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Will Leitch | |
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| Born | William F. Leitch Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Notable works | The Black Table,Deadspin |
| Website | |
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William F. Leitch is an Americanwriter and the founding editor of theGawker Media sports blogDeadspin. Leitch is a national correspondent forMLB.com, a contributing editor atNew York,[1]film critic atGrierson & Leitch, contributor toThe New York Times,GQ,The Washington Post, andNBC News.
Leitch is the author of six published books. His fifth book,How Lucky,(2021)[1] was nominated for anEdgar Award,[2] and received an endorsement from authorStephen King.[3] His seventh book,Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride, will be published byHarper in May 2025.[4]
Leitch was born and raised inMattoon,Illinois, which is also the setting ofCatch. He attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He was an editor at the university's paper, theDaily Illini. He now lives inAthens, Georgia.
One of Leitch's first brushes with fame came when he appeared on an early episode ofWin Ben Stein's Money. In his memoir,Life as a Loser, Leitch describes the experience of taping the episode within hours of being dumped by his fiancée, a fact that co-hostJimmy Kimmel included in Leitch's introduction.
Leitch was the managing editor ofIronminds, an online magazine that existed from 1999-2002.[5] He also wrote a column for the magazine, "Life as a Loser".[6]
In January 2003, Leitch became a founding editor of the websiteThe Black Table, with Eric Gillin,A.J. Daulerio, and Aileen Gallagher. HisLife As A Loser column ran online for five years and was ultimately compiled into a book of the same title, with a foreword written byTom Perrotta.
In September 2005, Leitch became the founding editor ofDeadspin, which quickly became one of the most popular independent sports blogs and was profiled inSports Illustrated[7][8][9] andThe New York Times.[10] Leitch announced on June 5, 2008 that he would leaveDeadspin at the end of the month to become a contributing editor atNew York magazine.[11] Deadspin would later shut down after all its writers left following a dispute management. Most of the writers later createdDefector Media.[12]
During the2007 NCAA Tournament, Leitch wrote a daily column forTimesSelect, the paid section ofThe New York Times.[13] During the 2007 baseball playoffs, Leitch wrote a daily column forThe New York Times web site.[14]
Leitch hostedThe Will Leitch Show forSports Illustrated for two seasons. Guests includedGuy Pearce,Lea Thompson,Dale Earnhardt Jr.,Stephanie Beatriz,Andre Holland,Heidi Gardner andSean Astin.[15]
Leitch also cohostsWaitin' Since Last Saturday, a podcast aboutUniversity of Georgia football. He also cohosts the movie review podcastGrierson & Leitch with his lifelong friend and film critic Tim Grierson. The duo also write features for the entertainment websiteVulture. Leitch also cohosts theSt. Louis Cardinals podcastSeeing Red withBernie Miklasz.
Leitch lives in Athens, Georgia with his wife, designer Alexa Stevenson, and their two sons, William and Wynn.
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