Guy Lawson (born 26 January 1963) is a

Canadian American Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to Citizenship of the United States, American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadians, Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can ...

journalist and

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

writer who has been published in Harper's, '' GQ'', the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''.

Early life and career

Lawson was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to expatriate Australian and Kiwi parents. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother for a period of time before moving to Saskatchewan to rejoin his father, a journalist and writer, and then to Perth, Western Australia in 1981. He attended the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

before attending law school in Cambridge, England. He briefly worked as an attorney on Wall Street in New York City in the 1990s before transitioning to journalism.

Journalism

Lawson's first journalism job came as the host of the Canadian literary talk show Imprint in 1993. His first print feature story was in the field of politics, when he was assigned to cover the 1995 the Quebec referendum for Harper's magazine. From there, Lawson earned additional accolades and opportunities, starting with a breakthrough stories for Harper's about small-town Canadian hockey players and life in a flophouse on the Bowery in New York City. Lawson has been published in numerous major publications throughout his career, covering war, sports, crime and many other subjects. In addition, one of his later works, Arms and the Dudes about the life and crimes of

Efraim Diveroli Efraim Diveroli (born December 20, 1985) is an American former arms dealer and author. His company, AEY Inc., was a major weapons contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. government suspended AEY for violating its contract afte ...

and

David Packouz David Mordechai Packouz ( born February 16, 1982) is an American former arms dealer, musician and inventor. In 2005, Packouz joined Efraim Diveroli in Diveroli's arms company AEY Inc. By the end of 2006, the company had won 149 contracts wor ...

, was adapted into the 2016 film ''

War Dogs Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...

'', which starred actors

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including ''Superbad (film), Superbad'' (2007), ''Knocked Up'' (2007), ''21 Jump Street (film), 21 Jump Stre ...

Miles Teller Miles Teller (born February 20, 1987) is an American actor. He played a jazz drummer in ''Whiplash'' and a supporting pilot in '' Top Gun: Maverick''. Teller made his feature film debut in 2010 and gained recognition for his starring role in t ...

Ana de Armas Ana Celia de Armas Caso (; born 30 April 1988) is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba and had a leading role in the romantic drama '' Una rosa de Francia'' (2006). At age 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in t ...

, and

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

(who also executive produced the film). In addition to ''War Dogs'', several of his other works have been optioned, including ''

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

'' (about hedge fund trader and Ponzi scammer

Sam Israel Sam Israel (March 4, 1899 – June 11, 1994) was an American real estate investor and landlord. Biography Israel was born to a Greek Jewish family HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

, a GQ article called "The Knife" about LA gangs which was acquired by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, and a New York Times magazine feature on the first expedition to reach the North Pole, titled "Ice Pack" and in development with Sony.

Personal life

Lawson lives with his wife, Maya Kaimal, an

Indian food Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, herb ...

entrepreneur, whom he married in 2001. They have twin children and live in upstate New York. He is an avowed

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

fan, remaining loyal to his home province's

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

team despite residing in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Bibliography

* ''The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia'' (2006) * ''Octopus:

Sam Israel Sam Israel (March 4, 1899 – June 11, 1994) was an American real estate investor and landlord. Biography Israel was born to a Greek Jewish family War Dogs Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...

: The True Story of How Three Stoners From Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History'' (2016), also published under the title Arms and the Dudes.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Guy Lawson's official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Guy 1963 births American male journalists American political writers The Atlantic (magazine) people Living people 21st-century American journalists Canadian male journalists Journalists from Toronto Writers from Toronto The New York Times writers Vanity Fair (magazine) people Harper's Magazine people