Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott
Born	(1954-04-10) April 10, 1954 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist nonfiction writer essayist memoirist
Alma mater	Drew School Goucher College
Genre	Drama, humor, literary fiction, Reviews

Anne Lamott (born April 10, 1954) is an American novelist and nonfiction writer.

She is also a progressive political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher. Lamott is based in Marin County, California. Her nonfiction works are largely autobiographical. Lamott's writings, marked by their self-deprecating humor and openness, cover such subjects as alcoholism, single-motherhood, depression, and Christianity.

Early life and education

Lamott was born in San Francisco, and is a graduate of Drew School. She was a student at Goucher College for two years where she wrote for the newspaper. Her father, Kenneth Lamott, was also a writer. Her first published novel Hard Laughter was written for him after his diagnosis of brain cancer. She has one son, Sam, who was born in August 1989 and a grandson, Jax, born in July 2009.

Career

Lamott's life was documented in Freida Lee Mock's 1999 documentary Bird by Bird with Annie: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott. Because of the documentary and her following on Facebook and other online networks, she is often called the "People's Author".

Lamott has described why she writes:

I try to write the books I would love to come upon, that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness—and that can make me laugh. When I am reading a book like this, I feel rich and profoundly relieved to be in the presence of someone who will share the truth with me, and throw the lights on a little, and I try to write these kinds of books. Books, for me, are medicine.

Lamott was featured on the second episode of the first season of the show The Midnight Gospel.

Awards and honors

Lamott was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985. She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2010.

Personal life

On April 13, 2019, Lamott married Neal Allen, 63, a former vice president for marketing at the McKesson Corporation in San Francisco. The couple met in August 2016. He is a twice-divorced father of four, who left his job at McKesson to devote himself to writing.

Bibliography

Novels

• Hard Laughter. Viking Press. 1980. ISBN 0-670-36140-2.
• Rosie. Viking Press. 1983. ISBN 0-670-60828-9.
• Joe Jones. North Point Press. 1985. ISBN 0-86547-209-2.
• All New People. North Point Press. 1989. ISBN 0-86547-394-3.
• Crooked Little Heart. Pantheon Books. 1997. ISBN 0-679-43521-2.
• Blue Shoe. Riverhead Books. 2002. ISBN 1-57322-226-7.
• Imperfect Birds. Riverhead Books. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59448-751-4.

Nonfiction

• Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year. Pantheon Books. 1993. ISBN 978-0-679-42091-0.
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Pantheon Books. 1994. ISBN 978-0-679-43520-4.
• Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. Pantheon Books. 1999. ISBN 978-0-679-44240-0.
• Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. Riverhead Books. 2005. ISBN 978-1-57322-299-0.
• Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. Riverhead Books. 2007. ISBN 978-1-59448-942-6.
• Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son. Riverhead Books. 2012. ISBN 978-1-59448-841-2. (with Sam Lamott)
• Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Riverhead Books. 2012. ISBN 978-1-59463-129-0.
• Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair. Riverhead Books. 2013. ISBN 978-1-59463-258-7.
• Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Riverhead Books. 2014. ISBN 978-1-59448-629-6.
• Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy. Riverhead Books. 2017. ISBN 9780735213586.
• Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. Riverhead Books. 2018. ISBN 978-0525537441.
• Dusk, Night, Dawn. Riverhead Books. 2021. ISBN 978-0-593-18969-6.
• Somehow: Thoughts on Love. Riverhead Books. 2024. ISBN 978-0-593-71441-6.

Further reading

• Bochynski, Pegge. (2010) "Anne Lamott" in American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, Supplement XX, Mary Antin to Phillis Wheatley. Ed. Jay Parini. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons p131-146.
• Bouris, Karen (January–February 2013). "Anne Lamott : life as a black-belt codependent". Interview. Spirituality & Health. 15 (6): 48–53. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
• Vandenburgh, Jane. (2010) Architecture of the Novel: A Writer's Handbook. Anne Lamott (Foreword). Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint ISBN 1582435979

External links

• Anne Lamott on Facebook
• Salon.com: articles by Anne Lamott
• Profile – Steven Barclay Agency Archived June 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• Write TV Public Television Interview (2004)
• Minnesota Public Radio Interview (2007)
• Interview for Writers on the Record (2007)
• Goodreads.com: Author profile: Anne Lamott
• TED.com: "12 truths I learned from life and writing", a talk by Anne Lamott (2017)