New Canaan Library is pleased to announce that Brian Lehrer, host of National Public Radio’s “The Brian Lehrer Show,” will be guest lecturer for the Library’s 2020 Salant Lecture. Lehrer will speak about current national and global events, including the upcoming election and other headline stories in the news. The lecture series is named for Richard Salant, the late President of CBS news, and honors his dedication to integrity in broadcast journalism.
The event will be held on Sunday, March 8 at 4 p.m. in the Adrian Lamb Room, preceded by a light reception. The lecture is open to the public; please register online at newcanaanlibrary.org.
Brian Lehrer is host of “The Brian Lehrer Show”, WNYC Radio’s daily call-in program, covering politics and life, locally and globally. He also hosts “Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast”, which focuses on national politics. The live show airs weekdays from 10am-noon on WNYC 93.9 FM, AM 820 and wnyc.org.
The New York Times has called Lehrer a “master interviewer.” The New Yorker called him “doggedly on-the-ball.” New Yorker Editor David Remnick says Lehrer is “the equivalent of Lebron James or Steph Curry in the interviewing game.” New York Magazine put him on its “dream dinner party guest list.”
The Brian Lehrer Show was recognized with a 2007 George Foster Peabody Award for “Radio That Builds Community Rather Than Divides.”
Political guests have ranged from Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Mitch McConnell and Boris Johnson, and beyond. Lehrer has been a questioner in televised New York City Mayoral Debates for every election since 1997. Cultural guests have included Wynton Marsalis, Patti Smith, Aaron Sorkin, Spike Lee, Margaret Atwood, and so many others.
Lehrer is also a commentator on local and national issues on television and in print. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, NY1, and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. He has written op-ed pieces for publications including The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, and Slate.
Lehrer holds master’s degrees in public health from Columbia University and journalism from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s in music and mass communications from the State University of New York at Albany.