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Lawrence Wright

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For other people named Lawrence Wright, see Lawrence Wright (disambiguation).
Lawrence Wright
Wright in 2006
Wright in 2006
Born (1947-08-02) August 2, 1947 (age 77)
OccupationJournalist, screenwriter
Alma materTulane University
Notable worksThe Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (2007)
Website
www.lawrencewright.com

Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American author, screenwriter, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as the author of the 2006 nonfiction book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Wright is also known for his work with documentarian Alex Gibney who directed film versions of Wright's one man show My Trip to Al-Qaeda and his book Going Clear.

Background and education

Wright graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas, in 1965 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2009.[1] He is a graduate of Tulane University and taught English at the American University in Cairo (from which was awarded a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics in 1969) in Egypt for two years.[2]

Career

Wright at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in 2018

In 1980 Wright began working for the magazine Texas Monthly and contributed to Rolling Stone magazine. In late 1992, he joined the staff of The New Yorker.[2]

The Looming Tower

Main article: The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Wright is the author of six books but is best known for his 2006 publication, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. A quick bestseller, The Looming Tower was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize,[3] the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and is frequently referred to by some media pundits as being an excellent source of background information on Al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks. The book's title is a phrase from the Quran 4:78: "Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower", which Osama bin Laden quoted three times in a videotaped speech seen as directed to the 9/11 hijackers.[4]

Going Clear

Main article: Going Clear (book)

Wright had written a profile of former Scientologist Paul Haggis for The New Yorker.[5] Wright's book on Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief was published in January 2013. The book contains interviews from current and former Scientologists, and examines the history and leadership of the organisation.[6] In an interview for The New York Times, Wright disclosed that he has received "innumerable" letters threatening legal action from lawyers representing the church and celebrities who belong to it.[6] Wright spoke to two hundred current and former Scientologists for the book.[6][7] The Church published an official statement in its newsroom and a blog listing its rebuttals to Wright's claims.[8][9]

Other projects

Lawrence Wright, 2007

Among Wright's other books are Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory (1994), about the Paul Ingram false memory case. On June 7, 1996, Wright testified at Ingram's pardon hearing.[citation needed]

Wright also co-wrote the screenplay for the film The Siege (1998), which tells the story of a terrorist attack in New York City that leads to curtailed civil liberties and rounding up of Arab-Americans.[10] A script that Wright originally wrote for Oliver Stone was turned instead into a well-regarded Showtime movie, Noriega: God's Favorite (2000).[citation needed]

A documentary featuring Wright, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, premiered on HBO in September 2010. It was based on his journeys and experiences in the Middle East during his research for The Looming Tower. My Trip to Al-Qaeda looks at al-Qaeda, Islamic radicalism, hostility to America and the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and combines Wright's first-person narrative with documentary footage and photographs.[11]

Wright also plays the keyboard in the Austin, Texas, blues collective WhoDo.[2]

Wright is also a playwright. He has worked on a script over several years concerning the making of the epic film Cleopatra that starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. The play is titled Cleo and was to have opened September 2017 in Houston, Texas, but was delayed by catastrophic flooding caused by hurricane Harvey. In the end it opened in April 2018.[12]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Books

  • City Children, Country Summer: A Story of Ghetto Children Among the Amish. Scribner. 1979. ISBN 978-0-684-16144-0.
  • In the New World: Growing up with America, 1964-1984. Alfred A. Knopf. 1988. ISBN 978-0-394-75964-7.
  • Saints and Sinners. Alfred A. Knopf. 1993. ISBN 978-0-679-76163-1.
  • Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory. Vintage Books. 1994. ISBN 978-0-679-75582-1.
  • Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are. John Wiley & Sons. 1997. ISBN 978-0-471-29644-7.
  • God's Favorite: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. 2000. ISBN 978-0-684-86810-3.
  • The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Alfred A. Knopf. 2006. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.
  • Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. Alfred A. Knopf. 2013. ISBN 978-0-307-70066-7.
  • Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin and Sadat at Camp David. Alfred A. Knopf. 2014. ISBN 978-0-385-35203-1.
  • The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State. Alfred A. Knopf. 2016. ISBN 978-0-385-35205-5.
  • God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State. Alfred A. Knopf. 2018. ISBN 978-0525520108.

Plays

Articles

References

  1. ^ Unmuth, Katherine Leal (April 26, 2009). "Alumni gather to celebrate Woodrow Wilson High's 80th anniversary". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "Lawrence Wright: About". Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  3. ^ "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project winners". Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  4. ^ Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.
  5. ^ Thornton, Kim (2012-11-17). "Lawrence Wright's Book on Church of Scientology Coming in January". Knopf Publishers.
  6. ^ a b c Mcgrath, Charles (3 January 2013). "Scientology Fascinates the Author Lawrence Wright". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief: How Lawrence Wright Got it So Wrong". 2013-11-28.
  8. ^ Church of Scientology International (2013-01-13). "Statement on Lawrence Wright's book". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Church of Scientology International (2013). "How Lawrence Wright Got It So Wrong: A Correction of the Falsehoods in Lawrence Wright's Book on Scientology". Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  10. ^ Amos, Deborah (2007-03-30). "Lawrence Wright's 'Trip to Al-Qaeda'". National Public Radio.
  11. ^ "Synopsis". HBO Documentaries: My Trip to Al-Qaeda. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Hoinski, Michael (March 30, 2018). "This Movie Romance Scandalized a Nation. Now It's a Drama Onstage". New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  13. ^ Kirsten Reach (January 14, 2014). "NBCC finalists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  14. ^ "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle. January 14, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
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