it's me who knows the score. on a clear day, on a clear day, ici stock. fred, you can hum along if you want. and krasnoyarsk entries mask at omsk and toms and more. then, i thought i would do a timely piece tonight. i'm not usually that timely. this is called crystal ball. this is a section of the book called criminal justice,

criminal's justices, but probably no criminal justices. in the quote is, i'm an absolutist on the first amendment except for people who show slides of their trip to europe. they should be arrested. if they can't be held, they can at least be knocked about it at the station house. how many dead on predictions does a person have to make to get a little credit around here? in a book i published in 2006 called a heckuva job, more of the bush administration in rhyme, here's what i said in one of the non-rhyming passages about the so-called shoe bomber of 2001. i am convinced that the whole shoe bomber business was a prank. what got me onto this theory was reading the shoe bomber, a muslim convert and richard reid had been described by someone who knew him well in england as very, very impressionable. i had heard he decided to is a complete is though.

he made such a goofy production of trying to light the fuses have enough issue that he practically asked the flight attendant if she had a match. the way i figure, the one terrorist in england with a sense of humor, a man known as: the troll had said to himself, i bet i can get them all to take their shoes off at airports. [laughter] said this pranksters had a poor impressionable reagan won his bet. now college is that they are cackling at the thought of all those americans exposing the holes in their socks on cold airport floors. if someone is arrested one of these days and is immediately because of his ml referred to in the press as the underwear bomber, you'll know why this on to some pain. that's right. i predicted the underwear bomber in 2006. you could look it up. around the same time, i repeated the prediction public appearances and as i remember a couple time on television.

i firmly believe in this world of ever diminishing irreplaceable resources, using align only once represent the sort of wastefulness our society can ill afford. and what transpired on christmas day two years later? another bozo tries to blow a hole in an airplane and succeeds only in setting his underpants aflame in a manner that might have rendered him ill-equipped for the 72 heavenly virgins that were to be his reward if he succeeded. and where was this bozo educated? university college london, within commuting distance to the diabolical trickster, call it the troll. has that name been mentioned even once in the ms press and television interviews with so-called security experts who prattle on about connect the dots and fostering interagency cooperation and eliminating stove piping?

no, not once. not once have the people pontificate from washington on sunday morning talk shows that people i referred to as the sabbath gas bags. say, someone followed up on the underwear tip. not once has anyone considered the possibility that after the shoe bomber team called the drill amounts to itself when it had a few years of taking out their shoes, i bet i can make them expose their private parts to full-body scanners. not once is one of these after-the-fact analyzers considered the possibility that college schedule is engaged in an elaborate scheme to embarrass us to death. now it turns out one of the television shows i said that on was "the daily show." and after the underwear bomber was caught, they showed it on their moment of zen. they repeated it in the older

grandson to spend six thought tivo of it and he said, babu said underwear on television. [laughter] well, since we are in new york, if i can find it, i will read something from tucker isn't going out, which i am not here to post, but we think is the first parking novel ever written. this is a little section of it called tapper is in front of russian doctors. as tucker points out from the newspaper to make a quick peru's love the sunday shoppers, he noticed one of the counterman from russian matters is getting on the sidewalk about to tap on the window. recognizing the counterman from past trips, slid open the

passenger over towards the passenger door and rolled down the window. how are you doing the counterman said bending down to lean on the door? find, how are you? i thought i'd recognize you. you come to buy logs on sunday. herring salad usually tapper said. sometimes your wife fishtown occasionally locks. i noticed you out here for a few sundays. i figured maybe her having show at getting around. i could get you something. thanks anyway, i won't take anything today. are you waiting for somebody? no, guess i should get back, but he made no move to leave. he smiled in a friendly way. finally he said, just here parking? exactly said. i am just here parking. the counterman didn't say anything for a while. then he said come you're just here parking because you feel like it if someone wants the spot it's too bad because it's

your spot and it is a legal spot, right? listen, a lot of times if you like doing something myself. like this myself. you know, it can get pretty irritating on these customers. they'll say, give me a nice whitefish. so i will say, one whitefish coming right at. cheerful, pleasant. and they will say, a nice whitefish. can you imagine? this happens every sunday at least once. i could head it off. you know i could prevent it. well, i suppose of course the counterman interrupted. but to just repeat after them exactly a nice whitefish, but i won't. i won't get them the satisfaction. what i really feel like saying when they correct to me, when i say one whitefish coming up and they say a nice whitefish? is well i'm glad you said that because i wasn't going to get you a nice whitefish.

if you hadn't said that, i would've looked for a whitefish that's been sitting there since last tisha b'av. an old greasy fur stick in a whitefish because that is what we serve here mostly. that's our specialty. that's how we manage to stay in business all these years. that's what the rest family synonymous with quality integrity for maybe seven years because they sell theirs that he customers' rotten stinking whitefish. that's why the boss gets up at 4:00 in the morning to go with suppliers so he can get the whitefish before his competitors, otherwise if he slept until civilized hours, maybe he deserves by now he might get stuck with nice whitefish. there's always something tapper said he had the counterman looked exhausted from the speech. he classed into the storm of bullets that are the same company said. two men face it with you for a minute? looks like it's quiet in there. i could take a little break.

why not? he opened the passenger store and slid over to make room for the counterman. thank you. [applause] now, i'm sure all that media material has given you some profound questions. [laughter] does anybody have a question? on the imac >> did the fish taste good? >> i think the fishing daughters taste good. i guess they are now on their fourth generation. you are one generation behind i think. i think they were joel ross was the founder. and now they have these great grandchildren.

>> okay, thank you. did you watch it all any of the republican debates these days? and if he did, i'd love to hear your comments. >> the question was whether i've watched in a republican debates. i tend to watch people talk about the debates rather than the debates. i find the debates with the people so slow and boring. and they usually show the best of. i've written a little bit about perry. one of the things i wonder is why he wears cowboy boots and is always talking about when i thought nick tex and he is. he was a cotton farmer and you don't need or says to plant cotton. if he were authentic i think you'd were good overall, having a kind of a hayseed coming out of his mouth.

and he has been a little disappointing. when michele bachmann said that god had sent hurricane irene to warn us against all this spending, i wrote a poem that said, why be so hard on vermont? i mean, if god is on missions and he doesn't like this spending, why did he pick on vermont? did not spend more than anybody else. in fact, they are certified to this thrifty new englanders. so she is a think going to leave and chomp out and christie out all the care jokes and fat jokes are gone. so i think in no way people in the small joke sort of hope for people like that to come around. we think it is not good for the country, we say the same thing

that then they set about to stick it. it's a pity, but where would business be without it? but then sometimes people are too obvious a target. i think dan quayle was one of those. the full title on the sales or the full poem of the title came from was it be this way on sales with mark's not quite as good as quails. i think kerry had worse marksmen quayle. now, that is a two line phone, which i like to write a cause i get paid $100 a poem. and i didn't think of as much. and then i looked into how poets are paid. at that time, the highest paying magazine was "the new yorker," which pay $10 a line. so i would say you can understand why there's not a huge crowd in front of the poetry booth at the career day

affair. but i get $10 a line -- $100 upon the matter what. so when i want this sort of does you get for working for the absolute top dollar in your field, i write it to line poem. one of my early ones was about voip and thin, the former texas senator when he was named secretary of treasury was called called -- boot a short history of voip and from stealing the special interest groups was the man is known for provo quaintness. in texas, that is how folks to goodness. that's $50 a line. that is not the shortest poem. my shortest poem is the political, societal and

philosophical implications of the o.j. simpson trial. that is the title. and the whole poem is o.j., oy vey. maybe anybody's shortest poem. >> do you ever hear from politicians say you are being too hard on me? >> no, i never have. and i have had this sort of nightmare, which i have during the day. one of the reasons i don't hear from them as they done it if they read this stuff, but also i don't run into them because i live in new york and boston washington. i started having about 10 or 12 years ago a sort of daytime nightmare that i went to a dinner party in new york and all of them were there. and in my nightmare, i arrived sort of early because i found a great parking spot. and the only other guest there

was steve forbes. and the hostess and even home from the office yet. and the host that i've got exited the kitchen. i'm sure you two have a lot to talk about. and i tried for an icebreaker he said, i guess he'll be wanting to know why refer to during the campaign but said work robot. and before he could answer, al gore comes across the room. he's in earthtone clothes. and he is irritated because i referred to had in a poem as a manlike object. [laughter] and then, robert or sally who was then i guess running for senator from new jersey came over very angry because i had suggested as a campaign slogan for him, never been indicted. and the hair comes out d'amato. remember al d'amato.

again, it is a problem with the rhine in a poem. i said tomato doesn't really rhyme with much. and people say tomato, but i'm from kansas city and i can't bring myself to say tomato. but it does rhyme a ball avocado. [laughter] and then here comes henry kissinger. ii think the guide, henry kissinger is still not about that one little war criminal mentioned? talk about hypersensitive. but it turns out that it's not what is mad about. i guess i said in a column once, why you said that george shultz, the former secretary of state former secretary of state with a phd is always referred to as mr. scholz and henry kissinger, former secretary of state is always called that are kissinger and the only thing i could figure is maybe kissinger had a podiatry is on the side.

but that dinner party has not happened. and i tell you i hear from us and all people. and by animal people, i do not mean people who were thrown clear of a plane wreck in africa and raised by a bunch of orangutans. i mean, people with special concern for animals. i mentioned once in a column that corgis appear to be a breed of dog that seemed to be assembled from parts from other breeds of dogs. not the parts that those dogs are all that sorry about giving. you'd be surprised how many corgi donors there are in the united states with computers and things, tape writers. anyway, i hear from the animal people. if i wasn't one of the people who said that dan quayle had a stare like a deer in headlights,

but some people say i suspect the people who did write that got more, even though quayle had a very loyal following, got more letters from deer people dan quayle people. [laughter] >> my question is about wit and humor because it's such a difficult thing to achieve, any of us who try to write. is the editing process when you write something? is it not funny enough? can you talk a little bit about making some paint. >> well yeah, i think that -- i took a course in college called daily themes, where you had to write little vignettes every day. and they had a bunch -- i later wrote about the course. and they had a bunch of rules. and one of their rules was individualized by specific detail. that seems to be a rule of

humor. if you talk about a philadelphia cheesesteak tasting better leaning against the car, sort of funny. but if you say you leaning against a pontiac it's funnier. not sure why. but i think a lot of humors in detail. and i think you can only try to please yourself because humor is how subject does. and if the lady in the second row doesn't laugh is just not funny to her. you can poller fingernails out and she won't laugh. she especially won't laugh if you poller fingernails out. so, i think all you can do is just find something that you think is funny. i actually make myself laugh while i'm writing about every two years. so if i were taken hostage, i would not be completely without

resources. i could have a little tickle every couple of years, but it's unusual. it's usually something silly that makes me laugh. >> you just made me think when you talked about the trainmen making yourself laugh, have you ever dreamed, literally while sleeping and working yourself up laughing with laughter? >> no, definitely not. i'll say what am i doing up? is 2:30 in the morning, so i have a frown on my face. i haven't thought of anything funny in a dream i don't think. >> i'm sorry to hear that because i'm not a writer. i can write, but i'm not on your level. but i do train and wake myself up laughing in my dreams. maybe it's pathological. i don't know why. >> maybe you should see somebody about that. [laughter]

>> i read your book of nonfiction essays that i see is for sale tonight. could you speak about one of the essays and how long it took to write how many months? and you were on the ground at the time. and do you have any follow up on the woman who killed her husband? >> you are talking about "the new yorker" pieces, the murder pieces. >> well, ordinarily there are two different sizes of those. period for 15 years i did a piece every three weeks for "the new yorker" around the country. and i would normally a thief on sunday night on monday morning if it was real close and get back baby. i always got back to work we. i got back maybe friday or thursday night. i did that for 15 years.

magazine writers used to say, how do you keep up the pace and newspaper reporter said what else do you and some of those pieces are from that series. that meant that i was roughly in the city for four or five days and then spent the next week writing that you are so a lot of those pieces are two weeks. and there's some longer pieces in a book called american stories. but i found that the reporting didn't take that much longer. i felt that u.s. journal, the original series was even from the darker and in those days "the new yorker" didn't say this story should be about so many thousand words long. it was sort of against the philosophy of "the new yorker," which is one of the reasons pieces when the law, that

everybody thought his piece deserved more. but the u.s. drama was specifically 3000 word piece every three weeks. and i was afraid of sort of a creep if i went over that. so a couple of them may be 3200 words or something. but basically stuck to that. i felt that i wanted to write in just the fabric of it a little looser peace. what i found the reporting didn't necessarily take that much longer. maybe a state over the weekend, but i usually got home. my girls are growing up and so i went home. usually i found that if i started knowing what the answer to the questions were that it's probably time to go home. and reporting fit into any space you wanted to fit in. you could stay for a year.

i've always found that they have to be sort of arbitrary and say this will take about a week. >> in your book about alice is so touching and loving towards your wife. did you find that all the single ladies for contact any laughter that? >> i found that if you carry one of those electric cattle prods -- [laughter] you really don't even have to use it. just turn it on as they come at you. it will do the trick. i think they should make personal models of those that are a little easier to carry around. now, i found that i did not need physical protection. and i was on a television show when it came out and the interviewer side -- some

reviewers said that you were in touch -- i can't remember who they sent me her feminine self or your sense of self or something like that. is that i read that review and all i could think of was i hope none of my high school pals read that. i'll never hear the end of it. the ever nice responses in the book, which i had thought was going to be about alice and it turned out sort of accidentally to be about managing couples. >> i am just about finished with the trilogy, which i've never read before. i realize a lot of the writing was about 30 years ago. and my question is, how is your appetite? >> is holding up. >> rate. did you ever think or need to do any research at a fat farm? because for someone who is

having three and four practice and maybe having a couple lunches seem like united some point has needed some physical therapy. >> no, the thing about those folks is that they are not exactly collections. i mean, i rewrote everything. a lot of the raw material was found pieces from either "the new yorker" were some travel magazine or something. so when you read them all together, it seems like i do nothing but eat. or think about eating. in fact, i mean, i like to read, but it gives a false impression. and then people used to call me up and say, you know, where shall i eat? they never started with how do i call you not knowing you're anything like that, but what's the best french restaurant in

chicago. and i had no idea about these things. so i think that when you push them all together, i see more gluttonous than i really am. although i'm not saying i'm not gluttonous at all. >> i'm glad to hear he still had a great appetite. >> thank you. >> and a similar vein, what places now do like around the city that are sort of out of the way? and i'm taking notes. >> nancy and i decided that would be the last question. well, i like a lot of places, but i live in the village. well, used to live in the village. my house is still the same place, but until they live in the west village now. the real estate people decided that it's the west village. i usually describe the village is a place where people from the suburbs, saturday night to test their car alarms.

[laughter] so i find that i eat around my house or in chinatown. and when i see something about a restaurant in that column in the times that says what's happening or something, i sort of free you from the bottom up. and if it is on east 64th four straightaway 78, i quit reading. i think a lot of people in new yorker that way. they'd be sort of in their own neighborhood. well, thank you. >> thank you are a match. [applause] >> for more information about calvin trillin, visit the nation.com and search his name. a >> next, jack neely, local author of knoxville tennessee takes booktv on a tour of the literary history of knoxville.

>> nikki giovanni is one of the best known voices to come out of the power movement in an 1860s. she's a well-known poet and well known for her free verse. she was born here in knoxville and grew up right here on mulvaney street. this was the sight of her grandmother's house, where she spent much of her youth. she remembers very fondly in an essay, which is much apology is called 400 mulvaney street, or grandmother's address. baldini street is now what is known as hall of fame drive. it runs by the women's basketball hall of fame, just on the east side of downtown. this area was once a fairly prosperous middle-class predominately black suburban area, but it is now since the urban renewal of the 1950s and 60s has been lately redeveloped for apartments, rec center, -underscore and then other things.

diet nikki giovanni's essay, 400 mulvaney street talks about the shot coming here in the middle of the demolitions involved in everything in her grandmother's old home. she talks about the rose garden. it seems that the rose is still going in the yard as the house has been torn down. >> getting back in the last 10 years of drought three lessons. one, the most important lesson is that the most important thing to happen in the united states in the last two years is nothing. the last 10 years never saw another successful terrorist attack in the united states. and i think the most important question is to ask why and whether it was worth it. to me, the most important decision was one that president bush made it commander-in-chief on the constitution on the very night of 9/11, which was to treat the 9/11 attacks has not

worked. i think the way we thought about it and the justice department at bedtime assist any country had attacked us in the same way on september 11th has updated date, no one would have had any doubt we would work. the only difference with al qaeda was not a nationstate. and the important legal and constitutional issue was could we be at war with a non-nationstate? i think president bush made that decision for the country that night. and that was an important decision because once you make that call, and then the united states can turn to the laws and rules of warfare to deal with al qaeda and the threat of terrorism. all of those i think were on display not just in our invasion of afghanistan, the use of troops and drones to wipe out much of al qaeda's existing leadership, both also put fully

on display in the successful operation to kill osama bin laden over the summer, which i think of as president's greatest foreign-policy national security achievement in the last two and half years. there you saw intelligence provided by people who would then detained under the laws of war, electronic, surveillance producing more intelligence, all pulled together to locate where osama bin laden had been hiding. and then the use of military force to go out and kill him. under the rules of the criminal justice system, which administration of both political parties had used in terrorism before 9/11, we would have instead invited osama bin laden sent out to try to arrest him after he had committed a crime. the switch to the approach of water made our policies forward looking, to try to stop people like osama bin london and terrorist groups from attacking the united states before they could attack.

the second lesson i would drop from the last 10 years and also helps us to look forward is that after 9/11, we treated intelligence and information differently. we try to broaden the scope of intelligence available and to deepen it appears that you take one example appeared before 9/11 because of civil liberties concerns, which are quite valid at the time they were put into place can potentially prohibit our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies from sharing and communicating information. if you read the 9/11 commission report carefully, some of the commissioners believe that wall was actually instrumental in preventing us from identifying two hijackers who were known by the cia to be in the country before 9/11. things like the patriot act, enhanced interrogation of three top al qaeda leaders, enhanced electronic surveillance all allowed us to gather more information.

the point on the wall between law enforcement intelligence allows to analyze the information more effectively. that was tied to the ability to use force coming to wage more quickly and search for late than ever before. so again, i will use the osama bin laden operation as an example. that was a brilliant military option in which i think all americans are proud. but people don't realize i believe is the military now carries out operations like that everyday. >> watch this and other programs online on booktv.org. >> next, john grisham accepts the harper lee prize for fiction. after accepting the award, the author speaks about being a lawyer and the rule that saw place in contemporary fiction with a panel at the national press club in washington d.c. this is a little over an hour. >> well, everybody got quite so i guess we can begin.

good afternoon. as seen at the university of alabama law school, and please stay to welcome all of you to the non-drill celebration and presentation of the harper lee prize for legal fiction. now, harper lee of monroeville, alabama attended our law school in the 1940s and published "to kill a mockingbird" in 1960. the book illuminated the responsibility of lawyers to fight injustice and empower them to represent the wrongly accused. since this publication, "to kill a mockingbird" has influenced generations of college graduates, aspiring to practice law to good allow school. laster indication of the books 50th anniversary, we contacted harper lee who graciously authorized this reward to honor an author whose work best exemplifies the positive role of lawyers in society and their power to affect change. the price is grounded in the

carrot. atticus finch and is principled and courageous representation of tom robinson. on september 21, 2010, u.s. attorney general eric holder honored our law schools when he came to tuscaloosa, alabama to help celebrate half a century of "to kill a mockingbird" and to help us establish this award. our law school has a special partner in this award in sponsoring it. the aba journal is read by about half of the nation's lawyers meant late, about half a million lawyers. what we now call upon jack rice to make some remarks. jack is the executive director of the aba. [applause] >> thank you, dean. it will surprise right now, but occasionally the american bar association does things that are controversial. but we asked about the university of alabama to partner with them in this award, we were able to do something totally uncontroversial. honoring harper lee was a great

idea. choosing the writer to highlight the rules of war and society is a great idea that we were able to define a role for this at the university of alabama. we were honored to do so. it's especially fitting that could've won the award a number of years ago had the word existed at the time. he's a very deserving. we know there will be many future winners will be quite deserving as well. we hope some people are tired to read the good stories about lawyers from this. but the particular book hero, the compassion -- i know many of you have read it and it's especially timely. it was irreparably good job and a silicate lawyer story. the american bar association is the worst largest professional organization and this is one of the good things that we are delighted partner with. dean can't thank you in the university of alabama law school for the opportunity.

[applause] >> as you probably know, ceremonies are occurring this week at the same time as the national book festival here in d.c., which is sponsored by the library of congress. we now ask roberta schaefer of the laboring of commerce to make some remarks. >> thank you, dean and other distinguished guests. i am delighted to be celebrating with you today at the moderation of the harper lee prize for the legal session. i went out today is situated between two other important events that are close in time. one with a celebration last week that comes to and a end saturday in addition to kicking off the library of congress is 11th national book festival, we will also be kicking off the annual banned books week. as many of you know, "to kill a mockingbird" has had a high place on the honor roll for many, many years.

i am here representing library of congress, but i think i am actually representing libraries in general. when all the honors are given in all the book tours are over, although i guess her son, none of them ever stop. [laughter] books along with other intellectual treasures come to libraries to live long and rewarding lives and to offer explanations surpassed an inspiration to the future. they sit on shelves today either physical or virtual alongside works and other media and by other writers whose ideas may support or challenge the ideas in these fantastic knowledge capsules. and these collections of knowledge challenged us to consider and study various subjects, looking not topics of class, color, code, legal or

social codes, communication and even our clothing as young scout in "to kill a mockingbird" off in protest what women have to wear. books have factor fission are those summer in between ask us to look at ourselves and our society every day. and then he may even not, are we killing the mockingbird at the very same time they try to entertain and educate us? our libraries, personnel, public or even congressional are constant reminders to her children, judges, lawmakers, a fellow citizen and even our adversary of our cultural values and of the legacies that we want to be remembered by. this afternoon, we are honoring two great authors, harper lee and john grisham.

they can be assured that as long as we have libraries, their work will continue to be honored. thank you for a match. [applause] >> thank you, roberta. looking around stroma can recognize many guest today. i know with members of the federal judiciary who honor us with presence. i want to single out and ensure mr. grisham will do it. we had any representatives to random house, genus until a message on publishing team and we want to make it as you were to round of applause as well. [applause] we had an outstanding committee that selected this book. we had so many works nominated. we do group in tuscaloosa and elsewhere that narrowed the field down to three books and then we had an outstanding selection committee. i'm going to go in alphabetical

order. david said to us a best-selling author. his first novel published in 1996 was an immediate bestseller. he has since published within 20 novels and seven original screenplays with his wife, michelle is known for their profit work with the wish you well foundation, promoting adult literacy. he received his jd from university of virginia. my dear friend, said seven graduate of alabama law school cofounder and still remains chief trial counsel or the southern poverty law center in montgomery and probably if anyone else in the city of alabama single-handedly shut down the in alabama. i also want to recognize from the committee, mr. robert grey, graduate who has worked with that says several projects. robert is a former president of the aba impart during the procedure of putnam williams.

two members of the committee could not be witness. jeff toobin has worked with us on other things, but just as the word, cnn, and "the new yorker" magazine just a few days ago learned that linda fairstein couldn't be with us. she is also the best-selling crime novelist and former prosecutor. let's recognize the selection committee. [applause] >> in a few minutes, david baldacci will lead a discussion about the compassion. or take a few minutes telling you about the author, mr. john grisham. although i'm just repeating facts all of you know that the market as a person, the shorter the introduction. someone who is originally from arkansas graduated from the university of mississippi law school in 1981 to practice law for nearly a decade, specializing in criminal defense in personal injury litigation. he also served in the

mississippi house of representatives from 1883 until 1990. as difficult as all of us lawyers go is to practice law, he somehow wrote every morning before the crack of don and published a time to kill in 1880. his next book, the firm, spent 47 weeks on "the new york times" bestsellers list it was a best-selling novel of 1991. two more of this book immediately claimed the number one spot on the list. the pelican brief and the client. mr. grisham has written about one legal fiction book a year. nine have been turned into movies and is also written about other diverse subjects such as baseball and aging football quarterback and christmas. mr. grisham's nonfiction book, the innocent man man symbolizes and as i understand it galvanized his commitment to the goal of exonerating the wrongly convicted and he is much above today actively in the innocence

project nationally. in 1996, mr. grisham took a break from writing to fulfill a promise he made to represent the family of a railroad rake man who was killed in between two cars. here gives clients a jury award of $683,000 reminds us of some of the best lawyering in his books. it is now my great honor to present the inaugural harper lee prize for legal fiction to john grisham. [applause] [applause] >> thank you, dean randall for this award and thanks also to the university of alabama school of law, to the aba's journal for cosponsoring the award.

thanks to harper lee for giving her blessings to what we are doing here today. especially tanks to the incredibly intelligent, insight bowl, well read and astute panel of judges that shows in my book. you guys are really sharp. [laughter] many of us, especially those from the south can't remember the first time we read "to kill a mockingbird." for me, i was in the ninth grade miss todd english class i was 15 years old in 1969 when we read the story. for the first time, that class had black kids in it. and it prompted some discussions that were not always comfortable as a child, advocate reading the book, i was entertained by the adventures of scout and jem as they tormented boo radley and

watched surreptitiously the trial of tom robinson. reading the book as an adult, i was more impressed with the dignity and courage of tom and his lawyer, and is convinced, i'll leave you known peck. and i was astounded at the injustice of that area. at trial was 75 years ago. and for those of us who observe the legal system and write about it, we are still confronted with the injustice and inequality in a system that often convicts innocent people, sends them to present and even execute them. unlike many, i cannot say that atticus finch inspired me to go to law school. i don't know what i was thinking when i went to law school.

but i do recall 30 years ago seen in a courtroom in a small town in mississippi, a rookie lawyer way out of my league defending a black man charged with murder, looking at an all-white jury. and i can't think dean, what would atticus do now? , what would atticus do now? a few years later when now? a few years later when i began secretly writing my first novel, i was drawn back to "to kill a mockingbird" for the incredible storytelling ability of harper lee for the timeless themes of injustice and the loss of innocence, for the humor and most importantly for me for the care they are of atticus finch. a few years later, after my first book was published, i received a package one day on march. i open it