Fall 2026

The Celebrity Profile with Sam Anderson

What is a celebrity? Of the roughly 8 billion humans on earth, who deserves our attention -- and what kind of attention do they deserve? This masterclass will consider these questions, and many more, using the genre of the celebrity profile. Over three sessions, we will discuss such classics of the form as "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" by Gay Talese, and Gertrude Stein's experimental portrait of Picasso. The masterclass will be taught by Sam Anderson, an award-winning staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, whose reporting has taken him from Iceland to Kenya to Japan. For his profiles, Anderson has gone jogging with Haruki Murakami, slept on "Weird Al" Yankovic's tour bus, compared iPhone lock screens with Kevin Durant, discussed fake vomit with Noah Wyle on the set of "The Pitt," and been (almost) punched in the face many times by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Anderson is also the author of Boom Town, a book about Oklahoma City -- the most secretly interesting place in America.

The Master Classes at the Shapiro Center teach students how to make literary artifacts, ranging from books to broadcasts. Each class brings a small group of students together for three interactive and collaborative sessions with a world-renowned expert in his or her field.