Anne Lamott

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne Lamott (born 10 April 1954, in San Francisco) is the author of several novels and works of non-fiction, and a progressive political activist. She is also an acclaimed public speaker and teacher of writing. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor. Marked by their transparency, Lamott's writings covered such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity.^[1]

Lamott has explained: "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."^[2]

Lamott is a graduate of Drew School in San Francisco, California. Her father, Kenneth Lamott, was also a writer and was the basis of her first novel Hard Laughter. She has one son, Sam, who was born in 1990.

Lamott's life is documented in Freida Lee Mock's 1999 documentary Bird by Bird with Annie: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott.^[3] Because of the documentary and her following on Facebook and other online networks, she is often called the "People's Author".

Lamott is cited as a writer who captures well the style of narrative nonfiction called "particularism", coined by Howard Freeman.

Contents 1 Novels 2 Non-fiction 3 Quotes 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Novels

• Lamott, Anne (1980). Hard Laughter. Viking Press. ISBN 0670361402. 
• Lamott, Anne (1983). Rosie. Viking Press. ISBN 0670608289. 
• Lamott, Anne (1985). Joe Jones. North Point Press. ISBN 0865472092. 
• Lamott, Anne (1989). All New People. North Point Press. ISBN 0865473943. 
• Lamott, Anne (1997). Crooked Little Heart. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0679435212. 
• Lamott, Anne (2002). Blue Shoe. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1573222267. 

[edit] Non-fiction

• Lamott, Anne (1993). Operating Instructions: A Journal Of My Son’s First Year. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0679420916. 
• Lamott, Anne (1994). Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0679435204. 
• Lamott, Anne (1999). Traveling Mercies : Some Thoughts on Faith. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0679442405. 
• Lamott, Anne (2005). Plan B : Further Thoughts on Faith. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1573222992. 
• Lamott, Anne (2007). Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1594489424. 

[edit] Quotes

• "Laughter is carbonated holiness." (Plan B)
• "When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader." (Bird by Bird)
• "You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." (Traveling Mercies; although on page 22 of Bird by Bird she attributes this quote to "my priest friend Tom")

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Anne Lamott Fan Page
• Salon.com: articles by Anne Lamott
• Lecturing Steven Barclay Agency
• Write TV Public Television Interview with Anne Lamott
• Tavis Smiley interview with Anne Lamott, March 28, 2007
• Minnesota Public Radio Interview April 11, 2007

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Anne Lamott