Lawrence Wright

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 documentarian 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.[1]

For other people named Lawrence Wright, see Lawrence Wright (disambiguation).
Lawrence Wright
Wright in 2018
Born (1947-08-02) August 2, 1947
OccupationJournalist, Writer
NationalityAmerican
Alma materTulane University, American University of Cairo
Notable worksThe Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (2007)
Website
LawrenceWright.com

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.[2] 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.[3] Wright lives in Austin, Texas.[4]

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.[3]

The Looming Tower

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.[5] A quick bestseller, The Looming Tower was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize,[6] 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 title 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.[7]

Going Clear
Main article: Going Clear (book)

Wright had written a profile of former Scientologist Paul Haggis for The New Yorker.[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[9] Wright spoke to 200 current and former Scientologists for the book.[9][11] Additionally, the Church published an official statement in its newsroom and a blog listing its rebuttals to Wright's claims.[12][13]

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.[14] A script that Wright originally wrote for Oliver Stone was turned instead into a well-regarded Showtime movie, Noriega: God's Favorite (2000).

A documentary 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.[15] 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 documentary footage and photographs.[16]

Wright plays the keyboard in the Austin, Texas, blues collective WhoDo.[3]

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 titled 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.[17]

Awards and honors

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.[20]
  • 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.

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)

Articles
gollark: Consider that if your data is widely distributed, even if not *publicly*, the same is true.
gollark: Well, they can't just entirely ignore laws *forever*.
gollark: Intentionally disclosing it would be bad, yes? *Why*?
gollark: YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT.
gollark: Has, even, given that they datamined gmail users' emails for advertising targeting.

References
  1. "The End of October". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  2. Unmuth, Katherine Leal (April 26, 2009). "Alumni gather to celebrate Woodrow Wilson High's 80th anniversary". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  3. "Lawrence Wright: About". Retrieved 2013-09-17.
  4. Kevin Williamson (21 February 2019). "AUSTIN CITY LIMITS". Claremont Review of Books. Retrieved 13 March 2019. Wright doesn’t live in Texas—he lives in Austin
  5. "Lawrence Wright: "The Looming Tower" | Talks at Google". YouTube. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  6. "J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project winners". Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  7. Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.
  8. Thornton, Kim (2012-11-17). "Lawrence Wright's Book on Church of Scientology Coming in January". Knopf Publishers.
  9. Mcgrath, Charles (3 January 2013). "Scientology Fascinates the Author Lawrence Wright". The New York Times.
  10. "Evening With Lawrence Wright on Scientology". YouTube. 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  11. "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief: How Lawrence Wright Got it So Wrong". 2013-11-28.
  12. Church of Scientology International (2013-01-13). "Statement on Lawrence Wright's book". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  13. Church of Scientology International (2013). "How Lawrence Wright Got It So Wrong: A Correction of the Falsehoods in Lawrence Wright's Book on Scientology". Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  14. Amos, Deborah (2007-03-30). "Lawrence Wright's 'Trip to Al-Qaeda'". National Public Radio.
  15. "Journalism and Media Lecture Series: Lawrence Wright". YouTube. 2010-02-26. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  16. "Synopsis". HBO Documentaries: My Trip to Al-Qaeda. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  17. Hoinski, Michael (March 30, 2018). "This Movie Romance Scandalized a Nation. Now It's a Drama Onstage". New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  18. Kirsten Reach (January 14, 2014). "NBCC finalists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  19. "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle. January 14, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  20. "Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Lawrence Wright". YouTube. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
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