This event was recorded live on March 13, 2024.

In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of the great rock-poet’s life and legacy. We witness Reed’s complex partnerships with David Bowie, Andy Warhol, John Cale, and Laurie Anderson while tracking the deadpan wit, street-smart edge, and poetic flights that defined his craft as a singer and songwriter with the Velvet Underground and beyond. Hermes shows Reed as a pioneer in living and writing about nonbinary sexuality, an artist who pursued beauty and noise with equal fervor, and a turbulent figure who transformed American culture. Hermes, who is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, speaks about the book with Amanda Petrusich, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the recent book Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records.

Presented with the Leon Levy Center for Biography.

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