Anne Lamott (born April 10, 1954) is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. She is also a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher. Lamott is based in

Marin County, California Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...

. Her nonfiction works are largely autobiographical. Lamott's writings, marked by their self-deprecating humor and openness, cover such subjects as

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

, single-motherhood, depression, and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Life and career

Lamott was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and is a graduate of

Drew School Drew School is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California, United States. The school was founded and named in 1908 by John Sheehan Drew and today serves grades 9–12. History Founded init ...

. She was a student at

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

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. Lamott's life was documented in

Freida Lee Mock Freida Lee Mock is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker, director, screenwriter and producer. She is a co-founder of the American Film Foundation with Terry Sanders. Her documentary, '' Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision'' (1994) won an Acad ...

'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 ''The Midnight Gospel'' is an American adult animated streaming television series created by '' Adventure Time'' creator Pendleton Ward and comedian Duncan Trussell. Released on Netflix on April 20, 2020, it is the first animated production fr ...

''.

Awards and honors

Lamott was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1985. She was inducted into the

California Hall of Fame The California Hall of Fame honors individuals and families who embody California's innovative spirit and have made their mark on history. The hall and its exhibits are housed in The California Museum in Sacramento. The hall of fame was conceived ...

in 2010.

Personal life

On April 13, 2019, when Lamott was 65, she wed for the first time. She married Neal Allen, 63, a former vice president for marketing at the

McKesson Corporation McKesson Corporation is an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceuticals used in North America and emplo ...

in San Francisco. The couple had met in August 2016. He was a twice-divorced father of four, who had left his job at McKesson to devote himself to writing.

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * * * *

Non-fiction

* * * * * * (with Sam Lamott) * * * * * *''Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage''. Riverhead Books. 2021. ISBN 978-0593189696.

References

External links

* *
''Salon.com'': articles by Anne Lamott

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)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamott, Anne 1954 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American Christian pacifists American Christian writers American memoirists American women novelists People from San Rafael, California Writers from Baltimore Writers from San Francisco American spiritual writers American women memoirists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Activists from California Goucher College alumni Novelists from California Christians from California People from Marin County, California 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers