Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott (born April 10, 1954) is a novelist and non-fiction writer. She is also a political activist, public speaker and writing teacher. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her nonfiction works are largely autobiographical. Marked by their self-deprecating humor and openness, Lamott's writings cover such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, depression and Christianity.

Biography

Lamott was born in San Francisco, and is a graduate of Drew School. Her father, Kenneth Lamott, was also a writer. His death was the focus of her first published novel Hard Laughter. She has one son, Sam, who was born in 1989 and a grandson, Jax.

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 is cited as a writer who captures well the style of narrative nonfiction called particularism, coined by Howard Freeman.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

Novels

• Hard Laughter. Viking Press. 1980. ISBN 0670361402. 
• Rosie. Viking Press. 1983. ISBN 0670608289. 
• Joe Jones. North Point Press. 1985. ISBN 0865472092. 
• All New People. North Point Press. 1989. ISBN 0865473943. 
• Crooked Little Heart. Pantheon Books. 1997. ISBN 0679435212. 
• Blue Shoe. Riverhead Books. 2002. ISBN 1573222267. 
• Imperfect Birds. Riverhead Books. 2010. ISBN 1594487510. 

Non-fiction

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

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.

External links

• Salon.com: articles by Anne Lamott
• 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
• Why I'm Inspired by the Midterm Election November 4, 2010