Anne Lamott and Neal Allen In Conversation

Beloved author Anne Lamott has a new book out in March 2026 co-written with her husband, Neal Allen. Based on rules of writing Neal has collected over the years, it’s also a sideways glimpse into how Anne and Neal collaborate on writing, editing, and living together.  Together, they bring humor, warmth, and wisdom to audiences seeking relief from political fear, help with roadblocks to creativity, and methods for taming life’s everyday gremlins.

**Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor –she is laugh-out-loud funny – and ruthless honesty, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment. Actually, she writes about what most of us don’t like to think about. 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, she writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She doesn’t try to sugar coat the sadness, frustration and disappointment, but tells her stories with honesty, compassion and a pureness of voice. As she says, “I have a lot of hope and a lot of faith and I struggle to communicate that.” Anne Lamott does communicate her faith; in her books and in person, she lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing.

“Lamott is a narrator who has relished and soaked up the details of her existence, equally of mirth and devastation, and spilled them onto her pages.” — New York Times

**Neal Allen is a writer, spiritual coach, and speaker. He is the author of Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic (Namaste, 2023), and Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside You, as well as the upcoming Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences with Anne.

Photo: Sam Lamott

Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds. She has also written several best selling books of nonfiction, including, Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year; Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son; and the classic book on writing; Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Lamott has also authored several 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 addition, she has written, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Stitches; A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, Hallelujah Anyway; Rediscovering Mercy, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, and Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage. Her most recent book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Publishers Weekly praised “…her ability to distill complex truths with a deceptive lightness” in their star review. Her next book, a collaboration with her husband Neal Allen, will be Good Writing: How to Improve Your Sentences (Avery Penguin Random House, March 27, 2026). She also has a new podcast series with Allen titled The Big Questions, available exclusively on the Ritual app 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 film maker Freida Mock has made a documentary on Lamott, entitled Bird by Bird with Annie (1999). Anne Lamott has also been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Lamott is a columnist for the Washington Post.