American writer and journalist (born 1947)For other people named Lawrence Wright, see Lawrence Wright (disambiguation).

Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is an American writer and journalist, who is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as the author of the 2006 nonfiction book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Wright is also known for his work with do*entarian Alex Gibney who directed film versions of Wright's one man show My Trip to Al-Qaeda and his book Going Clear. His 2020 novel, The End of October, a thriller about a pandemic, was released in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, to generally positive reviews.

Contents

• 1 Background and education
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 The Looming Tower
  • 2.2 Going Clear
  • 2.3 Other projects
• 3 Awards and honors
• 4 Bibliography
  • 4.1 Books
  • 4.2 Plays
  • 4.3 Essays and reporting
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Background and education

Wright graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas, in 1965 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2009. He is a graduate of Tulane University and taught English at the American University in Cairo (from which he was awarded a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics in 1969) in Egypt for two years. Wright lives in Austin, Texas.

Career

In 1980, Wright began working for the magazine Texas Monthly and contributed to Rolling Stone magazine. In late 1992, he joined the staff of The New Yorker.

The Looming Tower

Main article: The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Wright is the author of six books but is best known for his 2006 publication, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. A quick bestseller, The Looming Tower was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and is frequently referred to by some media pundits as being an excellent source of background information on Al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks. The book's *le is a phrase from the Quran:4:78: "Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower", which Osama bin Laden quoted three times in a videotaped speech seen as directed to the 9/11 hijackers.

Going Clear

Main article: Going Clear (book)

Wright had written a profile of former Scientologist Paul Haggis for The New Yorker. Wright's book on Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, published in January 2013, contains interviews from current and former Scientologists, and examines the history and leadership of the organisation. In an interview for The New York Times, Wright disclosed that he has received "innumerable" letters threatening legal action from lawyers representing the church and celebrities who belong to it. Wright spoke to 200 current and former Scientologists for the book. Additionally, the Church published an official statement in its newsroom and a blog listing its rebuttals to Wright's claims.

Other projects

Among Wright's other books are Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory (1994), about the Paul Ingram false memory case. On June 7, 1996, Wright testified at Ingram's pardon hearing.

Wright co-wrote the screenplay for the film The Siege (1998), which tells the story of a terrorist attack in New York City that leads to curtailed civil liberties and rounding up of Arab-Americans. A script that Wright originally wrote for Oliver Stone was turned instead into a well-regarded Showtime movie, Noriega: God's Favorite (2000).

A do*entary featuring Wright, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, premiered on HBO in September 2010. It was based on his journeys and experiences in the Middle East during his research for The Looming Tower. My Trip to Al-Qaeda looks at al-Qaeda, Islamist extremism, anti-American sentiment and the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and combines Wright's first-person narrative with do*entary footage and photographs.

Wright plays the keyboard in the Austin, Texas, blues collective WhoDo.

Wright is also a playwright. He has worked on a script over several years concerning the making of the epic film Cleopatra that starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. The play is *led Cleo and was to have opened September 2017 in Houston, Texas, but was delayed by catastrophic flooding caused by hurricane Harvey. It eventually opened in April 2018.

Awards and honors

• 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for The Looming Tower
• 2006 New York Times bestseller for The Looming Tower
• 2006 New York Times Notable Book of the Year for The Looming Tower
• 2006 New York Times Best Books of the Year for The Looming Tower
• 2006 IRE Award for The Looming Tower
• 2006 National Book Award finalist for The Looming Tower
• 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for The Looming Tower
• 2006 Time magazine's Best Books of the Year for The Looming Tower
• 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for The Looming Tower
• 2007 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism for The Looming Tower
• 2007 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for The Looming Tower
• 2007 Lionel Gelber Prize for The Looming Tower
• 2007 Arthur Ross Book Award shortlist for The Looming Tower
• 2007 PEN Center USA Literary Award (Research Nonfiction) for The Looming Tower
• 2009 Newsweek 50 Books for Our Times for The Looming Tower

• 2013 National Book Award for Nonfiction finalist for Going Clear
• 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction) shortlist for Going Clear

• 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Do*entary or Nonfiction Special.

Bibliography

Books

Non-fiction

• City Children, Country Summer: A Story of Ghetto Children Among the Amish. Scribner. 1979. ISBN:978-0-684-16144-0.
• In the New World: Growing up with America, 1964–1984. Alfred A. Knopf. 1988. ISBN:978-0-394-75964-7.
• Saints and Sinners. Alfred A. Knopf. 1993. ISBN:978-0-679-76163-1.
• Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory. Vintage Books. 1994. ISBN:978-0-679-75582-1.
• Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are. John Wiley & Sons. 1997. ISBN:978-0-471-29644-7.
• The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Alfred A. Knopf. 2006. ISBN:978-0-375-41486-2.
• Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. Alfred A. Knopf. 2013. ISBN:978-0-307-70066-7.
• Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin and Sadat at Camp David. Alfred A. Knopf. 2014. ISBN:978-0-385-35203-1.
• The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State. Alfred A. Knopf. 2016. ISBN:978-0-385-35205-5.
• God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State. Alfred A. Knopf. 2018. ISBN:978-0525520108.
• The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid. Alfred A. Knopf. 2021.

Fiction

• God's Favorite: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. 2000. ISBN:978-0-684-86810-3.
• The End of October: A Novel. Knopf. April 28, 2020. p.:400. ISBN:9780525658658.

Plays

• Camp David (premiered at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) in March 2014)

Essays and reporting

• "The Agent". The New Yorker. July 3, 2006.
• "Intolerance". The Talk of the Town. Comment. The New Yorker. 86 (28): 47–48. September 20, 2010.
• "The apostate:: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology". Profiles. The New Yorker. February 14, 2011.
• "Homage to Zenobia". The Talk of the Town. Comment. The New Yorker. 91 (20): 17–18. July 20, 2015.
• "America's future is Texas". The New Yorker. July 7, 2017.

References

External links

• lawrencewright.com
• Lawrence Wright at The New Yorker
• Lawrence Wright at IMDb
• Wright on NPR
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• The Looming Tower Reviews at Metacritic
• AuthorViews video interview about The Looming Tower
• Audio of Paul Ingram Pardon Hearing
• Lawrence Wright articles at Byliner
• Lawrence Wright Interview: Conversations with History; Ins*ute of International Studies, UC Berkeley, November 12, 2006
• Reporting The Bin Laden Beat, Journalist Lawrence Wright Knows More About Al Qaeda's Leader Than Many CIA Operatives
• Lawrence Wright interviewed on Charlie Rose
• Lawrence Wright on the Muck Rack journalist listing site