UCSB Arts & Lectures presents An Evening with Anne Lamott, full of the author’s wisdom, forthrightness and humor as she ventures to explore where to find meaning in life at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, at The Granada Theatre.
Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Profound, caring and hopeful, Lamott is known for addressing complex subjects like addiction, motherhood and faith with uncompromising honesty.
She is an “icon of blessed imperfection [whose] classics like Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird have become handbooks for parents and writers whose lives lean toward the joyously messy,” said Salon.com.
Lamott’s numerous works of fiction and memoir include Grace (Eventually), Traveling Mercies and Imperfect Birds. Her latest is Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy.
Lamott writes and speaks about often uncomfortable subjects such as alcoholism and struggle. But armed with self-effacing humor, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment.
She wrote her first novel for her father, the writer Kenneth Lamott, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. She has said that the book was “a present to someone I loved who was going to die.”
In all her novels, Lamott writes about loss — loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugarcoat the sadness, frustration and disappointment, but tells her stories with compassion and a pureness of voice.
“I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that,” she said.
Lamott does communicate her faith; in her books and in person, she lifts, comforts and inspires, all while keeping readers laughing.
Lamott is the author of seven novels including, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart and Imperfect Birds.
She also has written bestselling books of nonfiction including Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year; followed by Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son; and a writing guide, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
She has authored three collections of autobiographical essays on faith: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith.
In her latest work of nonfiction, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Lamott offers three prayers to assist us in trying times.
Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair is an honest, funny book about how to make sense of life’s chaos (2013).
In 2014, she wrote a book of essays called Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Her newest book, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy, was published in April 2017.
Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and has taught at UC Davis as well as at writing conferences across the country.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Mock has made a documentary on Lamott called Bird by Bird with Annie (1999). Lamott has also been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
An Evening with Anne Lamott is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Event sponsors are Heather and Tom Sturgess. Part of the Thematic Learning Initiative: Creating a Meaningful Life.
Tickets are $20-$35 for the general public, $10 for UCSB students with valid student ID. A Granada facility fee will be added to each ticket price.
For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 893-3535, or visitwww.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu, or contact The Granada Theatre, 899-2222, or granadasb.org.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges SAGE Publishing for its corporate support of the 2017-18 season.
— Caitlin O’Hara for UCSB Arts & Lectures.