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William F. Leitch (born October 10, 1975 in
Mattoon, Illinois Mattoon ( ) is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,870 as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Lake Land College and has close ties with its neighbor, Charleston. Both are principal cities of the Charleston� ...
) is an American
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...
and the founding editor of the
Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...
former sports blog '' Deadspin''. Leitch is a national correspondent for MLB.com, a contributing editor at ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'',
critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or gover ...
at ''Grierson & Leitch'', contributor to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', '' GQ'', ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' and ''
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...
'' and has published six books, including ''Catch'', a novel, ''Life as a Loser'', a memoir, ''God Save the Fan'', a book of sports essays and ''Are We Winning?'', a book about fatherhood and baseball. His fifth book, the novel ''How Lucky,'' was published by Harper in May 2021 and received an endorsement from author
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
. His sixth book, the novel ''The Time Has Come'', will be published by Harper in May 2023.


Background

Leitch was born and raised in Mattoon,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
, which is also the setting of ''Catch''. He attended the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
. While there, he was an editor at the university's paper, the '' Daily Illini''. He now lives in
Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the ...
. One of Leitch's first brushes with fame came when he appeared on an early episode of ''
Win Ben Stein's Money ''Win Ben Stein's Money'' is an American television game show created by Al Burton and Donnie Brainard that aired first-run episodes from July 28, 1997, to January 31, 2003, on Comedy Central. The show featured three contestants who competed to ...
''. In an excerpt from '' Life as a Loser'', published on Blacktable.com, Leitch describes the experience of taping this episode within hours of being dumped by his fiancée (a fact that co-host
Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...
included in Leitch's introduction).


Career


IronMinds.com

''Life as a Loser'' appeared on Ironminds, an online magazine that existed from 1999-2002.


The Black Table

In January 2003, Leitch became a founding editor of the website ''The Black Table'', with Eric Gillin, A.J. Daulerio and Aileen Gallagher. His ''Life As A Loser'' column ran online for five years and was ultimately compiled into a book of the same title, with a foreword written by Tom Perrotta.


Deadspin

In September 2005, Leitch became the founding editor of '' Deadspin'', which quickly became one of the most popular independent sports blogs on the web, and has been profiled in ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...
'' and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Leitch announced on June 5, 2008 that he would leave ''Deadspin'' at the end of the month to become a contributing editor at ''New York'' magazine. Deadspin would later shut down after an ownership dispute, and its writers would create '' Defector Media''.


Other work

During the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Leitch wrote a daily column for TimesSelect, the paid section of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. During the 2007 baseball playoffs, Leitch wrote a daily column for ''The New York Times''' web site. Leitch was also the host of ''The Will Leitch Show'' for
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...
for two seasons. Guests included
Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young in the Australian television series ''Neighbours ...
, Lea Thompson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Stephanie Beatriz, Andre Holland, Heidi Gardner and
Sean Astin Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor. His acting roles include Samwise Gamgee in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003), Mikey Walsh in ''The Goonies'' (1985), Daniel Ruettiger in '' Rudy'' (1993), Dou ...
. Leitch also cohosts ''Waitin' Since Last Saturday'', a podcast about University of Georgia football. He also cohosts the movie review podcast ''Grierson & Leitch'' with his lifelong friend and film critic Tim Grierson. The duo also write features for the entertainment website ''Vulture''. Leitch also cohosts the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
podcast ''Seeing Red'' with Bernie Miklasz.


Personal life

Leitch lives in Athens, Georgia with his wife, designer Alexa Stevenson, and their two sons, William and Wynn.


Books authored

* * * * * *
The Time Has Come
'' Harper Books. 2023. .


References


External links


The Will Leitch Experience

Leitch on ''New York''

Leitch on Deadspin

Leitch on ''The New York Times''



Grierson & Leitch website

Grierson & Leitch podcast

Seeing Red podcast

Waitin' Since Last Saturday podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leitch, Will Living people 1975 births American bloggers American online publication editors People from Mattoon, Illinois