Sporting Words
Date and Time
Speakers: Dan Shaughnessy and Louis Menand
About the Event
When Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaugnessy received the 2026 Red Smith award for sportswriting this past summer, fellow journalists praised him as “fearless,” “tough,” and a “brilliant writer.” For decades, his prose has stirred the passions of our famously passionate local fans. Please join Dan in conversation with Professor Louis Menand as they discuss the craft of writing and the sporting cultures of nation and region.
About the Speakers
Louis Menand is Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English at Harvard University. He has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 2001 and a contributor since 1991. His book The Metaphysical Club was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for history and the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians. The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War, published in 2021, was named a notable book of the year by the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post. In 2016, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. He won the Robert B. Silvers Prize for Literary Criticism in 2025.
Dan Shaughnessy is a sports columnist and associate editor at the Boston Globe. He was born in Groton, Massachusetts, graduated from Holy Cross, and worked part-time at the Boston Globe from 1973-77. He covered the Baltimore Orioles for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Washington Star from 1977-81. He re-joined the Globe fulltime in 1981 and has been a sports columnist since 1989. He has been named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year 14 times and 12 times has been voted one of America's top ten sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2016 Shaughnessy was the recipient of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing,'' presented at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Shaughnessy has written thirteen books, including New York Times bestseller Francona, The Curse of the Bambino, and Senior Year. He most recently wrote Wish It Lasted Forever -- Life With The Larry Bird Celtics, a book about his days covering the 1980s Bird Celtics. He makes regular appearances on MLB Network, WHDH SportsXtra, and NBC Sports Boston. He holds honorary doctorates from Southern New Hampshire University and Nichols College.