BIOGRAPHY
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ALICE STE WAR T TRILLIN
lice Stewart Trillin (1938 – 2001) was a remarkable educator, author, film producer, activist and long-time muse of her husband, Calvin Trillin, whom she married in 1965.
She attended public schools, then earned a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M. A. from Yale in English Literature. She taught at Hofstra, the City University of New York, and New York Medical College. Her work on curriculum design led to consultations for the Corporate Commission on Educational Technology, a Presidential task force, and WNET-Thirteen. In 1981, she co-founded Learning Designs, a production company of award-winning children’s television. In 1976, a diagnosis of lung cancer led to another career: writing about being a cancer patient in what she called The Land of the Sick. In 1981, she published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, ''Of Dragons and Garden Peas: A Cancer Patient Talks to Doctors.” Her pieces were also published in The Nation and Confrontation. A letter she wrote to a friend’s child who was battling cancer became an illustrated book, Dear Bruno. Her 1987 testimony before the New York City Council became a New York Times Op-Ed piece supporting a ban on smoking in public places. In 2001, eight months before her death due to complications from lung cancer, The New Yorker published “Betting Your Life,” her essay exploring the choices facing cancer patients. Alice Stewart Trillin. Above right: Photo by Doug Kirkland. Below: Photo courtesy of Calvin Trillin.
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