“My mother might find a thin gold chain at the back of a drawer, wadded into an impossibly tight knot, and give it to me to untangle. It would have a shiny, sweaty smell, and excite me: Gold chains linked you to the great fairy tales and myths, to Arabia, and India; to the great weight of the world, but lighter than a feather.”

American novelist and nonfiction writer

Anne Lamott is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. She is known for work that blends fiction with personal and reflective nonfiction, and for a voice that is direct, candid, and observant. Her writing often draws on everyday life, faith, family, addiction, recovery, and the struggles and small consolations of ordinary experience. She has built a large body of quoted material on the site, reflecting the wide reach of her public voice and the clarity of her style.