Who among us doesn’t love Vanity Fair? And if you do, it’s because of visionary editor Graydon Carter. For 25 years, Graydon Carter in no small way helped to define– and create– contemporary pop culture, both here and in Europe. 

While Carter’s resumé includes dazzling entries (including co-founding the defiantly satirical and hilarious Spy Magazine), it was Vanity Fair that catapulted Carter into the imagination of mainstream America and Europe. He molded Vanity Fair into a magazine that cheerfully embraced the highs and lows of American arts, culture, politics and commerce through features and photography by wonderful writers and great photojournalists.

In his new book, When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines, we see Carter’s profound influence on American lifestyle and culture. While no longer steering Vanity Fair, he is now the co-founder of the indispensable digital magazine, Air Mail. Graydon Carter’s inestimable impact cannot be understated: we see it not only in the glamour of the entertainment industry, but more important, in magazine journalism, just brimming with features and photography that have been so fundamental to our culture. When the Going Was Good spills over with great stories featuring outsize personalities. Graydon Carter cultivated wonderful writers, artists, and photographers when he ran Spy and Vanity Fair. And his own story is as captivating as any that appeared under his watch. 

Moderator to be announced.

$29  | Mar 30, 2025 | 4:00PM - 6:00PM

Writer's Guild Theater

135 S Doheny Dr, Beverly Hills 90211