Wally Lamb

New York Times Bestselling Author

Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times best-selling novels: I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I First Believed, I Know This Much is True, and She’s Come Undone, the breakthrough novel which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in its inaugural season and named a notable book of the year by The New York Times. I Know This Much is True, another Oprah’s Book Club pick, was adapted as an HBO limited series in 2020.  

His latest novel is The River is Waiting, the propulsive story of a young father who, after an unbearable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable. The book follows Corby Ledbetter, whose marriage is upended after he loses his job and finds himself harboring a secret addiction from his wife. When Corby is involved in a shocking series of events, he is sentenced to prison and must adjust to an entirely new life. “Lamb sheds light on the inhumanity and cruelty of the American prison system, while also offering glimmers of hope and friendship,” says Booklist of the novel.

Lamb edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he was a volunteer facilitator for twenty years. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Connecticut Center for the Book’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Barnes and Noble “Writers for Writers” Award, among others.