John Leland

New York Times Journalist and Author

In his 40 years in journalism, John Leland has gone from chronicling youth culture to writing about the “oldest old.” A graduate of Columbia College, he worked as a senior editor at Newsweek and editor-in-chief of Details magazine before joining The New York Times in 2000, where he is a reporter in the Metro section. In 2015, he wrote a year-long series following six people age 85 and up, which became the basis for his book “Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old,” a New York Times bestseller. As he wrote in the Times, “No work I have ever done has brought me as much joy and hope, or changed my outlook on life as profoundly.” He is the author of two previous books: “Hip: The History” and “Why Kerouac Matters.”