With disarming familiarity, Anne Lamott tackles what most don’t like to consider. Her honest writing helps us make sense of life’s chaos.

Why you should listen

Anne Lamott hooks into our common experience and guides us to an understanding infused with openness. An activist, former alcoholic and Sunday School teacher, Lamott uses humor to weave through loss, parenthood, faith and the cancer diagnosis given to her best friend, in beloved books like Bird by Bird and Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. She says, "Hope begins in the dark ... if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

Her next book, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy, was released in April 2017.

What others say

“Lamott ... isn’t writing to placate a particular group. She's addressing herself to anyone who's ever awakened in the morning with no clue about what happened the night before, to people who understand that sarcasm, pettiness, self-centeredness and doubt can peacefully coexist with a love for whatever divinity you worship.” — SFGate

Anne Lamott’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Anne Lamott

In Brief

Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu win Tech in Journalism Award and more TED news

November 20, 2018

It’s been a busy few weeks for the TED community. Below, our favorite highlights. Meet 2018’s Technology in Journalism Honorees. Journalists Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu received this year’s Technology in Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation for their work on “The House That Spied On Me.” The article details how they transformed Hill’s […]

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We humans

13 writing tips, from beloved teacher Anne Lamott

September 5, 2017

So many of us say we’ll start writing “as soon as” -- as soon as we feel like it, as soon as we retire, as soon as we win the lottery. Here are thirteen pieces of advice to help you sit down and do it, shared by essayist and novelist Anne Lamott.

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Live from TED2017

The future us: The talks of Session 11 of TED2017

April 28, 2017

In the final session of TED2017, we look ahead to the future we’ll build together. Below, recaps of the talks from Session 11, in chronological order. A design renaissance for our apps. “There’s a hidden goal driving all of our technology, and that goal is the race for our attention.” says Tristan Harris. He would know; he […]

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