Victoria Lautman

Victoria Lautman is a Chicago broadcast journalist and writer with a specialty in arts, culture, and the humanities.

Lautman has an M.A. in Art History from George Washington University, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Art History from the University of New Mexico. She attended Merton College at Oxford University for archaeological field training, and spent one summer on a Bronze Age excavation in the Scottish Hebrides. Following graduate school, she worked for four years at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

In 2004, she created Chicago's premier author-interview series, "Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman," a free, hour-long interview taped each month before a live audience. Hosted by the Chicago Public Library at the Harold Washington Library Center, the event is broadcast on 98.7WFMT radio. Lautman is host and executive producer of the series which has drawn dozens of renowned authors to Chicago, including Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, Frank McCourt, Michael Cunningham, Julia Glass, Augusten Burroughs, Edwidge Danticat, Peter Carey, Anne Lamott, Martin Amis, Russell Banks, Richard Price, and Mary Gaitskill.

Prior to inaugurating this series, Lautman was a featured host and contributor on Chicago Public Radio for two decades. Beginning as a free-lance arts reviewer 1984, she eventually hosted and co-produced her own arts and culture magazine program, "Artistic License", which aired weekly for eight years. Lautman then joined the daily magazine show, "848", and became a regular interviewer and contributor on a wide variety of subjects, including not only arts and culture but also medicine, education, and politics. Her humorous essays on day-to-day life were a regular feature of the program.

As a print journalist, Victoria Lautman has been Chicago Editor for magazines such as "Metropolitan Home", " Art+Auction", "Architectural Record", and "House & Garden". She’s also been a frequent contributor to the "Chicago Tribune", and has written for many other national magazines and newspapers. Her non-fiction book, "The New Tattoo," was first published in 1994. She is currently a contributing editor for "Chicago" magazine and a blogger for The Huffington Post.

On television, Lautman has appeared on Chicago stations WTTW, WBBM and WMAQ, as a segment host and contributor.

References

* [http://www.victorialautman.com Personal Web Site]
* [http://storyweek.colum.edu/participantsPPP.html Story Week Participants, Victoria Lautman.] Columbia College, Chicago. Accessed February 21, 2007.
* [http://www.wfmt.com/main.taf?p=1,1,41,23 Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman.] 98.7 WFMT. Accessed February 21, 2007.
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0789202336/ The New Tattoo]