JACKSON, Wyo. — Fran Lebowitz is coming to town.
In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Lebowitz stands out as one of the most insightful social commentators. Sharp, funny and utterly unfiltered, it’s an evening worth clearing the calendar for. She’ll be in conversation with Meg Daly, a Jackson-based writer and longtime cultural journalist, making for a dialogue that promises to be unforgettable.
The Center will host Lebowitz on Wednesday, June 17. Tickets start at $68.
Lebowitz’s essays and interviews offer her acerbic views on current events and the media – as well as pet peeves including tourists, baggage-claim areas, after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan. “The New York Times Book Review” calls Lebowitz an “important humorist in the classic tradition.” Purveyor of urban cool, Lebowitz is a cultural satirist whom many call the heir to Dorothy Parker.
Lebowitz on special interest groups: “Special-interest publications should realize that if they are attracting enough advertising and readers to make a profit, the interest is not so special.”
Lebowitz on frankness: “Spilling your guts is exactly as charming as it sounds.”
Lebowitz on herself: “Success didn’t spoil me, I’ve always been insufferable.”
This is Lebowitz off the cuff. Her writing — pointed, taut, and economical — is equally forthright, irascible, and unapologetically opinionated.
Lebowitz worked odd jobs, such as taxi driving, belt peddling, and apartment cleaning (“with a small specialty in Venetian blinds”), before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for “Interview.” That was followed by a stint at “Mademoiselle”. Her first book, a collection of essays titled “Metropolitan Life”, was a bestseller, as was a second collection, “Social Studies.” By turns ironic, facetious, deadpan, sarcastic, wry, wisecracking, and waggish, Lebowitz’s prose is wickedly entertaining. Her two books are collected in “The Fran Lebowitz Reader,” with a new preface by the author. “The Fran Lebowitz Reader” has been published in nine languages including French, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. In 2021 it was published for the first time in the United Kingdom and became a bestseller. Lebowitz is also the author of the children’s book, “Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas.”
Lebowitz was named to “Vanity Fair’s” International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 2008. She remains a style icon. Lebowitz lives in New York City, as she does not believe that she would be allowed to live anywhere else.
